The Cut — July 3, 2026 — SE02E68 — Same Mash Bill, 2.4 Proof Points, and a Verdict Worth Knowing

This is The Cut.

Caramel hits before the heat. Stone fruit follows right behind. It’s wheated bourbon at barrel strength — and the lower-proof batch is the one that opens up more in the glass, not less.

I’m John from Chasing the Unicorn Podcast. Here’s where we want to end up: one $69.99 bottle that teaches you something you’ll carry into every barrel-strength purchase after this, while both batches are still on the same shelf at the same price.

Here’s what makes it tricky. Larceny Barrel Proof A926 and B926 look identical — same distillery, same mash bill, same $69.99 MSRP. They’re separated by 2.4 proof points and nothing else. Most people grab whichever one’s in front of them, or assume the higher-proof batch is the stronger call. R/bourbon ran 1,100 comments worth of side-by-sides this week and found something more useful than a simple ranking.

Here’s the move. Find B926 at standard retail now through mid-July. No per-account limit. No lottery. $69.99. If A926 is already open at home, pick up B926 while both are on the shelf at the same time — this combination doesn’t come around in the same retail cycle often.

Two things worth understanding before you pour.

Wheated bourbons express proof variation more audibly than high-rye expressions, and the reason is the secondary grain. Wheat doesn’t contribute the spice-forward bitterness that rye creates at the back of the palate. Rye is already creating heat-adjacent character at higher proofs — an extra 2.4 points doesn’t add much to something that’s already assertive. Wheat is softer. That softness is precisely what proof variation touches first. The same spread that disappears in a rye-forward barrel-strength release lands clearly in a wheated one. The community found it in the glass because the mechanism is real.

What that means for B926 specifically: at 124.4 proof, the caramel and stone fruit arrive before the heat competes. Bourbon Culture called it “softer on entry, caramel arriving faster before the fruit catches up.” A926 at 126.8 holds the structure longer on the back palate — more integrated almond and vanilla for buyers with a higher-proof reference frame. Neither is the wrong call. They describe different drinking experiences with one variable changed.

B926 is the anchor bottle on today’s list. Soft caramel entry, stone fruit mid-palate, a finish that runs longer than 124 proof has any right to produce in a wheated expression. This is worth the chase. Window runs through mid-July at $69.99. Also on the list: the Ohio OHLQ George T. Stagg lottery — free entry, open through midnight July 14, $129 MSRP against a secondary floor north of $1,100, five minutes to enter, zero downside. And the $200-plus tier is quiet this week — nothing new has cleared that threshold, and we’d rather note it than pad the list. Full read on all three is in today’s Cut Daily on our website. Free.

A word of caution on the side-by-side format. The lesson is the mechanism, not the score. B926 is the more expressive starting point for most palates — but “most palates” isn’t yours until you’ve run the comparison yourself. The rule that travels: in wheated barrel-strength bourbon, lower proof doesn’t mean less, it often means different. That distinction applies to every Larceny, every Weller, every wheated barrel-strength pour you make from here. The price of being wrong on a single $69.99 bottle is low. The information you get from the comparison is worth more than either bottle individually. Buy what you’ll drink, then pay attention.

One more thing before we close — today’s full American Whiskey Industry Brief covers the Wilderness Trail Harvest Bourbon BiB side-by-side against Heaven Hill’s standard BiB. Same proof, same federal credential, two completely different fermentation philosophies, $18 to $22 apart. It’s waiting on Patreon.

That’s The Cut. Follow the show wherever you listen, so tomorrow’s brief finds you first. The full American Whiskey Industry Brief is at patreon.com/ChasingTheUnicornPodcast. I’m John Schuster. Thanks for joining me. Your unicorn is out there.