Booker’s, the uncut, unfiltered bourbon brand founded by Booker Noe in 1988, has officially released The Reserves 2026, a Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey finished in apple brandy barrels and infused with cinnamon.
It’s only the second rye Booker’s has ever put out, following 2016’s Big Time Batch, and the third annual release in The Reserves collection, which launched in 2024 to honor Noe’s legacy.
The whiskey is aged 6 years, 2 months, and 23 days and bottled uncut at 125.1 proof.
Master Distiller Freddie Noe, Booker’s grandson, said the recipe traces back to his grandfather’s annual batch of homemade apple wine, built around apples, bourbon barrels, and cinnamon.
The recipe wasn’t a surprise by the time it shipped. News of the apple brandy finish leaked back in February, when a label approval filing surfaced online months ahead of any official announcement.
Booker’s is betting the whiskey speaks for itself
The reaction from longtime Booker’s fans wasn’t particularly positive after the leak announcement — cinnamon and apple aren’t exactly flavors typically associated with prestige whiskey.
Still, the brand held their ground, even if seven months is a long time to sit with public criticism of a product that hadn’t even launched yet. Booker’s had every opportunity to walk it back, delay it, or quietly reformulate before the official release. It didn’t. The Reserves 2026 shipped essentially as described in that February leak: apple brandy barrels, cinnamon, the whole thing.
Shipping the recipe unchanged after months of criticism isn’t Booker’s ignoring its fans; it’s Booker’s betting that what’s actually in the bottle will settle the argument better than any pre-release defense could.
The brand didn’t argue with the backlash or walk the concept back to something safer. It just finished the whiskey and asked people to taste it before deciding, which is much harder to do than just caving, but with any luck, the juice can talk skeptics out of their doubts.
That’s a move you could only pull off if you have confidence in your product, which befits a brand that’s earned its spot among bourbons worth splurging on by consistently delivering on that exact premise.
Where to buy it
Booker’s The Reserves 2026 is available now at retailers nationwide, priced at $129.99.
