(Photos: Apothic Wines)

Apothic Wines is teaming up with Heidi Klum for a Halloween campaign that includes limited-edition wine “blood bags,” social content and a chance for one fan to attend Klum’s annual Halloween party.

The Apothic x Heidi Klum Type ‘A’ Blood Bags are designed as wine-drinking collectibles modeled after medical blood bags. The two-pack costs $10.31 and comes in a custom red cooler. The bags are intended to be filled with Apothic Red and are available only to U.S. consumers age 21 and older.

The first release is scheduled for Thursday night at 10:31 p.m. ET through ApothicBloodTypeA.com, while supplies last. Apothic says a second drop will be announced through its social channels, with the first clue pointing fans “look to the full moon.”

The partnership also gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at Klum’s preparations for her Halloween celebration. Apothic says Klum will share costume clues, hosting tips, fan reactions and creator content through the brand’s social channels.

Klum’s Halloween party is celebrating its 25th annual edition this year, and Apothic is an official sponsor.

Fans can also enter a sweepstakes for the chance to attend the party with a guest. The entry period runs through Sept. 27 at ApothicBloodTypeA.com, where participants are asked to share how they plan to celebrate Halloween with Apothic.

“My Halloween motto has always been: go BIG or go home!” Klum said in a news release. “I love that Apothic has so much fun with Halloween, and honestly, even the bottle feels like it was made for the holiday.”

The campaign is built around Apothic’s “You Deserve an A” theme, with the “Type ‘A’” name referring to the brand’s push for consumers to bring their “A Game” to Halloween. Apothic notes that the blood-bag design is a Halloween collectible and is not a medical product or intended for medical use.

“Apothic set out to be different from the start, creating wines that stand apart from traditional expectations,” Marshall Dawson, vice president of marketing at Gallo, said. “That same spirit is what turns an ordinary night into something extraordinary — and there’s no better night for that than Halloween.”

Apothic Red, the wine featured in the blood bags, is a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Merlot and other varietals. The brand describes the wine as having blueberry and boysenberry flavors with vanilla and mocha notes.

Apothic Red is available nationwide for a suggested retail price of $10.99 per 750-milliliter bottle at 13.5% ABV.

The Glenlivet is bringing a taste of Southern France to Speyside with its new limited-edition The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Provence Edition.

The 12-year-old single malt is finished in a combination of Château Sainte Marguerite white wine, Rivesaltes and Sauternes casks. The scotch is bottled at 40% ABV (80 proof) and is being positioned as a limited-edition expression inspired by the flavors and culture of Provence.

According to The Glenlivet, the wine cask finishing layers the distillery’s signature smoothness with floral aromas and ripe orchard fruit. Provided tasting notes include white peach, nectarine, pear and bright citrus, followed by a mellow finish with lingering fruit, toasted oak and baking spice.

“With the Provence Edition, we wanted to take The Glenlivet somewhere unexpected,” The Glenlivet Master Blender Kevin Balmforth said in a news release. “By actively monitoring the finishing process and carefully balancing the influence of Château Sainte Marguerite, Rivesaltes, and Sauternes wine casks, we have created a whisky that delivers vibrant orchard fruit, elegant floral notes, and exceptional complexity.”

The release connects The Glenlivet’s Scottish single malt with the French influence of Provence, including a culinary collaboration with Frenchette Bakery pastry chef Michelle Palazzo.

To mark the launch, The Glenlivet debuted Le Café du Whisky, a pop-up experience beginning Thursday in New York City. The activation will feature a Provençal-inspired pastry created by Palazzo called Tarte aux Pêches. The pastry is made with a vanilla bean custard infused with The Glenlivet Provence Edition and is topped with peaches. The Glenlivet says the dessert is designed to echo the whisky’s white peach, nectarine, pear and citrus notes.

The brand will also offer national bookable experiences centered on the Provence Edition, along with a Provençal Spritz cocktail highlighting the whisky’s fruit and citrus character.

The Glenlivet’s campaign for the release extends the French theme through “Peachtanque,” a fictional game created for the brand’s campaign world that combines elements of Scottish craft with a French accent.

(Photo: Sazerac)

The spirits juggernaut behind Buffalo Trace and Pappy Van Winkle is reviving a historic name in Kentucky bourbon at a fraction of the price of its contemporaries.

On Tuesday, Sazerac announced the launch of Glenmore Kentucky Straight Bourbon and Glenmore Kentucky Straight Rye, a pair of whiskeys that pay homage to one of the oldest distilleries in the spirits firm’s ever-expanding portfolio.

Glenmore — not to be confused with Old Glenmore, or any number of other Scotch whisky brands that begin with “Glen” —  was a distillery founded in Owensboro, Kentucky, in the late 19th century. Throughout its over 120-year production history, the facility earned its reputation with flagship brands like Kentucky Tavern and Yellowstone Bourbon, and at one point became one of the few licensed distilleries to bottle medicinal whiskey during Prohibition.

The distillery wound down operations in 1973, exchanged hands to Guinness in 1991 and was eventually purchased by Sazerac in 2009. Though it’s still operated under the Glenmore name, the facility is nowadays used mainly as a bottling plant and the unexpected home of a corporate art collection. The name nonetheless lives on. Collectors can purchase original-era Glenmore bottles for as much as $7,000, with even the brand’s standard six-year bourbon reselling for around $700, at minimum.

Sazerac’s revival takes things in a different direction. For one, Glenmore Rye and Glenmore Bourbon are inspired by, not produced at, the Glenmore Distillery, and are not made from an original-era mashbill or recipe. What’s more, both of the whiskeys are bottled at 100 proof, both are non-age-stated and both cost a mere $20 per bottle.

Glenmore Bourbon is said to balance notes of crème brûlée, toasted marshmallow, vanilla custard, caramelized sugar and toasted pecan, while the Rye reportedly offers classic rye spice balanced by black pepper, toasted grain and subtle sweetness. The Bourbon is now available at retailers, bars and restaurants in the Sazerac distribution network, while the Rye is expected to hit shelves sometime this month.

“The Glenmore name has an incredible history, and we’re honored to help write its next chapter,” Lauren Selman, Global Growth and Innovation Director at Sazerac, remarked in a news release. “There is an entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to innovate that define the Distillery’s history, and we saw an opportunity to give those qualities new life. We’re excited to whiskey fans to try this release and celebrate this new era with us!”

(Photo: MGP)

Big news for American whiskey fans!

On Wednesday, Indiana’s bulk distilling juggernaut MGP announced that it’s expanding its in-house spirits portfolio with a namesake American whiskey series. The first release in the collection, dubbed MGP Chapter One: Out of the Shadows, pays homage to the distillers’ famed high-rye bourbon mashbill and is slated to hit shelves nationwide this fall at a suggested retail price of $69.99.

Chapter One is described as a 110-proof, 10-year-old straight bourbon selectively blended from barrels of the historic LBSV mashbill (60% corn, 36% rye and 4% malted barley). The barrels were aged for a full decade in the facility’s Rickhouse G, imbuing aromas of butterscotch, burnt sugar, molasses and cherry, followed by flavors of cola, raspberries, chocolate, sassafras and leather, according to the brand.

“We’ve been making whiskey and spirits that others have proudly put their names on for decades,” Julie Francis, president and CEO of MGP Ingredients, Inc., remarked in a news release. “Bringing the MGP name back to the distillery and launching MGP Chapter One: Out of the Shadows is an exciting opportunity to share that story directly with consumers.”

The release signals a surprise pivot for MGP, a distiller that — its latest bottle correctly points out — has long worked from the shadows.

For decades, the Lawrenceburg, Indiana-based company has been synonymous with its Distilling Solutions arm, the largest supplier of white-labeled whiskey in the United States. From Bulleit Rye to Redemption Bourbon, MGP is the workhorse distiller behind hundreds of brands, some of which exclusively rebottle MGP juice and others of which mix MGP liquid with in-house distillate.

The once-lucrative business model has taken a hit from industry headwinds. In June, the company reported a 59% drop in whiskey sales for its Distilling Solutions arm. The news came less than a year after MGP revealed that it was scaling down white-label whiskey production “in response to the softening American whiskey category trends and elevated industry-wide barrel inventories.”

Upper management has refocused MGP’s priorities on its Branded Spirits arm, which owns in-house imprints like Penelope Bourbon and Yellowstone whiskey. A recent earnings report revealed that these “premium-plus” whiskey brands outperformed the rest of MGP’s portfolio, growing by 5% in a quarter when several categories dropped by steep double digits.

“These results reflect continued momentum in our premium-plus portfolio, led by Penelope Bourbon and Yellowstone, and an improvement in select mid- and value-priced brands,” Francis said at the time. “As we move through the second half of 2026, we will maintain our strategic roadmap and drive our key growth initiatives, while prioritising our best opportunities for growth, taking decisive actions and executing with discipline.”

Chapter One: Out of the Shadows is the first Branded Spirits whiskey that bears the MGP name. As the historic distiller forges a new path forward, it appears it’ll be leaning harder than ever on the reputation of its three-letter moniker.

(Photos: Johnnie Walker)

Two-time Grammy Award winner Sabrina Carpenter is doubling down on her Scotch whisky partnership with a limited-edition bottling that will gradually make its way across the globe.

On Tuesday, Johnnie Walker unveiled a redesign of its flagship Black Label whisky inspired by the pop star’s most recent album, “Man’s Best Friend.” The reimagining features a bespoke, baby-blue colorway, miniature paw prints on the label, an embossed golden heart and other pint-sized flourishes paying homage to Carpenter’s career.

“I adore creating little surprises for my fans, and this felt like such a cool way to bring the world of ‘Man’s Best Friend’ to life,” Carpenter remarked in a news release. “I love telling stories beyond music, so getting to put my own spin on something as iconic as the Johnnie Walker Black Label bottle was such a fun challenge. I can’t wait for everyone to see all the little details.”

The liquid contained within is standard Johnnie Walker Black Label: A 12-year-old blend sourced from various distilleries, bottled at 86 proof and sold for around $35 to $40 (parent company Diageo assures the Sabrina Carpenter edition will roll out at the same recommended retail price as its regular counterpart). If you’ve never had a chance to try Black Label for yourself, feel free to check out our review here. It’s one of the most widely distributed whiskies in the world, and a ubiquitious right of passage for anyone getting into Scotch for the first time.

The Sabrina Carpenter edition is now available throughout Great Britain in both 700-milliliter and 750-milliliter formats, and is scheduled to roll out across Mexico, India, Europe and Asia Pacific. A Johnnie Walker representative said that the bottle will hit the United States sometime next year, though the brand has yet to provide an exact date.

The “Espresso” pop star signed on as the face of Johnnie Walker almost exactly a year ago.  The first leg of the campaign set up shop at select locations on Carpenter’s then-ongoing Short n’ Sweet tour, where attendees were invited to try signature cocktails like the Short n’ Sour, the Go Go Highball and the Man(hattan)’s Best Friend.

“Stepping into this next chapter of my music has been such a thrill. It feels more confident and a lot more unapologetic,” Carpenter said at the time. “This partnership is about celebrating boldly, pushing boundaries, and moving forward with purpose.”

(Photo: Buffalo Trace Distillery)

The Van Winkle family and Buffalo Trace Distillery have announced the 2026 release of the Van Winkle Whiskey Collection, bringing back six limited-production bourbon and rye whiskeys ranging from 10 to 23 years old.

The collection will be distributed to retailers, bars and restaurants across the United States through Sazerac’s distribution network. Suggested retail prices range from $169.99 for Old Rip Van Winkle Bourbon 10-Year-Old to $499.99 for Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 23-Year-Old.

The 2026 lineup comprises:

• Old Rip Van Winkle Bourbon 10-Year-Old: $169.99
• Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon 12-Year-Old: $199.99
• Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 15-Year-Old: $299.99
• Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13-Year-Old: $299.99
• Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 20-Year-Old: $399.99
• Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 23-Year-Old: $499.99

The Van Winkle collection is produced in partnership with Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. The Van Winkle family and Buffalo Trace Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley select barrels for each expression based on the standards established for the individual whiskeys.

“Every year, we look forward to the opportunity to share these whiskeys with people who have followed our family’s story and appreciate the time and care behind each bottle,” Preston Van Winkle, vice president and fourth-generation member of Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery, said in a news release. “There are no shortcuts when you’re talking about whiskey that has spent this many years aging.”

The six expressions remain consistent from year to year, but the producers say individual barrels can develop differently during maturation. As a result, the family considers each annual bottling distinct from previous releases.

The youngest whiskey in the 2026 collection is the 10-year-old Old Rip Van Winkle Bourbon. Its profile features vanilla, caramel, pecan and seasoned oak, with cherry and wheat on the palate and a long finish marked by fruit, spice and oak tannins, according to the brand.

The 12-year-old Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon is said to offer dried mango, spiced peach and cocoa alongside honey, seasoned oak and tobacco. The finish is described as dry and warm.

Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 15-Year-Old carries a $299.99 suggested retail price and, according to the brand, combines caramel corn and vanilla with leather, seasoned oak and fruit. The 20-year-old version is priced at $399.99 and is said to feature citrus zest, sherry, dried fruit and vanilla.

At the top of the collection, Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon 23-Year-Old carries a $499.99 suggested retail price. Its tasting notes includes apple and cherry, caramel, mature oak, tobacco and chocolate, with pronounced wood character and a long caramel-driven finish.

The sixth release, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13-Year-Old, is also priced at $299.99. The whiskey features chestnut, vanilla and fruit on the nose, followed by cocoa, vanilla, spice and white pepper on the palate.

The Van Winkle family traces its whiskey roots to the late 19th century, when Julian P. “Pappy” Van Winkle Sr. began working in the Louisville whiskey business. He later became associated with Stitzel-Weller Distillery, which opened in 1935.

The family partnered with Buffalo Trace in 2002. Today, Van Winkle whiskey is crafted and aged at Buffalo Trace under the partnership between the two companies.

“I’ve had the privilege of watching this collection become something that means a great deal not only to our family, but to people around the world,” said Julian P. Van Winkle III, president of Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery. “For me, each bottle is a connection to the generations who came before us and to the patience, pride and traditions they passed down.”

The 2026 Van Winkle collection will be released in limited quantities across the U.S., with availability and retail pricing varying by market.

The Van Winkle family and Buffalo Trace caution consumers to purchase bottles through licensed retailers and other authorized sellers, noting that secondary-market purchases can carry increased risks of counterfeit products and fraud.

(Photo: WhistlePig Whiskey)

On Wednesday, WhistlePig opened presale on the 13th release in its The Boss Hog series, and this one traces its origins to a tiger nut cake recipe found carved into an Egyptian tomb more than 3,000 years old.

The Boss Hog XIII: The Golden Pharaoh is a straight rye finished in barrels seasoned with Egyptian black honey and tiger nuts. It’s the first The Boss Hog release to draw its inspiration from Africa, and the brand’s first time opening a presale window for the series.

The recipe is something of a study in misnomers. Egyptian black honey, or asal eswed, is a sugarcane molasses rather than bee honey, and remains a staple ingredient in Egyptian cooking today. Tiger nuts, meanwhile, aren’t nuts at all, but edible tubers with a flavor closer to almond or coconut, long used across Egypt and the wider Mediterranean and Middle East for food, medicine and ritual offerings.

“Through our research, we came across a tiger nut cake recipe carved into the side of a tomb dating back more than 3,000 years,” WhistlePig Whiskey Head Blender Meghan Ireland said in a news release. “We recreated the recipe on our farm and fell in love with the flavor combination. That led us to experiment with the finishing for this year’s The Boss Hog to see what those flavors could do to Rye whiskey. We were not disappointed!”

An aside for whiskey nerds: this is the first The Boss Hog I can remember that was distilled in Kentucky, a departure from the series’ more common Canadian roots (last year’s edition was distilled in Indiana) — and it comes a few months after WhistlePig opened The Vault, its bar in Louisville. Coincidence?

As always, WhistlePig says the release holds to The Boss Hog series’ five promises: single barrel, bottled at proof, powerfully complex, distinctly unique, and “Stupendous.”

Presale opens Wednesday ahead of a nationwide launch on Sept. 29. The whiskey carries a suggested retail price of $599.99 for a 750-milliliter bottle, bottled at cask strength between 102.6 and 105.6 proof (51.3-52.8% ABV).Each bottle is topped with a pewter Golden Pharaoh-inspired topper, with a limited number of bottles receiving a rare gold topper for collectors.

Review: How Does The Boss Hog XIII Golden Pharaoh Stack Up?

WhistlePig was gracious enough to send me a bottle of The Boss Hog XIII ahead of its launch for review. It’s a dense, nuanced pour that opens with warm holiday spice, honey and molasses up front, with a long finish that delivers dark chocolatey/coffee goodness and plenty of spice.

Find our full tasting notes, score and our take on how it compares to last year’s The Boss Hog are available in our complete review.

Kansas City distillery J. Rieger & Co. is marking National Bourbon Heritage Month with the oldest bourbon it has released in its modern era: Rieger Private Stock 10-Year Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

The new expression will be available exclusively at the J. Rieger & Co. distillery beginning Sept. 19, with fewer than 300 bottles available. The release also marks the return of the historic “Private Stock” label, which the company is reviving for a series of limited, distillery-exclusive releases.

The bourbon comes from just three 10-year-old barrels — the only in Rieger’s inventory, according to Master Distiller Nathan Perry.

“This isn’t manufactured scarcity. This release utilizes the only three 10-year-old barrels we currently have in our inventory,” Perry said in a news release. “It felt important to both honor the history of American Whiskey and the Rieger name by sharing our 10-year Bourbon under the historic ‘Private Stock’ label during National Bourbon Heritage Month.”

A New Chapter for the ‘Private Stock’ Label

The Private Stock name has roots in Rieger’s pre-Prohibition history. According to the distillery, a 1927 federal court ruling allowed the Rieger family to move its personal whiskey inventory from the company’s shuttered facility to their home during Prohibition.

More than a century later, the label is being brought back for a new series of quarterly, distillery-exclusive releases geared at whiskey enthusiasts.

The 10-year bourbon is crafted from Rieger’s Straight Bourbon Whiskey recipe, which is made at the Kansas City distillery using sweet mash fermentation and a combination of column and pot still distillation.

“Our goal has always been to build a collection of exceptional whiskeys that are impeccably made, fairly priced and true to our legacy,” said Andy Rieger, president and co-owner of J. Rieger & Co. “This limited 10-year release showcases what patience, craftsmanship, and our unique approach can bring.”

Rieger Private Stock 10-Year Straight Bourbon Whiskey goes on sale at noon Sept. 19 at the distillery. The company will also host a Private Stock First Pour on Sept. 17, offering ticket holders a guided tasting, appetizers and first access to purchase a bottle.

Founded in Kansas City in 1887, J. Rieger & Co. was once the country’s largest mail-order whiskey house before Prohibition ended its original operation. Andy Rieger, a descendant of founder Jacob Rieger, relaunched the company in 2014 with bartender Ryan Maybee.

(Photo: Basil Hayden)

On Wednesday, Basil Hayden added a French twist to its bourbon lineup with the release of Basil Hayden Cognac Cask Reserve, a limited-edition bourbon finished in French oak casks that previously held Cognac for 20-25 years.

The new expression is available now at select retailers for a suggested retail price of $49.99. It is distilled from Basil Hayden’s signature high-rye mashbill bottled at the usual 80 proof, but according to the brand, the Cognac cask finish adds notes of dried fruit, caramel and additional oak character.

According to the brand, Cognac Cask Reserve is the first Basil Hayden expression to “reimagine the brand’s approachable high-rye profile as a passport to flavors from around the world.”

“Basil Hayden Cognac Cask reflects our commitment to honoring the brand’s original bourbon while continuing to explore what’s possible within the category,” Freddie Noe, eighth generation master distiller at the James B. Beam Distilling Co., said in a news release. “This expression was thoughtfully crafted to deliver a distinctive yet approachable experience. French Cognac casks let us take our Basil Hayden signature profile that people know and love and put a twist on it, and we’re incredibly proud to share it with bourbon and cognac drinkers alike.”

The James B. Beam Distilling Company is bringing back Baker’s 13, a limited-edition 13-year-old single barrel bourbon that highlights the differences that develop from barrel to barrel during extended aging.

Named for Baker Beam, grandnephew of Jim Beam, the Baker’s brand is built around individuality within the Beam family’s long distilling tradition. According to the company, Baker’s bourbon is distilled at a lower proof and always aged for at least seven years, a process the brand says allows the whiskey to draw additional toasted nut, fruit and vanilla character from the barrel.

The returning Baker’s 13 is bottled at 107 proof and will be released in limited quantities beginning in September. Each bottle is 750 milliliters and carries a suggested retail price of $149.99.

The 13-year expression is designed to demonstrate how both time and a barrel’s location within the warehouse can influence the character of bourbon. As a single-barrel release, individual bottles can reflect the characteristics of their specific barrel rather than a uniform blend of multiple barrels.

The Baker’s line doesn’t always get the fanfare that Booker’s releases do, but in the opinion of this writer, Baker’s 13 is one of — if not the — best annual releases from Beam. 2025’s was one of my favorite whiskey releases of the year (find my review here), and I’m very excited to taste the 2026 iteration. Keep your eyes peeled for that review soon.