Tasting notes

nose

Graham cracker and caramel with baking spice and ripe stone fruit

palate

Toasty and sweet; toffee and caramel bread pudding meet rye spice, with stone fruit through the middle

finish

Lingering; stone fruit and baking spice hold alongside toffee sweetness, the spice and sugar fading together

Mash bill

A rye-heavy recipe that this year includes caramel malted barley; Michter's has not published the full grain bill or its proportions. Master Distiller Dan McKee says the caramel malt adds a caramel bread pudding note to set against the spice of the rye. It is made by the sour mash process, in which a portion of the previously distilled mash, called setback, goes into each new batch.

Why it's craft

Shenk's Homestead is named for John Shenk, the Swiss Mennonite farmer who in 1753 founded the Pennsylvania distillery that became known as Michter's in the 20th century. Each year's release reworks the recipe and the wood: for 2026 Michter's added caramel malted barley and finished part of the whiskey in Vosges French oak that was toasted but never charred. The American oak barrels were built from wood air-dried for five years, at the long end of the 18 to 60 months Michter's asks its coopers to season staves. Michter's does not say where the whiskey in this bottle was distilled.