Barrels for Bardstown Charity Auction: Closes Tonight

The July session, which ran 612 American whiskey lots across five days, closed with a 2019-release Elijah Craig 18-Year hammering at $210 including buyer's premium, down from a $475 result on a comparable bottle in the house's autumn 2023 session (Whisky Auctioneer, July 2026 American whiskey session results, accessed July 17, 2026) [3].

A spokesperson for the auction house told Whisky Advocate the drop reflects Heaven Hill's confirmed relaunch of Elijah Craig 18-Year at retail this month, which has pulled buyer urgency off the discontinued vintage now that a comparable bottle is reachable at MSRP (Whisky Advocate, secondary market roundup, July 16, 2026) [4]. The same session saw George T.

Stagg and William Larue Weller lots hold within 5% of their spring averages, reinforcing a pattern the house has tracked through 2026 of blue-chip BTAC floors staying firm while mid-tier age-stated releases correct sharply once a brand reopens supply (Whisky Auctioneer, July 2026 session results, accessed July 17, 2026) [3].

Sazerac and Buffalo Trace did not comment on the discontinued-vintage pricing shift. The session's total gross sales came in at approximately $1.4 million across all lots, roughly in line with the house's June American whiskey session.

The distillery's new "Fill Room" experience, opening to the public this morning as part of the Kentucky Distillers' Association Craft Trail, gives visitors a viewing platform inside a working rickhouse where staff run live barrel-filling demonstrations three times daily (Kentucky Distillers' Association, Craft Trail expansion notice, July 15, 2026) [5].

Baker told Louisville Business First the addition cost roughly $1.8 million and was designed specifically to close a gap he'd heard from Craft Trail visitors for years — most tours show finished product and empty warehouses, not the actual moment new-make spirit enters a barrel (Louisville Business First, Wilderness Trail expansion coverage, July 16, 2026) [6].

The wing includes a tasting room stocked with single-barrel selections pulled exclusively from barrels filled during the Fill Room's opening month, a detail Baker said is meant to give early visitors a bottle they can trace back to a specific date they watched in person.

Wilderness Trail's Craft Trail listing has drawn steady growth since joining the program in 2018, and KDA data shows Craft Trail visitation up 14% year-over-year through the first half of 2026, with Danville-area stops citing warehouse-experience additions as the primary driver (Kentucky Distillers' Association, mid-year visitation report, July 2026) [5].

Festival director Marcus Webb confirmed to the Owensboro Times that two confirmed distillery pour stations withdrew this week citing staffing shortfalls, leaving the Saturday event short on its advertised lineup just three days before gates open (Owensboro Times, festival logistics update, July 16, 2026) [7].

Rather than cut stations, Webb said Green River Distilling — the Owensboro-based distillery hosting the festival grounds — offered to run both vacated slots itself, pulling extra staff from its production floor and doubling its own pour footprint from two stations to four (Owensboro Times, July 16, 2026) [7].

Green River's head distiller, Jacob Call, told the paper the distillery had barrel-proof and standard-proof single barrel selections ready regardless, and the extra stations simply meant pouring both instead of one (Owensboro Times, July 16, 2026) [7].

Festival organizers confirmed all previously sold tickets remain valid and no lineup changes will be reflected on printed materials already distributed, meaning attendees will find the Green River footprint larger than advertised once they arrive.

The festival, now in its sixth year, drew roughly 4,200 attendees in 2025 according to KDA-reported regional festival attendance data (Kentucky Distillers' Association, mid-year visitation report, July 2026) [5].

One camp reads the early bidding pace on the Foundation's Willett rye lot as evidence that craft single-barrel demand is holding up even as mid-tier allocated bourbon corrects elsewhere on the secondary. A second camp argues charity auctions are a poor proxy for market health because donors are paying a premium for the cause and the rickhouse-restoration story, not necessarily bidding what they'd pay for the same barrel on a standard secondary platform.

The Foundation's top lot, a nine-year Willett rye, was tracking past $6,800 as of Thursday's leaderboard check, with Cathy Herron telling the Kentucky Standard the single lot was already pacing to beat the Foundation's entire $41,000 total from last year (Kentucky Standard, Bardstown charity auction coverage, July 17, 2026) [10].

All six lots this year come from Willett, Bardstown Bourbon Company, and Preservation Distillery, and proceeds fund restoration of two 1880s rickhouses tied to the long-shuttered Mattingly & Moore distillery (Nelson County Bourbon Heritage Foundation, auction notice, July 16, 2026) [12].

Both camps are partly right. The charity premium is real — donors are paying above a pure secondary-market clearing price for the cause and the historical-preservation story attached to it.

But the sheer scale of the gap (one lot outpacing an entire prior year's six-lot total) is large enough that it's not fully explained by goodwill alone; craft single-barrel interest from distilleries like Willett appears genuinely strong heading into fall.

Treat tonight's final number as a floor signal for craft single barrels specifically, discounted for the charity premium, not a clean market read.

Sellers in the thread argue this is a clean case study for dumping any bottle riding a "discontinued" premium the moment the brand signals it's coming back — hold too long and the scarcity narrative that inflated the price simply disappears. A smaller group pushes back that the 2019-release EC18 and the 2026 relaunch aren't identical products, and collectors focused on the specific older release shouldn't panic-sell based on a retail relaunch of a different batch.

A 2019-release Elijah Craig 18-Year hammered at $210 including buyer's premium in Whisky Auctioneer's July session, down from a $475 comparable-bottle result in the house's autumn 2023 session (Whisky Auctioneer, July 2026 American whiskey session results, accessed July 17, 2026) [8].

A house spokesperson attributed the drop directly to Heaven Hill's confirmed retail relaunch of Elijah Craig 18-Year this month, while the same session saw George T.

Stagg and William Larue Weller lots hold within 5% of spring averages (Whisky Advocate, secondary market roundup, July 16, 2026) [14].

The relaunch-driven collapse is real and the mechanism is straightforward — scarcity premiums on discontinued releases are only as durable as the discontinuation itself, and that's now been demonstrated with a hard number rather than a hunch.

The batch-versus-batch nuance matters at the margins, but it's not enough to explain a 55% drop. Anyone holding a bottle whose entire value case rests on "they don't make this anymore" should treat this result as a warning, not a curiosity.

Most commenters in the thread see Green River's move as a straightforward save that protected attendees who'd already bought tickets, with several noting the distillery had inventory ready regardless. A smaller group raises a fairness concern: if the host distillery can absorb open slots and double its own footprint anytime a vendor drops, other participating distilleries have less incentive to guarantee their attendance, since the host has a built-in backstop.

Two confirmed pour vendors withdrew from the Owensboro Bourbon & BBQ Festival this week citing staffing shortfalls, prompting host distillery Green River to expand from two pour stations to four rather than cut the lineup (Owensboro Times, festival logistics update, July 16, 2026) [9].

Head distiller Jacob Call said the distillery had both barrel-proof and standard-proof single barrel selections ready regardless of the extra slots (Owensboro Times, July 16, 2026) [9].

The festival drew roughly 4,200 attendees in 2025 per KDA-reported regional attendance data (Kentucky Distillers' Association, mid-year visitation report, July 2026) [16].

The fairness concern is worth naming but doesn't hold up under the specific circumstances here — Green River stepped in with 72 hours' notice specifically because it already had product on hand, not because it was angling for extra shelf space at other vendors' expense.

For a regional festival this size, a host distillery with a flexible single-barrel program acting as a last-resort backstop is a net positive for ticket holders, even if it's not a scalable model every festival can rely on.

Festival organizers confirmed a single-barrel pick bottled exclusively for this weekend's satellite tasting event, sold only at the festival merchandise tent with a two-bottle limit per attendee (Kentucky Bourbon Festival, event program, July 17, 2026) [17]. No online or distributor allocation exists for this bottling, making the festival gate the only access point.

Bourbon+ Magazine's early-access tasting noted brown butter, toasted pecan, and a moderate rye spice consistent with the source distillery's traditional mash bill (Bourbon+ Magazine, festival preview tasting, July 16, 2026) [18].

N/A — too new to auction, no comparable prior-year data exists for this specific pick.

Buffalo Trace's weekend walk-up allotment of the 1994-vintage O.F.C. remains open through Sunday, still capped at one bottle per customer with no reservation system (Buffalo Trace Distillery, gift shop release notice, July 16, 2026) [19]. Saturday foot traffic during the distillery's weekend tour schedule typically thins the allotment fastest.

Whisky Advocate's review of the 1994 vintage O.F.C. noted dried fig, leather, and a long cedar-driven finish typical of Buffalo Trace's oldest single-barrel releases (Whisky Advocate, O.F.C. Vintage review archive) [20].

Bottle Blue Book tracks recent O.F.C. Vintage releases between $1,800 and $2,400 secondary, a floor that has held through the broader mid-tier correction (Bottle Blue Book, O.F.C. Vintage composite, June 2026) [21].

Skinner's quarterly American whiskey sale closes tonight with 62 lots including several pre-2010 Pappy Van Winkle and Stitzel-Weller-era bottlings, giving collectors a same-day window to bid against a published reserve schedule (Skinner Auctions, summer sale catalog, accessed July 17, 2026) [22]. Bidding activity through Thursday tracked ahead of Skinner's spring sale pace on comparable lots.

Skinner's spring sale saw comparable Stitzel-Weller-era lots close 12-18% above high estimate, per the house's own post-sale report (Skinner Auctions, spring sale results, April 2026) [23].

OHLQ's statewide lottery entry window for the 2025 William Larue Weller release closes Sunday night, with no purchase required to enter (Ohio Division of Liquor Control, BTAC lottery notice, accessed July 17, 2026) [24]. The wheated barrel-proof release has historically carried the widest gap between MSRP and secondary of any BTAC bottle.

Whisky Advocate's review described dense caramel, orange peel, and baking spice at barrel-proof strength, with wheat softening the finish relative to Stagg (Whisky Advocate, William Larue Weller review archive) [25].

Bottle Blue Book's composite places recent Weller releases between $1,500 and $1,900 secondary, among the highest floors in the current BTAC lineup (Bottle Blue Book, William Larue Weller secondary composite, June 2026) [26].

New Riff's tasting room restock of its standard BiB Rye continues through the weekend with no purchase limit, following this week's TTB filing for a new BiB Rye variant (New Riff Distilling, tasting room restock notice, July 16, 2026) [27].

Modern Thirst's review described dill, black pepper, and a clean grain-forward finish consistent with New Riff's transparency-forward house style (Modern Thirst, New Riff BiB Rye review, 2025) [28].

Buffalo Trace's fourth Single Oak Project cohort cleared federal label approval this week at 90 proof, using the distillery's traditional mash bill rather than the wheated Mash #1 profile that anchored earlier cohorts, per the TTB Public COLA Registry (TTB COLA Registry, filing dated July 15, 2026) [29].

The filing isolates barrel-tree-source and stave-seasoning as the controlled variables, consistent with the program's original single-variable design (Whisky Advocate, Single Oak Project filing analysis, July 15, 2026) [30].

Breaking Bourbon's review of the prior cohort called the format the most transparent grain-and-wood comparison series currently running at a major distillery, noting cohort-over-cohort tasting data has become a reference point for barrel-source debates among enthusiasts (Breaking Bourbon, Single Oak Project cohort review, 2025) [31].

Four Roses filed and cleared a single-barrel label under its OBSK recipe code — high-rye mash bill (Mash B) paired with the K yeast strain's light spice character — according to the TTB Public COLA Registry (TTB COLA Registry, filing dated July 16, 2026) [32].

OBSK is one of the less frequently bottled combinations in the distillery's ten-recipe matrix, and Master Distiller Brent Elliott has previously said in Bourbon Pursuit appearances that recipe availability for single-barrel picks depends on which warehouse floors and rick positions mature favorably each season (Bourbon Pursuit, Elliott interview archive) [33].

The filing lands ahead of the fall store-pick selection season, when retailers travel to Lawrenceburg to taste and choose specific barrels for exclusive bottling.

Garrison Brothers cleared TTB approval for its 2026 Lady Bird release, confirmed at cask strength with the brand's established secondary maturation in French Cognac casks, per the TTB Public COLA Registry (TTB COLA Registry, filing dated July 14, 2026) [34].

Master Distiller Donnis Todd has said in prior Garrison Brothers press materials that the distillery's Texas heat accelerates barrel interaction significantly faster than Kentucky aging, meaning the Cognac-cask finish is layered onto a base bourbon that's already extracted more wood character per year than a comparable Kentucky release (Garrison Brothers, Lady Bird release materials) [35].

American Whiskey Magazine's coverage of the program has called it the clearest example of a finish that adds to, rather than masks, an already mature base whiskey (American Whiskey Magazine, Lady Bird program coverage, 2025) [36].

Brown-Forman filed a label amendment for Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style confirming a proof adjustment for the next production batch, according to the TTB Public COLA Registry (TTB COLA Registry, amendment filing dated July 16, 2026) [37].

The 1920 expression is bottled at barrel-entry-adjacent, non-chill-filtered strength rather than a fixed target proof, meaning small batch-to-batch proof shifts are a normal feature of the line rather than a formulation change, per Brown-Forman's own technical materials for the Whiskey Row Series (Brown-Forman, Whiskey Row Series technical sheet) [38].

Sipp'n Corn's tracking of prior 1920 batches noted proof has ranged from roughly 100 to 101.6 across the last several releases, a range consistent with this week's filing (Sipp'n Corn, Old Forester batch tracking, 2026) [39].

Wilderness Trail cleared TTB approval for a wheated Bottled-in-Bond bourbon, a new addition to a BiB lineup that has previously centered on the Danville distillery's high-rye and rye mash bills, per the TTB Public COLA Registry (TTB COLA Registry, filing dated July 15, 2026) [40].

The distillery's proprietary yeast-propagation and fermentation approach — built around what the company calls a microbiology-first production philosophy — has been a recurring subject in Whisky Advocate's craft-distillery coverage, which has credited Wilderness Trail's fermentation controls for unusually consistent batch character across mash bill types (Whisky Advocate, Wilderness Trail craft profile, 2025) [41].

The filing meets all four Bottled-in-Bond requirements: single distillery, single season, minimum four-year aging in a bonded warehouse, and 100 proof bottling.

$2,150 · July 12, 2026 · Whisky Auctioneer (US bottle lot) · [42]

($2,600 − $2,150) ÷ $2,600 × 100 = 17.3% erosion

The 1994 vintage's floor has softened moderately but remains well above BTAC mid-tier releases, reflecting collectors' continued willingness to pay a premium for single-barrel O.F.C. provenance even as the broader allocated market corrects. LINEAGE_NOTE:

The O.F.C. Vintage series draws on Buffalo Trace's oldest maturing stock and carries the O.F.C. name back to the distillery's 19th-century Old Fashioned Copper brand, predating the Buffalo Trace name itself; Harlen Wheatley has described the program as pulling from single barrels held back specifically for their age and rickhouse position rather than blended for consistency.

$1,620 · July 10, 2026 · Bottle Blue Book auction composite · [44]

($1,900 − $1,620) ÷ $1,900 × 100 = 14.7% erosion

Weller remains the highest-floor BTAC bottle behind Stagg, and this window's Ohio lottery opening (see Hunt) is likely to add modest downward pressure on secondary as more bottles reach the market at $119.99 MSRP. LINEAGE_NOTE:

William Larue Weller is named for the 19th-century Louisville wholesale grocer credited with popularizing wheated bourbon recipes decades before Prohibition; the modern release uses the same wheated Mash #1 profile now associated with the Van Winkle lineage, tying the bottle directly to the pre-Stitzel-Weller wheated tradition.

($340 − $310) ÷ $340 × 100 = 8.8% erosion

The mildest erosion among this window's tracked bottles, consistent with Heaven Hill's reputation for stable long-aged releases; the gap between MSRP and secondary has narrowed steadily since 2023, suggesting supply is catching demand at this age tier. LINEAGE_NOTE:

Elijah Craig, named for the Baptist minister long credited (though historically disputed) as bourbon's inventor, has served as Heaven Hill's flagship long-aged expression since the brand's 1986 launch, making the 18-Year the modern extension of the company's oldest continuously marketed bourbon name.

The Kentucky Bourbon Festival confirmed this week that its September program will include a live charity barrel auction conducted in partnership with a regional auction house, the first in-person auction format the festival has run since 2019 (Kentucky Distillers' Association, festival program announcement, July 16, 2026) [48].

Organizers said six distilleries — including Wilderness Trail, Bardstown Bourbon Company, and Willett — have committed single barrels to the sale, with proceeds directed to the KDA's barrel-tax relief advocacy fund and a regional first-responder charity (Kentucky Distillers' Association, July 16, 2026) [48].

The format returns to a live-bidder floor rather than the silent-auction cards the festival used from 2020 through 2025, a change festival director Amy Preske attributed to stronger attendance projections and a desire to recreate the energy of pre-pandemic bourbon philanthropy events (Louisville Business First, festival coverage, July 16, 2026) [49].

Each committed barrel will be bottled specifically for the auction winner, with proof and exact bottle count determined by the individual distillery rather than a standardized festival spec — a structure organizers say mirrors how most single-barrel charity auctions in the category already operate (Bourbon+ Magazine, festival preview, July 15, 2026) [50].

Preske told Bourbon+ that the festival is targeting a combined six-figure raise across all six barrels, citing 2019's pre-pandemic auction total as the internal benchmark the committee is working to match or exceed (Bourbon+ Magazine, July 15, 2026) [50].

The announcement lands as several regional bourbon festivals have scaled back charity auction components over the past two years, citing softer secondary-market appetite and rising barrel costs as reasons to shrink or eliminate the format.

The Kentucky Bourbon Festival's decision to expand rather than contract runs counter to that trend, and organizers are positioning the September event as a signal that in-person bourbon philanthropy has room to grow again even as broader secondary pricing corrects.

Whisky Auctioneer's July American whiskey session closed Thursday with a pre-Prohibition Old Taylor bottle, dated to approximately 1917 by the auction house's provenance team, selling for $18,400 (£14,200 · July 16, 2026 exchange rate) — a new recorded high for a pre-Prohibition American whiskey lot on the platform (Whisky Auctioneer, July 2026 session results, accessed July 16, 2026) [51].

The bottle carried a documented chain of custody through a single Kentucky family estate, which the auction house's specialists said was the primary driver of both authentication confidence and final hammer price (Whisky Auctioneer, auction notes, July 16, 2026) [51].

The sale outpaced the platform's own pre-sale estimate of $12,000-$15,000 (£9,300-£11,600 · July 16, 2026 exchange rate) by a meaningful margin, with bidding activity concentrated among three registered collectors in the final ninety seconds of the lot's close (Whisky Auctioneer, July 2026 session results, accessed July 16, 2026) [51].

Fred Minnick, writing on the result, called it evidence that "the pre-Prohibition tier of American whiskey collecting is essentially uncorrelated with the broader allocated-bourbon secondary correction happening right now" (Forbes, Minnick bourbon column, July 16, 2026) [52].

The 271-lot July session overall showed continued softening in mid-tier allocated bourbon lots — several Weller Antique and Blanton's single-barrel lots closed at or below their low estimates — while the handful of pre-Prohibition and distillery-closure lots (Stitzel-Weller, original Old Crow) each cleared above estimate, reinforcing a bifurcation pattern that has held across the platform's last several sessions (Whisky Auctioneer, July 2026 session results, accessed July 16, 2026) [51].

Heaven Hill's Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown confirmed the launch of a new weekend barrel-blending workshop, open to the public starting this Saturday, where participants blend their own bottle from four pre-selected Heaven Hill barrels under the guidance of a distillery educator (Heaven Hill Distillery, program announcement, July 15, 2026) [53].

The $85 workshop includes a take-home 375ml blended bottle and runs three sessions per weekend day through the end of August, according to the distillery's booking page (Heaven Hill Distillery, July 15, 2026) [53].

The program follows a broader industry pattern of major distilleries adding hands-on, ticketed experiences ahead of the fall festival and Bourbon Heritage Month calendar — Four Roses and Wild Turkey have run similar blending sessions for the past two years, and Heaven Hill's entry brings the state's second-largest bourbon producer by inventory into the same visitor-experience tier (Louisville Courier-Journal, distillery tourism coverage, July 15, 2026) [54].

Heaven Hill's visitor experience director told the Courier-Journal that early bookings for August weekends are already tracking ahead of the center's summer average, attributing the demand to growing interest in hands-on programming versus standard walking tours (Louisville Courier-Journal, July 15, 2026) [54].

Unicorn Auctions announced its fall 2026 sale calendar this week, confirming a dedicated Bottled-in-Bond category for the first time in the platform's history — a shift the auction house's American whiskey specialist said reflects growing collector interest in provenance-transparent bottles over pure age-statement chasing (Unicorn Auctions, fall calendar announcement, July 14, 2026) [55].

The new category will run alongside the platform's existing single-barrel and closure-era lots beginning with the September session, with early consignments already including vintage Old Grand-Dad, Henry McKenna, and J.T.S. Brown BiB releases spanning three decades (Unicorn Auctions, July 14, 2026) [55].

Sipp'n Corn's trademark and auction tracking coverage noted the move follows a broader secondary-market pattern where Bottled-in-Bond lots have shown steadier price floors than comparably-aged non-BiB releases over the past 18 months, likely reflecting the category's built-in transparency around distillery, distilling season, and proof (Sipp'n Corn, auction trend analysis, July 14, 2026) [56].

The dedicated category gives collectors a cleaner way to track BiB-specific pricing trends separate from the broader single-barrel and allocated-release secondary data most platforms already publish.

MGP Ingredients' Q2 2026 earnings call, held Wednesday, confirmed a third consecutive quarter of year-over-year contraction in contract distillate orders from its NDP client base, with the company reporting a 19% year-over-year decline in bulk whiskey order volume — consistent with the contraction first reported last quarter (MGP Ingredients, Q2 2026 earnings call transcript, July 15, 2026) [57].

Company leadership reiterated existing full-year production guidance without revision, telling analysts the contraction reflects continued inventory normalization among NDP brands built up during the 2020-2023 boom rather than any new demand shock (MGP Ingredients, July 15, 2026) [57].

The update is not a new milestone beyond what was previously reported last quarter and largely confirms the ongoing supply-discipline trend already documented across the sector; it is included here for completeness given its relevance to the broader NDP and sourced-whiskey landscape discussed in today's Regional Report.

Garrison Brothers opened registration this week for its annual Cowboy Bourbon release weekend, scheduled for late September at the distillery's Hye, Texas grounds, and confirmed for the first time that the event will include a live on-site single-barrel auction alongside the traditional bottle release (Garrison Brothers, release weekend announcement, July 15, 2026) [58].

Master Distiller Donnis Todd said the auction barrel will be pulled from the distillery's oldest active rickhouse rows, aged through multiple Texas summers that push barrels through more aggressive heat-cycling than typical Kentucky aging (Texas Whiskey Association, member distillery update, July 15, 2026) [59].

The Cowboy Bourbon release itself carries no confirmed MSRP yet, though prior years' releases have run $150-$200 for the barrel-proof, uncut annual bottling, with registration required for access to the on-site release rather than a standard retail rollout (Austin Business Journal, Texas distillery coverage, July 14, 2026) [60].

Ironroot Republic Distilling, the Denison, Texas producer behind the Hubris and Harbinger lines, confirmed an expanded fall tour schedule this week following a national craft spirits award recognition reported earlier this month, adding weekend tour slots and a new barrel-warehouse walkthrough component (Texas Whiskey Association, member distillery update, July 14, 2026) [59].

The Likarish brothers, who founded the distillery, told the Austin Business Journal that visitor traffic has grown steadily through 2026 as Texas whiskey's national profile has risen alongside Garrison Brothers and Balcones (Austin Business Journal, Texas distillery coverage, July 14, 2026) [60].

The expanded tour includes access to the distillery's non-chill-filtered bottling line and an extended tasting flight featuring the distillery's high-corn and Cathedral single-malt lines, positioning the visit as a broader Texas whiskey education stop rather than a single-brand tasting.

Balcones Distilling announced a limited warehouse tour series in Waco this week, marking the anniversary of its Texas Single Malt release with guided walkthroughs of the distillery's aging facility not typically open to standard visitors (Texas Whiskey Association, member distillery update, July 16, 2026) [59]. The series runs four dates in August, each capped at 20 guests, with tickets including a barrel-sample tasting not offered on Balcones' standard tour (Austin Business Journal, Texas distillery coverage, July 16, 2026) [60].

Balcones' anniversary programming underscores Texas's growing single-malt category alongside its bourbon and corn-whiskey producers, with the distillery positioning the warehouse series as an education-forward event rather than a bottle-release chase.

Texas's three stories this window share a common thread: craft producers are building event and tourism infrastructure — auctions, expanded tours, anniversary programming — that mirrors Kentucky's festival economy rather than competing purely on bottle scarcity. That's a maturing-category signal, not a one-off news cycle.