The Cut — June 1, 2026 — Beam’s Clermont Distillery Restarts: 14 Weeks Dark and What It Means for Bourbon Through 2035

This is The Cut.

Warm caramel on the nose, soft stone fruit and almond cream on the palate, a finish that rounds out slow past the thirty-second mark. That’s eleven years of wheated bourbon aging — and a bottle of it sits at $79.99 with a pre-allocation window that closes in four days.

I’m John from Chasing the Unicorn Podcast. Here’s what we’re going after today. June 1, 2026.

Here’s where we want to end up. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Fall 2026 at MSRP — wheated Heaven Hill, eleven years, 100 proof — before the pre-allocation queue closes June 4 and walk-in pricing takes over.

Here’s what makes it tricky. Pre-allocation isn’t a lottery. It’s a queue — first in, bottle at MSRP. But accounts don’t advertise it loud, the window is short, and most buyers find out after it closes. Last cycle, Old Fitzgerald BiB came out of pre-allocation and hit walk-in retail at $95 to $110. The window is the only thing that changed.

Here’s the move. Go to Seelbach’s, Liquor Barn, or Total Wine — whichever ships to your state — search Old Fitzgerald BiB Fall 2026, and get in the pre-allocation queue before June 4.

Today’s lead industry story: Beam Suntory’s Clermont distillery restarted full operations this morning after fourteen weeks down. Clermont makes Knob Creek, Booker’s, Baker’s, and Jim Beam. The barrels going in today become 2035 shelf bottles — Knob Creek’s nine-year age statement means today’s new-make won’t hit retail until 2034. This is the supply-side math bourbon runs on. What gets made now, you buy a decade from now.

That’s the context behind Old Fitzgerald BiB at $79.99 this week. Heaven Hill’s been running its own version of supply discipline. Eleven-year-old wheated bourbon at this price is getting harder to source — not because production stopped, but because mature inventory is aging out of the rickhouses faster than the newer distillate can replace it. Two things you’re paying for here: grain and time. Wheat instead of rye gives you that soft, rounded finish from the hook — the sweetness without the rye spike. Eleven years deepens the caramel layer and extends the warmth on the back end. At $79.99, that’s a decade of warehouse work without a lottery.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Fall 2026 is the Chase Spotlight this week. Eleven years, 100 proof, wheated Heaven Hill. Pre-allocation closes June 4. This is worth the chase.

Also on the list: Parker’s Heritage Collection 2026 Bottled-in-Bond at $99.99 — high-rye, ten-year minimum age, ships June 7 to pre-order accounts, inside the Father’s Day window for buyers who reserve before that date. No true two-hundred-dollar-plus release worth chasing this week — sometimes the high end is quiet, and that’s fine. Full read is in today’s Cut Daily on our website. Free.

A word of caution on pre-allocation windows. They’re real, but they’re not guarantees. Some accounts sell through before the stated close date. Some allocations run smaller than the queue. The downside of missing this one is $15 to $30 more for the same bottle in August — that’s the full cost of being wrong. Get in the queue, move on, and decide later whether the markup is worth paying. The price of being wrong matters as much as the odds of being right. Here, the downside is modest. Plan accordingly.

Today’s full American Whiskey Industry Brief on Patreon has the complete Flight — Garrison Brothers Cowboy Bourbon 2026 at $149.99 against Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Triumph 2026 at $199.99. Same gifting occasion, opposite production philosophies: Texas Hill Country climate-accelerated aging at six to seven years versus seventeen years of Kentucky season cycling. Which one earns the $50 premium for the recipient who will actually open it? The Father’s Day gifting verdict is in the Flight. Also in the Brief: Brown-Forman’s FY2026 annual results — Jack Daniel’s family volume down 4.7%, Woodford Reserve flat for the first time since 2017, and what their confirmed production restraint means for the 2029 to 2031 age-statement pipeline.

That’s The Cut. The full American Whiskey Industry Brief is at patreon.com/ChasingTheUnicornPodcast. I’m John Schuster. Thanks for joining me. Your unicorn is out there.