Tasting notes

nose

Dark cherry and bright red fruit over butter toffee, roasted nuts, vanilla bean and a dusting of cocoa

palate

Silky; layers of chocolate wrap cherry preserves and baking spice, with toasted pecan, brown sugar and cinnamon building toward the back

finish

Long; dark chocolate lingers with leather and warm spice, drying into toasted oak

Mash bill

At least 51% corn; Michter's has not published the other grains or their proportions for the 2026 release. The 2023 and 2024 releases of Bomberger's added malted rye to the recipe, and Michter's has not said whether this one does. Each year's release changes mainly in its wood rather than its grain.

Why it's craft

Bomberger's Declaration is Michter's yearly release built around barrels of Chinquapin oak, a white oak species named on the label as Quercus muehlenbergii, and the wood program changes with each edition. For 2026 the Chinquapin barrels were joined by Hungarian oak, both seasoned outdoors for three years and given a custom toast and char; Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson says the Hungarian wood wraps a chocolate richness around the cherry and spice the Chinquapin brings. The name honors Bomberger's, the 19th-century name of the Pennsylvania distillery that John Shenk founded in 1753 and that later became Michter's. Michter's does not say where the bourbon in this bottle was distilled.