Old Forester Starts a $300 Tribute Series, and Knob Creek 21 Comes Back

Old Forester used Thursday to start a new annual series at $299.99: a 12-year-old bourbon at 115 proof, batched from the brand's oldest stock and poured into a faceted decanter modeled on the holiday bottles it sold in the 1950s and 60s. The same day, James B. Beam Distilling Co. said its 21-year-old Knob Creek is coming back to shelves nationwide at $249.99, a year after the first run. Those two bottles set the week's price ceiling. Everything else on this page either cost less or could not be bought at retail at all, including a bonded wheated bourbon from New Riff and a 720-bottle rye from Pursuit Spirits that went almost entirely to club members.

Two of five releases this week never touched a distributor. That is the pattern worth noticing.

1. Release

   Old Forester opens a Tribute Series at $299.99

   Why it matters: A 12-year, 115-proof batched bourbon in a revived holiday decanter, and the brand says it is annual from here on.

2. Release

   Knob Creek 21 Year Old returns nationwide at $249.99

   Why it matters: Beam's oldest bottling, at 100 proof, gets a second run a year after the first one sold through, with no bottle count given.

3. Distillery

   New Riff bottles a bonded wheated bourbon with dark wheat

   Why it matters: Six years, 100 proof, $59.99, and the only way in is Whiskey Club membership and a drive to Newport.

4. Distillery

   Pursuit United XS Double Oak Rye goes 92 percent to club members

   Why it matters: 720 bottles at 126.2 proof and $149.99, no retail, no shipping, poured by the glass downstairs.

5. Release

   Barrell returns French Toast(ed) at 12 years and 107.24 proof

   Why it matters: Four states of 12- to 17-year bourbon in French oak at $159.99, six proof points lower than the 2025 batch.

6. Release

   Copper & Cask X lands at 116.4 proof

   Why it matters: The number last week's announcement left out is now on the label, along with a count of 6,350 bottles.

Old Forester announced the Tribute Series on October 15 and put the first edition on select shelves nationwide the same day, in limited quantities, at a suggested $299.99¹². The whisky is a 12-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon at 115 proof, and the brand describes the series as its new annual age-stated flagship, with each future release bottled somewhere between 110 and 125 proof¹³. The batching is the part to read twice. Old Forester says the Tribute Series brings together its highest age-stated stock as a batch rather than relying on single-barrel or single-lot selections, which puts it closer to a small-batch blend of old barrels than to the one-warehouse story the brand usually tells¹.

The bottle is doing a lot of the work. From 1954 through 1969, Old Forester sold its whisky in annual holiday decanters, and the Tribute Series glass reinterprets them: an architectural bottle with vertical facets, metallic accents, and a heavy metallic stopper engraved with the brand's historic quality statement¹². Assistant master distiller Caleb Trigo framed it as pairing some of the brand's most mature whisky with an important chapter in its design history¹. The press notes run warm caramel, sweet leather, golden raisins and dark cherries on the nose, cherry and candied walnuts into sweet cinnamon and cardamom on the palate, and a finish of toasted oak, peppercorn, cherry preserves and black tea¹.

What the announcement does not say: how many bottles, or the bottle size. Treat the $299.99 as a floor. The decanter is designed for display and collection, in the brand's own words, which means a share of these will never be opened, and the ones that are will be compared to Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, the brand's existing annual age-stated release, at a fraction of the price. How to read a label covers what a 12-year statement does and does not promise; here it promises the youngest whisky in the batch is 12, and the heat-cycled warehouses Old Forester uses tend to make 12 taste older than it is. For the basics behind an age statement, start with our Bourbon 101 guide.

Old Forester (Brown-Forman)

Old Forester Tribute Series 2026 12 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Age

12 years

Proof

115

MSRP

$299.99

Release

October 15

Where

Select retailers nationwide, limited quantities

Digital Dram take

Three hundred dollars buys a batched 12-year at 115 proof and a decanter built for a shelf. The whisky is the oldest age statement Old Forester has put on a bottle in years; the glass is what will keep a lot of them sealed.

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James B. Beam Distilling Co. is reintroducing Knob Creek 21 Year Old to retailers across the country for a limited time, at 100 proof and $249.99 for a 750 ml bottle, while supplies last⁴. It first appeared on October 28, 2025, when the distillery called it the oldest expression in its history and sold it in a keepsake box at the same price⁵. Eighth-generation master distiller Freddie Noe said at the time that the batch was never laid down to chase an age statement; after two decades in the rackhouse it was simply tasted and found ready⁵.

The brand's notes are consistent across both runs: seasoned oak, caramelized sugar and subtle smoke on the nose, caramel and char with fruit on the palate, and a long finish of toffee and charred wood⁴⁵. Nobody has said how many bottles are in this release, or whether it is the same barrels bottled later or a fresh selection, and the announcement gives no reason for the return beyond demand. At 100 proof the dilution is substantial for a bourbon this old, which is why it drinks softer than its age suggests; the trade-off is that 21 years of new charred oak is a lot of tannin for the proof to carry. The first run was a holiday-season bottle, and this one arrives on the same calendar.

James B. Beam Distilling Co. (Suntory Global Spirits)

Knob Creek 21 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Age

21 years

Proof

100

MSRP

$249.99

Release

October

Where

Retailers nationwide, while supplies last

Worth chasing

A 21-year Beam bourbon at 100 proof for under $250 was the price-to-age case of last October, and a second run is the chance the first one did not give most people. Twenty-one years in new oak is a lot of tannin, so a pour before a purchase still applies.

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New Riff announced its first wheated bourbon on October 12 and sold it four days later to one audience: members of the New Riff Whiskey Club, for distillery pickup in Newport, Kentucky only⁶. The whiskey is a six-year Kentucky straight wheated bourbon, bottled in bond at 100 proof without chill filtration, at $59.99⁶. The mash bill is the interesting part. It is 65 percent corn, 18 percent floor-malted wheat, 10 percent unmalted wheat and 7 percent dark wheat, a recipe master distiller Brian Sprance says is closer to a beer than to a traditional whiskey, built from grains the team knew from brewing⁶. Dark wheat is there for roast and a toffee-caramel sweetness; the floor-malted wheat is there for depth. New Riff's notes open on lemon zest, orange and orange blossom honey before soft wheat, toasted pecan, brown sugar and custard, with a finish of vanilla buttercream and nutty oak⁶.

Three wheats at 100 proof, non-chill filtered and bonded, for $59.99, is the spec sheet of the week. For a palate that leans toward wheated bourbon, or one working through the wheated section of our complete bourbon buying guide, it is also the hardest bottle on this page to actually get, because the distillery has not said whether any of it reaches retail.

New Riff Distilling

New Riff 6 Year Old Kentucky Straight Wheated Bourbon Whiskey

Age

6 years

Proof

100

MSRP

$59.99

Release

October 16

Where

New Riff Whiskey Club members, distillery pickup only

Value pick

Bonded, non-chill filtered, six years and three kinds of wheat for $59.99 is the price-to-spec line of the week. The catch is the door: club members only, picked up in Newport.

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Pursuit Spirits went further. Pursuit United XS Double Oak Rye, the first bottle in a new XS ("Extra Special") line, is 720 bottles at 126.2 proof and $149.99, available from October 14 only at Pursuit Spirits on Whiskey Row in Louisville⁷. Ninety-two percent of the run was allocated to existing P. Club members; the rest goes to new members who join in person. No online sales, no shipping, no gift-shop allocation⁷. The base is Pursuit United Barrel Proof Rye, a blend of straight ryes from Bardstown Bourbon Company and Sagamore Spirit, re-barreled for nearly two years into American oak barrels commissioned from Seguin Moreau's Napa cooperage at char 3 with toasted heads⁷. Co-founder Kenny Coleman put the cost of those barrels at roughly six times a standard new barrel, and co-founder and master blender Ryan Cecil said the samples kept improving past the point where most finishes stop, with the whiskey reaching what he called whiskey-of-the-year potential at 20 months⁷. The same whiskey is poured at Trial + Error, the cocktail lounge beneath the shop, which for most readers is the only realistic way to taste it.

Pursuit Spirits

Pursuit United XS Double Oak Rye

Proof

126.2

MSRP

$149.99

Release

October 14

Bottles

720

Where

Pursuit Spirits on Whiskey Row, Louisville; P. Club members

Sleeper

Twenty months in Seguin Moreau oak on a Bardstown-and-Sagamore rye is the kind of finish that rarely gets a full-size barrel. With 92 percent already spoken for, the realistic way to taste it is a pour at Trial + Error.

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Barrell Craft Spirits

Barrell Craft Spirits 12 Year French Toast(ed) Bourbon Whiskey

Age

12–17 years

Proof

107.24

MSRP

$159.99

Release

October 13

Where

barrellbourbon.com and select retailers, 49 states

Barrell Craft Spirits announced the second edition of its Red Label 12-year French Toast(ed) bourbon on October 13: straight bourbons aged 12 to 17 years from Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Wyoming, finished in French oak casks at varying toast levels with an emphasis on Grand Chauffe barrels, and bottled at 107.24 proof for $159.99⁸⁹. It is sold through barrellbourbon.com and select retailers in 49 states, plus Puerto Rico and four export markets⁸⁹. The brand's notes are toasted brioche, vanilla custard, roasted nuts, cinnamon, clove and crème brûlée⁸. Founder Joe Beatrice said the batch shares a foundation with the first release but follows a vintage-like approach, so each one is meant to differ⁸. It does: the September 2025 original was 113.4 proof, built from 12- to 15-year bourbons with finishes running from 3 to 36 months, at the same $159.99⁹. Same name, wider sourcing, six proof points lower. Read the batch, not the label.

Digital Dram take

Six proof points lower than the 2025 batch and drawn from a wider set of distilleries, so this is a different whiskey under the same label. The French oak is the whole point; if toasted-cask sweetness sits outside your lane, $159.99 is an expensive way to confirm it.

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A follow-up on last week's news. Copper & Cask X, the 10-year barrel-proof MGP bourbon that we covered on October 12 with the proof missing from the announcement, is now listed on the company's own site at 116.4 proof, with the first batch counted at 6,350 bottles¹⁰. At $69.99 that is still the age-to-price number of the month, and now you know how hot it runs.

No competition results were announced this week.

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

Sources & methodology10 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. PR Newswire / Old Forester, "Old Forester Debuts Tribute Series, a 12-Year-Old Bourbon and New Decanter Honoring the Brand's Legacy of Firsts," October 15, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. The Whiskey Wash, "Old Forester Tribute Series Debuts With 12-Year-Old Bourbon," October 15, 2026 ↩ ↩²

3. Fred Minnick, "Old Forester Launches New Tribute Series Expressions," October 16, 2026 ↩

4. The Whiskey Wash, "Knob Creek 21 Year Old Bourbon Returns to US Retailers," October 15, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Suntory Global Spirits, "The James B. Beam Distilling Co. Introduces Knob Creek 21 Year Old, the Oldest Expression in Distillery History," October 28, 2025 ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. BevNET / New Riff Distilling press release, "New Riff Unveils 6-Year-Old Wheated Bourbon," October 12, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. Fred Minnick, "Pursuit Spirits Releases Pursuit United XS Double Oak," October 14, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

8. Breaking Bourbon, "Barrell Craft Spirits Launches New 12-Year French Toast(ed) Bourbon," October 13, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

9. The Whiskey Wash, "Barrell Craft Spirits Launches 12-Year-Old French Toasted Oak Bourbon in Red Label Series," October 14, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³

10. Copper & Cask, "Current Releases: X-01 'X' 10-Year Straight Bourbon," product listing ↩ ↩²