Lost Lantern recently kicked off the holiday season with its first Winter Whiskey Wednesday drop, a release that will take place on the first Wednesday of December every year.
The Winter 2021 collection feature three limited-edition single casks: 2021 Single Cask #6 – McCarthy’s 6 Year Old Oregon Peated Single Malt, 2021 Single Cask #7 – Smooth Ambler West Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and 2021 Single Cask #8 – Starlight Indiana Straight Rye Whiskey. All are bottled at cask strength, are non-chill-filtered, and have natural color.
McCarthy’s is arguably the first American single malt, and this single cask, aged for six years, is one of the oldest McCarthy’s whiskies ever released. Bottled at 111.2 Proof and yielding 248 bottles, it is made from U.K. barley malted with Islay peat, it was fermented, distilled, and aged in Oregon. Single Cask #6 was aged in a 228-liter 3rd-fill Oregon oak cask with a medium toast and medium char.
Smooth Ambler has long been on the vanguard of sourcing and blending whiskey with transparency and integrity. They’ve also been distilling and aging their own whiskey all along as they forge a new whiskey tradition in West Virginia. This is Lost Lantern’s first wheated bourbon selection, producing 195 bottles at 124.2 Proof, distilled on Smooth Ambler’s own column still in West Virginia. It was aged in a 53-gallon barrel for 5 years.
Starlight Distillery is part of Huber’s Orchard & Winery, an Indiana institution since 1843. While Starlight is just across the Ohio River from Kentucky and about 20 miles from Louisville, the climate, conditions, and culture are quite distinct from their counterparts to the south. This straight rye whiskey was aged for 4 years in a 53-gallon barrel and it yielded 211 bottles at 113.2 Proof.
On this new Winter Whiskey Wednesday tradition, Lost Lantern Co-Founders Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski said, “While we don’t normally reveal release dates far in advance, fans can expect a Lost Lantern winter drop timed to the holiday season the first Wednesday of December every year. This release, beginning with our Winter 2021 collection, will include some of our most exciting whiskies of the year, selected with celebration, cold weather, and gift giving in mind.”
Blake Riber, founder of Seelbach’s is also excited to launch the new collection. “We’re thrilled to have the exclusive Lost Lantern Winter Collection on Seelbach’s! Most of their fall release sold out before we even had a chance to announce it. Lost Lantern is pushing the boundaries for independent bottlers in American Whiskey. This is exactly what we want to showcase on Seelbach’s.”
All three of these distilleries and states are new additions to Lost Lantern’s single cask lineup. “Clear Creek has been making McCarthy’s for over 20 years and has a well-deserved cult following,” said Nora and Adam. “Smooth Ambler is best known for sourcing and blending but has also been distilling their own whiskey for years, so we’re excited to present their own West Virginia-distilled wheated bourbon. Finally, Starlight showcases Southern Indiana’s terroir, climate, and agriculture and is quickly becoming one of the darlings of bourbon drinkers.”
Lost Lantern released 10 single casks in its first year, all of which sold out, and debuted five more on their one-year anniversary in October. Single casks are an essential piece of the Lost Lantern model, inspired by the long tradition of independent bottlers in Scotland. These highly limited, one-of-a-kind single casks consist of unique and deeply expressive whiskies produced by some of the finest distilleries in the United States.
Lost Lantern’s Winter Whiskey Wednesday drop releases: 2021 Single Cask #6 – McCarthy’s 6 Year Old Oregon Peated Single Malt, 2021 Single Cask #7 – Smooth Ambler West Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey (124.2 Proof) and 2021 Single Cask #8- Starlight Indiana Straight Rye Whiskey are available exclusively for $140, $80 and $70, respectively, at seelbachs.com and on lostlanternwhiskey.com at a later date.
