Lochs of Jura Takes the IWSC Trophy, and Woodford Reserve Turns 30

The International Wine & Spirit Competition named its 2026 Spirits Trophy winners on Monday, and both American whiskey trophies went to Nelson County: Bardstown Bourbon Company's Scotch-cask blend Lochs of Jura at $139.99, and a four-year, 100-proof Old Bardstown from Willett. Two days later Woodford Reserve marked its 30th birthday with a 375 ml all-pot-still bottle sold only in Versailles, and a Boston bottler put a 10-year MGP bourbon on sale at barrel proof for $69.99 with a promise to keep making it.

A quieter week than the last two, and a cheaper one. Nothing on this page costs more than $225, and the week's biggest award went to a bottle that costs far less than that.

1. Industry

   Lochs of Jura takes the IWSC American Whiskey Trophy

   Why it matters: The highest-scoring American whiskey of the year is a Scotch-cask blend at $139.99, and it has been on shelves since August.

2. Collecting

   A four-year bonded Old Bardstown wins the Bourbon Trophy

   Why it matters: The judges put a 100-proof, four-year Willett bottle above every other bourbon entered. Finding it outside Kentucky is the hard part.

3. Distillery

   Woodford Reserve marks 30 years with two gift-shop bottles

   Why it matters: A 375 ml bonded all-pot-still whiskey for $64.99 now, and a 150-unit stoneware decanter at $225 on October 16. Both require a trip to Versailles.

4. Release

   Copper & Cask puts a 10-year barrel-proof bourbon on year-round

   Why it matters: Forty-five barrels of 10- to 12-year MGP stock at $69.99, with the proof left off the announcement.

5. Release

   Jacob's Pardon bottles its first bourbon

   Why it matters: A 90-proof four-grain blend from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana at $59.99, nationally, with no age statement.

The IWSC awarded 24 Spirits Trophies this year, chosen by members of its judging committee retasting the Gold and Gold Outstanding medalists from the spring judging¹. The American Whiskey Trophy went to Bardstown Bourbon Company's Lochs of Jura Barrel Finish, and the Bourbon Trophy to Willett Distillery's Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond, a four-year Kentucky straight¹². Both had already finished at the head of the North American results in June, when Lochs of Jura scored 99 and Old Bardstown 98, two of only three American whiskeys to reach the Gold Outstanding tier³.

Lochs of Jura is a 104-proof blend of straight whiskeys: 49 percent 11-year Indiana bourbon, 30 percent 10-year Indiana rye and 21 percent 12-year Kentucky bourbon, married and then left for 32 months in casks that had held single malt from the Isle of Jura, 84 percent of them ex-bourbon and 16 percent ex-sherry²⁴. The judges found cinnamon and spiced vanilla with orange peel and caramel on the nose, orange and nutmeg on the palate, and chocolate and wood spice into a finish they called exceptionally well-balanced². It reached shelves nationwide on August 21 at $139.99, and we covered the release then with the usual caution about competition scores in press materials. Four months later the score has become a trophy, and the caution still applies: a trophy is a retaste by a smaller panel of bottles that already medaled, not a second blind field.

The label reads blend of straight whiskies finished in single malt Scotch whisky barrels, which is why it competed as American whiskey rather than bourbon⁴. The sherry cask share is small but it is the part you taste; the maritime, soft-malt note that divides bourbon drinkers from Scotch drinkers is what 32 months on Jura wood puts into a Kentucky-and-Indiana blend. That is the pitch and also the caveat. If finished whiskeys read as a detour to you, the trophy will not change that.

Bardstown Bourbon Company

Bardstown Bourbon Company Lochs of Jura Barrel Finish

Age

10–12 years

Proof

104

MSRP

$139.99

Release

August 21

Where

Nationwide, limited

Worth chasing

Worth chasing if Scotch-cask finishes sit in your lane. The trophy will clear the bottles August did not, so the $139.99 price holds only as long as the shelf does.

Find in catalogReport a drop

The Bourbon Trophy went the other direction entirely. Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond is a four-year, 100-proof bonded Kentucky straight from Willett, and the judges put it above every bourbon entered¹³. It earned its 98 points in July at a price most allocated-bottle hunters spend on a single pour, and the problem then is the problem now: it is sold almost entirely inside Kentucky. The bonded designation (one distillery, one season, four years minimum, exactly 100 proof) is the most information a label can give you for the money, and how to read a bourbon label explains why that matters more than the medal.

Willett Distillery

Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond

Age

4 years

Proof

100

Where

Mostly Kentucky

Value pick

Four years, 100 proof, bonded, and now the Bourbon Trophy. The limit is geography: it sells mostly inside Kentucky, so the score is easier to admire than the bottle is to find.

Find in catalogReport a drop

Woodford Reserve launched in October 1996, and for its 30th anniversary Brown-Forman released two bottles that you can only buy at the distillery gift shop in Woodford County⁵⁶. The first is the Distillery Series: Triple Pot Still, whiskey distilled entirely on the three copper pot stills at Versailles, bottled in bond at 100 proof, in a 375 ml bottle for $64.99 from October 7⁵⁷. The pot stills were what set the brand apart at launch, when most American whiskey came off column stills, and the release is pitched as a showcase of the full-bodied profile the historic site produces⁵⁶.

The arithmetic matters here. Sixty-five dollars for 375 ml is $130 for a standard bottle's worth, and it is a bonded bottling with no age beyond the four-year minimum stated. What you are paying for is distillate you cannot otherwise buy on its own. Whether that is worth a drive to Versailles depends on how much the pot-still character means to your palate; the distillery sees more than 200,000 visitors a year, so plenty of people will decide it is⁵.

Woodford Reserve (Brown-Forman)

Woodford Reserve Distillery Series: Triple Pot Still Bottled-in-Bond

Proof

100

MSRP

$64.99

Release

October 7

Where

Distillery gift shop, Versailles

Digital Dram take

At $64.99 for 375 ml this is a $130 bottle by volume. The reason to buy it is the all-pot-still distillate, which the standard bottling never shows you on its own.

Find in catalogReport a drop

The second release lands October 16: a personal selection of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked single barrel chosen by master distiller Elizabeth McCall, packaged in a ceramic decanter made by Louisville Stoneware, limited to 150 units at $225 and sold only at the gift shop⁵⁶⁷. McCall became master distiller in February 2023, the third person and the first woman to hold the post⁶. The decanter is the collectible; the whiskey is a gift-shop single barrel of the same Double Oaked the distillery sells in glass every day.

Woodford Reserve (Brown-Forman)

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Single Barrel Personal Selection with Louisville Stoneware Decanter

MSRP

$225

Release

October 16

Bottles

150

Where

Distillery gift shop, Versailles

Digital Dram take

The decanter is the object; the whiskey inside is a gift-shop single barrel of Double Oaked, which the distillery sells in plain glass for a fraction of $225.

Find in catalog

Copper & Cask, the Boston independent bottler owned by Latitude Beverage, announced "X" on October 6: a 10-year age-stated bourbon at barrel proof, and the brand's first permanent release, meant to stay available year-round through ongoing small batch drops⁸⁹. The first batch pulls 45 barrels of 10- to 12-year bourbon distilled at MGP in Indiana, split between the 21 percent low-rye and 36 percent high-rye recipes, and aged in Kentucky, Indiana and at the company's Rhode Island headquarters⁸. Barrel Master Stephen Corrigan, who has run the barrel program since 2022, described going deep into inventory for mature barrels that would hold up at full strength⁸. The suggested price is $69.99, at select retailers nationwide and online this month⁸⁹.

The brand's tasting notes run milk chocolate and salted caramel on the nose, butterscotch, almonds and cherry cola on the palate, and toffee, mocha and candied orange peel on the finish⁸. Two things the announcement does not say: the proof, and the bottle count. Barrel proof on 10- to 12-year MGP stock is a wide window, as the barrel-proof standouts we have written up show, so the number on the label is the one to read before you decide what $69.99 buys. And "permanent" means batches, which means batch two will not be these 45 barrels. For a bottler whose business has been single barrels and one-off cask strength blends, this is the first time a Copper & Cask bottle is meant to taste the same next spring.

Copper & Cask (Latitude Beverage)

Copper & Cask X 10 Year Barrel Proof Bourbon

Age

10 years

Proof

Barrel proof

MSRP

$69.99

Release

October

Bottles

45 barrels (first batch)

Where

Select retailers nationwide and online

Value pick

Ten-year MGP bourbon at barrel proof for $69.99 is the price-to-age case of the week. The announcement leaves the proof out, so the number printed on the label decides how hot a bottle you are getting.

Find in catalogReport a drop

Jacob's Pardon (Palm Bay International)

Jacob's Pardon Bourbon

Proof

90

MSRP

$59.99

Release

October

Where

Nationwide

Announced October 1 and in national distribution now, this is the first bourbon from a brand whose name comes from two brothers arrested for bootlegging in 1929 and pardoned by Franklin Roosevelt in 1935¹⁰¹¹. It is a four-grain blend of bourbons from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, assembled by F. Paul Pacult with the Taub family, who own Palm Bay International; corn leads, with rye, wheat and malted barley behind it. It is 90 proof and $59.99 for a 750 ml bottle¹⁰¹². The brand's notes are cherry, honey and orange into caramel, vanilla and spice¹⁰. There is no age statement (what that omission tells you is covered in our Bourbon 101 guide), and at this price it sits ten dollars below a 10-year barrel-proof bottle in the same week's news, which is the comparison a shelf will make for you.

Digital Dram take

A sourced 90-proof blend with no age statement at $59.99 asks for a pour before a purchase. The four-grain recipe and F. Paul Pacult's blending are the pitch; the Prohibition story is the label.

Find in catalogReport a drop

No other competition results were announced this week beyond the IWSC trophies.

Drink responsibly, and only if you are 21 or older.

Sources & methodology12 sources

Every claim in this issue links to its source. Reporting draws on distiller announcements, regulators and trade outlets, and prices are suggested retail at the time of publication.

Footnotes

1. IWSC, "IWSC Spirits Trophies 2026: winners revealed," October 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Inc., "The 99-Point American Whiskey at the 2026 IWSC Isn't Just Bourbon. That's the Point," October 9, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. The Bourbon Road, "A Kentucky Bourbon Topped the Whole Field at IWSC 2026," June 16, 2026 ↩ ↩²

4. Bardstown Bourbon Company, "Lochs of Jura Barrel Finish," product page ↩ ↩²

5. Wine Industry Advisor / Brown-Forman press release, "Woodford Reserve Celebrates 30 Years with Exclusive Anniversary Releases," October 7, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

6. The Whiskey Wash, "Woodford Reserve Marks 30th Anniversary With Two Releases," October 7, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. The Spirits Business, "Woodford Reserve marks 30 years with special releases," October 8, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. Breaking Bourbon, "Copper & Cask Unveils 'X,' a 10-Year Barrel Proof Bourbon," October 6, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

9. Fred Minnick, "Copper & Cask Launches 10-Year-Old X Bourbon," October 6, 2026 ↩ ↩²

10. PR Newswire / Jacob's Pardon, "Jacob's Pardon, the Whiskey Born From an FDR Pardon, Releases Its First-Ever Bourbon," October 1, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³

11. Fred Minnick, "Jacob's Pardon Whiskey Brand to Release First Bourbon," October 5, 2026 ↩

12. The Manual, "A new bourbon is being launched to pay tribute to a presidential pardon for a family of prohibition-era bootleggers," October 6, 2026 ↩