Michter’s 25-Year-Old Bourbon Is a Rare Treat For Discerning Whiskey Lovers
The coveted Kentucky whiskey retails for $1,000–if you’re lucky enough to find a bottle.
For the first time in three years, Michter’s is releasing their profoundly rare, highly coveted 25-year-old bourbon to the public.
The 25-year-old Kentucky whiskey is one of the oldest and rarest the distillery puts out, and they don’t put it out every year. In fact, 25-Year is one of the rarest releases from the Michter’s distillery.
The last time we saw this bourbon was in 2017, and before that, the last release was bottled in 2008. That’s a rate of about a bottle every six years, for anyone playing along at home.
Michter’s is well documented for skipping a year (or two) here and there with their older expressions when the quality of the whiskey isn’t up to snuff—if it’s not incredible, we don’t tend to see it.
As a result, every batch of the 10s, 20s, and 25s has always been complex, delicious, and as Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson assures, “not overly oaked.”
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But they’re definitely ready this year. Master Distiller Dan McKee, the “ultimate gatekeeper of the distillery’s releases” commented, “When I tasted these particular 25 year barrels, I was thrilled about the quality.”
Proofed at 116.2, this is likely to be a powerful old alpha whiskey, and one of our favorite things about older Michter’s stock is that it radiates complexity. Past releases have shown a nice balance of youthful vanilla and caramel notes among a forest of older flavors like tobacco, leather, shoe polish, and tea. We haven’t tasted it yet, but we damn well plan to—if we can find it.
Michter’s 25-Year Bourbon is a small batch and, from the information on the hand numbered bottles, it appears that less than 400 bottles even exist. Like we said, this is a real rarity among whiskeys—and in our opinion, a higher standard of flavor than the more well-known twenty-something brands out there.
But of course, that comes at a price. If you’re able to find one, retail pricing starts at a blistering $1,000, and secondary market value will hit triple that by the time the first bottle is sold.
If you aren’t able to grab one, well, mark your calendars for 2026.
Clay Whittaker is a Contributing Editor at Maxim.com. His work has appeared in Cigar Aficionado, Playboy, Esquire, Forbes, Town and Country, and elsewhere. You can subscribe to his newsletter here, and follow him on Instagram here.