Redemption Is Bringing Back Its Excellent 18-Year-Old Bourbon for 2026
One of the very best bourbons of 2025, and one that received one of our highest Taste Test scores of the year, was Redemption 18-Year-Old. Well, we have some good news—that whiskey has returned for 2026, albeit in pretty limited numbers, along with an excellent bottled-in-bond expression from the brand, and we have the details to share.
As we reported last year, this is not the oldest expression that Redemption has ever released, but it’s the best one to date (the oldest honor goes to a 36-year-old bourbon that came out in 2017 which was… let’s just say a bit hard to drink). Redemption was founded in 2010 with a focus on rye whiskey sourced from MGP in Indiana, but over the years it has moved into bourbon and different types of cask finishes. Redemption was acquired by Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits in 2015, and Alan Kennedy became master blender in 2023.
Last year’s 18-Year-Old Bourbon was a blend of two of Redemption’s bourbon mashbills: 75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and four percent barley; and high-rye bourbon made from a mashbill of 60 percent corn, 36 percent rye, and four percent barley. The final blend came from just 69 barrels and was bottled at 103.4 proof. This year’s 18-Year-Old release was made from a mashbill of 74 percent corn, 22 percent rye, and four percent malted barley, and bottled at barrel proof of 102.85. We did not get to sample this year’s release yet, but the official tasting notes list cherry jam, cinnamon, vanilla, sweet corn, and leather on the palate, with a long oaky finish. Redemption 18 will be available this fall for a suggested retail price of $400.
The other news from Redemption is that the brand just released its first bottled-in-bond expression to date (at least four years old, exactly 100 proof, and the product of one distillery and one distillation season). Redemption Single Barrel Bonded Bourbon is, as you can guess from the name, also a single barrel release and is part of the Higher Marques Collection, a new series that debuted after Redemption redesigned its core portfolio last spring. That, in turn, came a few years after Diageo sued the brand, claiming that its bottle design looked too much like Bulleit’s. A jury agreed with that claim, and despite Deutsch’s appeal, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately ruled in Diageo’s favor.
At six years old, the new Redemption Single Barrel Bonded Bourbon is two years older than is required by bottled-in-bond guidelines. The whiskey was distilled at MGP’s Ross & Squibb Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and bottled without chill filtration at 100 proof in Frankfort, KY. “Single barrel whiskey is about embracing what can’t be replicated,” said Kennedy in a statement. “No two barrels mature exactly alike, and that’s what makes this work so rewarding… Choosing to bottle a bonded single barrel is a bet on our own barrels. Bottling one barrel at a time, to a standard you can’t bend, means every barrel must earn its distinction.” This new whiskey is available in stores and at websites like ReserveBar now (SRP $50).
One more piece of news from Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits—the company released another bottled-in-bond bourbon under its Bib & Tucker Tennessee whiskey label late last month, also a first for that brand. The new 8-Year-Old Bottled-in-Bond expression was created by apprentice blender James Joseph under master blender Kennedy’s stewardship. This is a high-rye bourbon distilled at Tennessee Distilling Group in Columbia, Tennessee in the spring of 2018, which was charcoal mellowed using the Lincoln County process of filtering new-make spirit through charcoal before barreling. This whiskey will be available nationally starting next month (SRP $65).
