Stranahan's Bottled-in-Bond Release: Price, Age, Where to Buy

Starlight Distillery, the Huber family's operation in Borden, Indiana, marked its 25th anniversary by putting two ultra-limited spirits on sale August 1, 2026, both sold exclusively at the distillery (Starlight Distillery 25th anniversary release, August 1, 2026) [3].

The 20-Year Reserve Brandy comes from a 2005 vintage, distilled and barreled on September 23, 2005, and aged first in new French oak Allier casks through 2018, then transferred to second-use French Limousin oak until bottling on June 10, 2026 — bottled at 86.3 proof, with a yield of 150 bottles [3].

The 10-Year Single Barrel Bourbon, drawn from the southeast side of Warehouse 2, entered the barrel at 110 proof and came out cask strength, unfiltered, at 120.4 proof, with a char level between #3 and #4 and a yield of just 100 bottles [3].

Both releases ship in commemorative numbered boxes featuring a mural of the distillery's historic brick house — a physical marker tying the bottle back to the family farm where Starlight has operated for a quarter century.

Garrison Brothers Distillery opened its first-ever limited-release pre-sale on July 27, 2026, offering Hye Rye Bourbon Whiskey at $99.99 a bottle, with sales running through August 10 on the distillery's own e-commerce site (Garrison Brothers Hye Rye pre-sale announcement, July 27, 2026) [4].

The catch is the pickup structure: every bottle must be collected in person at the Hye, Texas distillery in October 2028, and bottles cannot be shipped under any circumstance [4].

Buyers are capped at four bottles each, and every purchase is final and non-refundable [4].

The whiskey itself is built from a 52% corn, 37% organic rye, 11% malted barley mash bill and bottled at 98 proof (49% ABV); Hye Rye originally debuted back in December 2020, so this pre-sale is a return engagement for an expression that already has a track record rather than a blind bet [4].

For a distillery known for Texas-heat aging and its Cognac-cask Lady Bird release, locking buyers into a multi-year, in-person-only redemption is an unusually direct test of collector patience.

13th Colony Distillery in Americus, Georgia is midway through the redemption window for its 2026 Double Oaked Single Barrel Bourbon lottery, an eleven-year-old bottled at a striking 141.6 proof (13th Colony lottery structure, accessed July 2026) [5].

The 150 winners were drawn from an entry period that ran April 29 through May 12, and they now have from May 13 through September 5, 2026 to show up at the Americus distillery during business hours and complete their purchase [5].

Unclaimed bottles are forfeited if the window closes without a visit — no extensions, no mail-in option [5].

The distillery describes this release as only the second time this single-barrel offering has ever been made available, which raises the stakes for anyone who won and hasn't yet made the trip [5].

One camp reads MGP's Q2 numbers as proof the company successfully pivoted from a bulk-whiskey supplier to a brand owner just in time to survive the industry's contract-distilling collapse — Penelope's 92% full-year 2025 growth and continued 13% Q2 gain look like a genuine second business.

The skeptical camp points out that Branded Spirits sales overall were still down 1% and that a 42% drop in Distilling Solutions, MGP's historic core, is a company-wide problem that one growing brand can't offset.

MGP's Q2 2026 results show Branded Spirits segment sales of $59.6 million (down 1% overall, up 3% excluding private bottling), Distilling Solutions down 42% to $29.2 million, overall company sales down 15%, and adjusted EBITDA down 23% to $27.6 million; Penelope grew 13% in the quarter after a 92% full-year 2025 gain to 133,000 cases (MGP Ingredients Q2 earnings release, July 31, 2026) [6].

The math favors the skeptics on scale but the optimists on direction.

Penelope's growth is real and durable-looking, not a one-quarter blip, but it's nowhere near large enough yet to offset a 42% decline in the segment that built MGP's business — the company is genuinely a smaller, more brand-weighted operation than it was two years ago, and that's a survival strategy, not yet a full recovery.

One camp argues the Brown family's controlling Class A shares make this permanently settled — a family that has twice rejected the identical number in three months isn't negotiating, it's declining.

The other camp notes Sazerac chose to resend the same number rather than walk away, which some read as a signal the company intends to keep returning with revised structures until the family's position changes or shareholder pressure builds.

Sazerac's renewed offer, sent July 24, 2026, restated the same $32-per-share, roughly $15 billion all-cash bid rejected in May; Brown-Forman's board called the approach "not actionable" on July 26, citing the Brown family's Wolf Pen Branch LP voting control, following Brown-Forman's own decision to end separate "merger of equals" talks with Pernod Ricard on April 28, 2026 (Reuters, July 26, 2026) [7].

The voting math makes the "closed door" camp correct in the near term — no revised price changes an outcome that depends on family consent, not shareholder economics.

But sending the identical number twice, rather than a sweetened one, reads less like genuine persistence and more like public pressure theater aimed at the board's other shareholders. This storyline stays in closure phase until a structurally different offer appears.

One camp treats the buyout as a genuine win — full independence and a woman-, family-, and Black-owned structure two years after launch is a rare outcome for a celebrity spirits brand, most of which fold when the corporate partner loses interest.

The other camp is more cautious, noting that a major distiller exiting a joint venture is more often a sign the brand didn't hit internal growth targets than a vote of confidence in its founder.

Moët Hennessy sold its stake in SirDavis to Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, announced July 28, 2026; the brand launched in 2024 after a 2022 partnership, is 44% ABV blended from 51% rye and 49% malted barley, and retails at $89 a bottle, named for Beyoncé's paternal great-grandfather Davis Hogue (SirDavis ownership announcement, July 28, 2026) [10].

Both readings can be true at once. Moët Hennessy exits underperforming joint ventures routinely, and a two-year runway to launch is thin by industry standards — but full ownership also removes the distribution and pricing constraints a major conglomerate typically imposes, giving SirDavis more room to build directly with its own audience than it had inside the partnership.

On sale now, beginning August 1, 2026, while supplies last (approximately 100 bottles)

This is a genuine field-report bottle — a 10-year single barrel bottled at cask strength from the southeast side of Warehouse 2, sold only in person at the Huber family's Indiana distillery to mark its 25th anniversary (Starlight Distillery 25th-anniversary announcement, August 1, 2026) [15]. No lottery, no allocation letter — just a drive to Borden.

On sale now, beginning August 1, 2026, while supplies last (approximately 150 bottles)

A 20-year brandy aged first in new French Allier oak and finished in second-use French Limousin casks is a legitimate collector item, but it sits outside the whiskey category this brief covers and is a niche pour for the average bourbon-curious reader (Starlight Distillery 25th-anniversary announcement, August 1, 2026) [15].

Stranahan's distillery, Denver, Colorado; retail in Colorado, California, Texas, Florida; nationwide shipping where legal

Colorado's first Bottled-in-Bond release from Stranahan's, timed to Colorado Day and distilled in a single 2015 season, is a strong beginner-education bottle — the BiB rules are the whole story on the label (Stranahan's Bottled-in-Bond launch, August 1, 2026) [16] [17].

July 27 through August 10, 2026; pickup required in Hye, Texas in October 2028

The distillery's first-ever pre-sale asks buyers to pay now for a bottle they collect in person more than two years later, a genuinely novel access mechanic worth understanding even for readers who pass on it (Garrison Brothers Hye Rye pre-sale announcement, July 27, 2026) [18].

For the 150 winners already drawn, this window is the actual chase — an 11-year-old, barrel-proof single barrel that's only the second release of its kind from the Georgia distillery, with unclaimed bottles forfeited after September 5 (13th Colony lottery redemption announcement, accessed July 2026) [19].

Stranahan's American Single Malt Whiskey put its first-ever Bottled-in-Bond expression on sale August 1, 2026, timed deliberately to Colorado Day — the state's 150th anniversary — and to America's 250th (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [20].

The whiskey was distilled January through June 2015 and aged 11 years in #3 char American oak, clearing at the mandated 100 proof for the BiB designation (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [20].

Sales opened at noon at the Denver distillery during a Colorado Day Bash running noon to 6 p.m., with guests on that day's distillery tours guaranteed purchase access up to three bottles apiece (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [20].

Head Blender Justin Aden framed the label as a single-vintage snapshot rather than a blended house expression, saying the Bottled-in-Bond rules gave "an intimate look at one specific moment in Stranahan's history" (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [21].

MSRP is set at $159.99, with distribution expanding through summer 2026 into Colorado, California, Texas, and Florida, plus direct shipping where legal (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [20].

Garrison Brothers Distillery opened a pre-sale window July 27 through August 10, 2026, for Hye Rye Bourbon Whiskey — the Texas producer's first-ever limited release sold this way (Garrison Brothers pre-sale announcement, accessed August 1, 2026) [22].

Buyers pay $99.99 plus tax now, capped at four bottles per customer, but must collect the bottle in person at the Hye, Texas distillery in October 2028 — no shipping option exists, and all sales are final (Garrison Brothers pre-sale announcement, accessed August 1, 2026) [22].

The mash bill runs 52% corn, 37% organic rye, and 11% malted barley, bottled at 98 proof (49% ABV) (Garrison Brothers pre-sale announcement, accessed August 1, 2026) [23].

Hye Rye originally launched December 5, 2020, so this pre-sale represents a new production run rather than a re-release of existing stock, locking today's price against roughly two years of future barrel aging and market movement.

Old Elk Distillery released a three-bottle 10-Year-Old Collection nationwide on July 28, 2026 — a Straight Bourbon, a Wheated Bourbon, and a Straight Wheat Whiskey — priced at $69.99 apiece, marking the first major release since Ohio's Middle West Spirits completed its acquisition of the Colorado brand in May 2025 (Old Elk release specifications, July 2026) [24].

The Straight Bourbon runs 51% corn, 34% malted barley, 15% rye at 105 proof; the Wheated Bourbon substitutes 46% wheat at the same proof; the Straight Wheat Whiskey pushes to 96% soft red winter wheat at 103 proof (Old Elk release specifications, July 2026) [24].

Old Elk had operated for years as a non-distiller producer before this collection, so the simultaneous clearance of three same-age, same-price labels signals the brand is now drawing on aged inventory it controls directly under its new parent.

Indiana's Starlight Distillery, the Huber family operation in Borden, put two ultra-limited 25th-anniversary spirits on sale August 1, 2026, both sold exclusively at the distillery: a 20-Year Reserve Brandy and a cask-strength 10-Year Single Barrel Bourbon (Starlight Distillery release specifications, August 1, 2026) [25].

The brandy comes from a 2005 vintage distilled and barreled September 23, 2005, aged first in new French oak Allier casks through 2018 and then in second-use French Limousin oak through June 10, 2026, bottled at 86.3 proof with a yield of just 150 bottles (Starlight Distillery release specifications, August 1, 2026) [25].

The bourbon entered the barrel at 110 proof, drawn from the southeast side of Warehouse 2, and bottled unfiltered at cask strength — 120.4 proof — with a yield of 100 bottles (Starlight Distillery release specifications, August 1, 2026) [25].

Both releases ship in commemorative numbered boxes featuring a mural of the distillery's historic brick house, and neither is available outside the Borden, Indiana tasting room.

Georgia's 13th Colony Distillery is mid-way through the redemption window for its 2026 Double Oaked Single Barrel Bourbon lottery, with 150 winners — drawn from an April 29 to May 12, 2026 entry period — able to buy their bottle at the Americus distillery any time through September 5 (13th Colony lottery details, accessed August 1, 2026) [26].

The bourbon is aged 11 years and bottled at 141.6 proof, and the distillery describes it as only the second time this single-barrel offering has ever been released (13th Colony lottery details, accessed August 1, 2026) [26]. Bottles left unclaimed by the September 5 deadline are forfeited entirely.

Old Elk's new 10-Year-Old Collection — Straight Bourbon, Wheated Bourbon, and Straight Wheat Whiskey, each $69.99 at retail — lands well below the price a decade-aged bourbon from an allocated Big 4 brand typically commands once it reaches secondary channels (Old Elk release specifications, July 2026) [27].

Because all three expressions are nationally available at MSRP with no lottery or allocation gate, there is no meaningful secondary premium forming yet; the release is priced to sell at shelf rather than to feed a resale market.

Stranahan's first-ever Bottled-in-Bond release, an 11-year-old American single malt bottled at the mandated 100 proof, went on sale August 1, 2026 at $159.99, with distribution limited to four states plus direct shipping where legal through the rest of summer (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [28].

As the oldest bottled-in-bond whiskey ever released from a Colorado distillery, and the first BiB entry from an American single malt house of Stranahan's scale, the release has no direct secondary-market comparable yet — pricing discovery will depend on how quickly the four-state allocation sells through.

Garrison Brothers' Hye Rye pre-sale, open through August 10, 2026, sells bottles today at a fixed $99.99 for whiskey that won't be collectible until October 2028 — a two-year gap between payment and delivery that functions as a locked-in price against whatever inflation or allocation pressure builds on Texas whiskey between now and then (Garrison Brothers pre-sale announcement, accessed August 1, 2026) [29].

Because the bottle cannot be shipped, resold, or transferred before physical pickup, no meaningful secondary activity can form until collection begins in 2028.

Stranahan's American Single Malt Whiskey put its first-ever Bottled-in-Bond expression on sale at noon on August 1, 2026, timing the launch to Colorado Day and the state's 150th anniversary (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [32][33].

The whiskey was distilled between January and June 2015 and aged 11 years in number-3 char American oak, clearing the four-year federal BiB minimum by nearly triple.

Bottled at exactly 100 proof to satisfy the 1897 Bottled-in-Bond Act's proof requirement, it carries an MSRP of $159.99 and is described by the company as the oldest bonded whiskey ever produced in Colorado.

Sale began at the Denver distillery during Stranahan's Colorado Day Bash, a noon-to-6 p.m. event, with tour guests on the holiday guaranteed the right to buy up to three bottles each (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [32][33].

Distribution beyond the walk-up window extends to Colorado, California, Texas, and Florida this summer, with nationwide shipping available through Stranahan's own site where state law permits.

Head Blender Justin Aden described the release as giving drinkers "an intimate look at one specific moment in Stranahan's history" — a framing that leans on the BiB category's core promise: single distillery, single season, no blending across years (Stranahan's release announcement, August 1, 2026) [32][33].

For a category built almost entirely on corn-forward mash bills, an American single malt operating under the same 1897 rules as a Kentucky bourbon is itself a small piece of regulatory trivia worth noting.

MGP Ingredients reported second-quarter 2026 results on July 31 showing its premium-plus branded portfolio — led by Penelope Bourbon and Yellowstone — as the lone growth engine inside a company whose overall numbers are still contracting (MGP Ingredients Q2 2026 earnings, July 31, 2026) [30].

Branded Spirits segment sales came in at $59.6 million, down 1% year-over-year, but sales excluding private bottling rose 3%, with premium-plus brands specifically up 5%.

Penelope Bourbon grew 13% in the quarter after a 92% surge across all of 2025, when the brand moved roughly 133,000 cases.

The contrast sits against MGP's Distilling Solutions segment, where sales fell 42% as the bulk-whiskey glut that has defined the past two years continues working through the supply chain. Ingredient Solutions sales rose a modest 2% to $35.5 million. Company-wide, sales fell 15%, gross profit fell 20%, and adjusted EBITDA dropped 23% to $27.6 million.

CEO Julie Francis attributed the quarter's bright spot to "continued momentum in our premium-plus portfolio, led by Penelope Bourbon and Yellowstone" (MGP Ingredients Q2 2026 earnings, July 31, 2026) [30] — language that effectively confirms MGP's own strategic pivot away from bulk contract distilling and toward owned, branded inventory as the bulk market keeps softening.

MGP Ingredients announced four senior hires on July 29, 2026, pulling talent directly from rival spirits companies as it builds out sales, brand, and finance leadership around its growing premium-plus portfolio (MGP Ingredients executive announcement, July 29, 2026) [41].

Tom Neiheisel joins as VP of Distilling Solutions Sales after roles at Pernod Ricard USA, Diageo, and Brown-Forman. Sol Clahane becomes Managing Director of National Accounts, also arriving from Pernod Ricard USA and Brown-Forman.

Marilyn Chen takes over as Brand Director for Penelope Bourbon after serving as U.S. Brand Director at Suntory Global Spirits. David Sanders rounds out the round as VP of Financial Planning and Analysis.

The hiring pattern — three of four appointments coming directly from Big 4-adjacent competitors — reads as a direct response to the same earnings data released two days later: MGP is staffing up around the branded-spirits growth it just reported, not around the contract-distilling business that's contracting.

Chevalier Casks, a Midway, Kentucky-based brokerage, opened its Exchange platform on August 1, 2026, letting distilleries and individual investors buy, sell, and finance whiskey barrels and bulk spirits through a mix of fixed listings, direct offers, negotiated sales, and timed auctions (Chevalier Casks Exchange launch, August 1, 2026) [42].

Co-founders Coby Adkins, Ben Franzini, and Sam Rock — the latter an attorney and former first distiller at Bluegrass Distillers — built the platform to handle ownership verification, documentation, and logistics on both sides of a transaction, addressing a segment of the barrel market that has historically run on private, handshake-level deals.

The timing lands squarely inside the industry's ongoing supply correction: with new-make inventory still working through distilleries' balance sheets industrywide, a formal brokerage for barrel-level transactions gives smaller producers and private investors a more transparent way to buy aging inventory rather than build it from scratch.

Moët Hennessy sold its stake in SirDavis American whiskey to Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, ending the joint venture that launched the brand in 2024, according to a company spokesperson's July 28, 2026 announcement (SirDavis ownership announcement, July 28, 2026) [41].

Moët Hennessy and Beyoncé partnered on the concept in 2022, two years ahead of the whiskey's actual release.

SirDavis — named for Beyoncé's paternal great-grandfather, Davis Hogue — is a blended American whiskey at 44% ABV, built from 51% rye and 49% malted barley, and retails at $89 a bottle.

The exit makes SirDavis a fully independent, woman-, family-, and Black-owned spirits company, a positioning the brand is now leaning into as it starts what the spokesperson called a new chapter. The move follows a broader pattern of major spirits conglomerates trimming celebrity joint ventures as the category-wide inventory correction pressures margins across owned and partnered brands alike.

Garrison Brothers Distillery in Hye, Texas opened its first-ever limited-release pre-sale on July 27, 2026, for Hye Rye Bourbon Whiskey, with the window closing August 10 (Garrison Brothers pre-sale announcement, July 27, 2026) [34][35].

Buyers pay $99.99 per bottle now, capped at four bottles per customer, but can't collect until October 2028 — in person, at the Hye distillery, with no shipping option. All sales are final.

Hye Rye itself isn't new; it originally debuted in December 2020. What's new is the sales mechanism itself: a distillery asking customers to commit capital more than two years ahead of physical delivery, with the bourbon aging on-site in the meantime. The bottle is 98 proof, built from a 52% corn, 37% organic rye, 11% malted barley mash bill.

13th Colony Distillery in Americus, Georgia is midway through the redemption window for its 2026 Double Oaked Single Barrel Bourbon lottery, an 11-year-old bottled at 141.6 proof (13th Colony lottery details, accessed 2026-07-31) [36].

The 150 winners were drawn from an entry period that ran April 29 through May 12, and they have until September 5 to buy their bottle in person at the Americus distillery during regular hours. Unclaimed bottles are forfeited.

The distillery describes this as only the second time this single-barrel offering has been released, giving it a genuinely limited track record compared to annual programs at larger distilleries. The redemption structure — a four-month window rather than a single pickup day — gives winners real flexibility, a contrast to the tighter same-day pickup requirements common at bigger allocated releases.

Starlight Distillery, the Huber family's operation in Borden, Indiana, put two ultra-limited 25th-anniversary releases on sale August 1, 2026, on-site only (Starlight Distillery anniversary release, August 1, 2026) [31].

The 20-Year Reserve Brandy comes from a 2005 vintage, distilled and barreled that September, aged first in new French oak Allier casks through 2018 and then transferred to second-use French Limousin oak through June 2026, bottled at 86.3 proof with a yield of 150 bottles.

The 10-Year Single Barrel Bourbon, drawn from the southeast side of Warehouse 2, entered the barrel at 110 proof and comes out at 120.4 proof, unfiltered, with a yield of just 100 bottles.

Both releases arrive in commemorative numbered boxes featuring a mural of the distillery's historic brick house, and both are sold exclusively at the Borden property — no distributor allocation, no national rollout.