Bourbon and Distillery News for May 9, 2025

Please enjoy this week’s Bourbon and Distillery News! In case you missed it, check out our latest edition of New Bourbon Releases News, too!

Our podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts or your favorite platform. You can also find it here. New episodes of our Bourbon News and Bourbon Releases podcasts are released every other Monday at 4am Eastern Time.

Without further ado, let’s get on with the Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025!

Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025

But First, Here’s What’s New on BourbonObsessed.com!

• Star Hill Farm Whisky Review
  Star Hill Farm Whisky is the brand’s first new mashbill in over 70 years — and its first-ever wheat whiskey. Made without corn and crafted from estate-grown wheat, this cask-strength, limited-edition whisky represents a radical departure from the consistent flavor profile Maker’s Mark is known for. With a blend of two wheat-forward mashbills and a commitment to regenerative agriculture, Star Hill Farm Whisky also becomes their first spirit to carry the new Estate Whiskey Certification.  Read my full review.
• Copper & Cask 20-Year Hazmat Cigar Blend Whiskey Review
  Copper & Cask 20 Year Hazmat Cigar Blend Whiskey is a bold, high-proof release from the brand’s Small Batch Series. Blended from 15 Canadian whiskey barrels aged over 19 years and then finished in Armagnac and Tawny Port casks, it’s bottled at a whopping 145.2 proof.  Read my full review.
• Kentucky Wildcask Bourbon Review
  Kentucky Wildcask Bourbon is the inaugural release from the University of Kentucky’s James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits. Crafted as part of the Commercialization of Distilled Spirits Course, this limited-edition, non-chill filtered bourbon blends three Kentucky bourbons aged 4.5 to 8 years and is bottled at 100 proof, Read my full review.
• Brush Creek Rye Whiskey Review
  Brush Creek Rye is a straight rye whiskey blended at Brush Creek Distillery in Saratoga, Wyoming, using two Indiana-sourced mash bills. Aged 4–6 years and non-chill filtered, the whiskey has a derived mash bill of 87% Rye, 8% Corn, 5% Barley and is bottled at 94 proof. Read our full review.
• Brush Creek Bourbon Review
  Brush Creek Bourbon is a four-grain, non-chill filtered straight bourbon whiskey blended at Brush Creek Distillery in Wyoming. Crafted from a mix of Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee bourbons aged 4–13 years and proofed with pure snowmelt water from the Snowy Mountain Range it is bottled at 94 proof. Read our full review.

Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025

Bourbon Obsessed merchandise is perfect for any occasion! Head to our store to shop for hats, t-shirts, Glencairns and more!

Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025

Bourbon and Distillery News

National Bourbon Week 2025 Returns to Bardstown with Tastings, Events & Distillery Experiences

The second annual National Bourbon Week™ returns to Bardstown, Kentucky, from June 9–15, 2025, with an expanded lineup of experiences celebrating America’s native spirit. Participating distilleries include Bardstown Bourbon Company, Heaven Hill, James B. Beam, Limestone Branch, Log Still, Lux Row, Maker’s Mark, Preservation, Old SteelHouse, and Barton 1792. Events range from guided tastings and classes to Bardstown’s famous Bourbon City Street Concert and other National Bourbon Day events. Tickets for individual events are on sale now, with new additions like “The Mash-Up” pairing distilleries with local culinary partners at the newly opened Bespoke in Bond. You can read more about National Bourbon Week here and the full schedule can be found at the National Bourbon Week website.

MGP Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

MGP Ingredients, the parent company of Luxco and a major supplier of whiskey and spirits including the Penelope, Remus, Lux Row, Yellowstone and Rebel brands, reported a consolidated sales decrease of 29% in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. The decline was primarily due to expected declines in brown goods and specialty ingredients sales. This also led to a 31% decline in first quarter profit. The Branded Spirits segment sales decreased 4%, however the premium plus portfolio sales increased by 7% reflecting increased focus on MGP’s most impactful initiatives across the American whiskey and tequila categories, particularly the stronger than expected performance of the Penelope brand.  Mid and value priced portfolios each declined by double digits. Distilling Solutions segment sales and gross profit decreased by 45% driven by reduced customer demand for brown goods resulting primarily from elevated industry-wide barrel inventories. Read the full article here.

Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025

If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with your friends and on your socials.
If you would like to support this newsletter, head to my page on Buy Me A Coffee
If you would like to sponsor this newsletter, Contact Me

Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025

Sara Ahlgrim Joins Dark Arts Whiskey House

Sara Ahlgrim, formerly of the the YouTube channel Its Bourbon Night, has joined Dark Arts Whiskey House as a Spirit Guide and the Events & Content Specialist. She will soon be at Dark Arts new brand home in Lexington’s Distillery District, at the former site of RD1 Spirits. As far as It’s Bourbon Night goes, Chad Watson (@mydailybourbon on Instagram) will be joining Chad Perkins as co-host. (source: @itsbourbonnight, @willworkforbourbon) darkartswhiskey.com

Heaven Hill Celebrates Bernie Lubbers as He Transitions to Whiskey Ambassador Emeritus

Heaven Hill Brands has announced that Bernie Lubbers, known throughout the industry as “The Whiskey Professor,” will step back from his role as National Whiskey Ambassador effective May 1, 2025, and transition to the new title of Whiskey Ambassador Emeritus. Lubbers, a key figure in the resurgence of Bottled-in-Bond whiskey and a longtime educator, entertainer, and advocate for Heaven Hill’s whiskey portfolio, will continue to support the company through select engagements and educational efforts. A former stand-up comedian, Lubbers has been instrumental in shaping whiskey storytelling and outreach, traveling more than 100,000 miles a year and presenting his popular “Evolution of Bourbon” show. He is also the author of the respected industry resource, Bourbon Whiskey: Our Native Spirit. Read the full press release here.

Traveller Whiskey Becomes First Official Whiskey of Major League Baseball

Buffalo Trace Distillery’s Traveller Whiskey, co-created by Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley and Grammy-winning artist Chris Stapleton, has been named the first-ever Official Whiskey of Major League Baseball. This multi-year partnership highlights the shared American spirit of whiskey and baseball, with Traveller set to appear in game broadcasts, fan activations at the 2025 All-Star Week and MLB Speedway Classic, and in-store promotions nationwide. Bottled at 90 proof, Traveller is a unique blend selected from more than 50 tested combinations and is widely available at a suggested retail price of $39.99 per 750ml bottle. Read the full press release here, or, better yet, read My Review of Traveller Whiskey.

Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025

If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with your friends and on your socials.
If you would like to support this newsletter, head to my page on Buy Me A Coffee
If you would like to sponsor this newsletter, Contact Me

Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025

Good Trouble Bourbon Champions Youth in Baltimore with Lamar Jackson’s Forever Dreamers and Inaugural “Good Trouble Stakes” Race at Pimlico

Good Trouble Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, founded by entrepreneur Dee M. Robinson, is bringing its mission of blending purpose, culture and community to Baltimore through a two-day event series in partnership with Lamar Jackson’s Forever Dreamers Foundation, the National Thoroughbred League, and Governor Wes Moore’s ENOUGH Initiative. Highlights include the launch of the Forever Dreamers 8 Scholars Apprentice Program, a no-cost workforce initiative for Baltimore youth, supported by NFL superstar Lamar Jackson and his Forever Dreamers Foundation, on May 9, and the inaugural “Good Trouble Stakes” horse race at Pimlico on May 10.
Read the full press release here.

EH Taylor Joins the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (or so they say)

Multiple media outlets (Forbes, Whisky Advocate, Robb Report, Food & Wine, etc) have been reporting that EH Taylor Bottled in Bond Bourbon will join the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection this year. I haven’t seen an official announcement from Buffalo Trace myself, so can not verify this. However, a new EH Taylor label TTB submission has also been spotted. No specific details about the upcoming release have been reported, so I guess we’ll have to wait until this fall, when the BTAC is usually announced. If anyone is not familiar with the BTAC, it is an annual limited release from Buffalo Trace Distillery, currently including Sazerac 18 Rye, William Larue Weller, Eagle Rare 17, George T. Stagg Bourbons and Thomas H. Handy Rye.

Bourbon and Distillery News For May 9, 2025

New Bourbon Releases Preview

Here are some of the new bourbon releases that we will be discussing in next week’s New Bourbon Releases Newsletter:

• Filmland Spirits Moonlight Mayhem 2
• Frey Ranch 10th Anniversary
• Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Decanter Series Spring 2025 9-Year
• Heaven Hill Grain to Glass Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 2025 Release
• Southern Grace Distilleries Conviction Naranja Bourbon
• Old Commonwealth’s 2025 D.H. Cromwell Bourbon
• Pursuit United 88 Proof and Barrel Proof Bourbon and Rye
• WWS 12-Year-Old Straight Bourbon Whiskey in Black Currant Brandy Cask

Well, that’s it! I hope you have enjoyed this week’s Bourbon and Distillery News! If you would like our newsletters delivered directly to your inbox, please sign up here. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook. I hope you have a great weekend! See you next time! Cheers!🥃

If you would like to read some of my other recent newsletters, then check out my New Bourbon Releases News for May 2, 2025 and my Bourbon and Distillery News for April 25, 2025.

Would you like to learn more about distilleries and bourbon? Are you planning a trip to Kentucky Distilleries? Maybe you would like to live the bourbon life vicariously through us? If any of these are true, then check out BourbonObsessed.com today!