As a Whiskey Lover, These 8 New Launches Have Me Very Excited
Whiskey is having a major moment in 2026. From Jack Daniel’s American Single Malt to Hibiki 12, Angel’s Envy, Macallan and more, these are the new whiskey launches to know.
- By: Julianne Elise Beffa I Photo By: Ben Christensen for Rolling Stone
Whiskey is having a moment and, as a longtime whiskey lover, I am very much paying attention.
After years of endless limited-edition tequila drops and celebrity brands launching everyday, the whiskey world is finally starting to take center stage again. The category is growing beyond the usual definitions of bourbon and Scotch, with distillers experimenting with new mash bills, unexpected barrel finishes, American Single Malt, heritage revivals and collaborations that bring whiskey into the worlds of music, fashion, design and culture. I’m sooo here for it.
The biggest shift isn’t necessarily about drinking more whiskey; it’s about giving whiskey drinkers more interesting reasons to keep exploring. Brands are digging deeper into their archives, pushing the limits of what can happen inside a barrel and creating bottles that feel like an experience before they’ve tasted it. American Single Malt has officially entered the U.S. whiskey conversation as a recognized category, while established names are proving that having centuries of history behind you doesn’t mean you can’t still have a little fun.
From a major new Jack Daniel’s release that has me personally freaking out, to the return of a cult Japanese whisky, a stout-and-Amburana experiment, a Rolling Stone collaboration and one very fabulous bowling-pin-shaped bottle, 2026 has delivered some seriously fun whiskey launches. So, naturally, I went down the rabbit hole. Here are the eight new bottles I have my eye on right now.
Jack Daniel’s American Single Malt Whiskey
So, Jack Daniel’s birthday is coming up, and they’re kicking things off with a pretty major celebration. I am a Jack Daniel’s girly through and through, so naturally, the arrival of a completely new Jack expression is going straight to the top of my list. And this one is especially exciting: Jack Daniel’s American Single Malt is arriving nationwide at the exact moment American Single Malt is officially being recognized as a new U.S. whiskey category- that’s right, cheers for the first new official whiskey category in more than 50 years. (Please send me a bottle, PR team. I’m begging you!)
And this isn’t simply Jack putting a new outfit on the same whiskey. The expression uses a 100% malted barley mash bill, is distilled in Lynchburg, Tennessee, charcoal mellowed through sugar maple charcoal, aged in new, charred American oak barrels and then finished in Oloroso Sherry casks.
$75
Jack Daniel’s
American Single Malt Whiskey
The tasting notes are basically everything I want in a fall pour: soft oak, fruit and cocoa on the nose, followed by dark chocolate-covered nuts, berries and a subtly sweet sherry finish. I fell in love with their Blackberry expression last year, so I’m very curious to see if I’ll have heart eyes for this launch, too.
It comes in at 90 proof, packaged in a generous one-liter bottle and priced at $74.99 (see why I need the PR team to send one my way?). After previously being available only in select international duty-free locations, it is now headed to retailers across the U.S. in limited quantities this fall.
My take: I am probably the least objective person to review this bottle because, again, I’ve been loyal to my boyfriend Jack for as long as I’ve been legally allowed to drink. But Jack doing an American Single Malt at the exact moment the category is becoming officially recognized? Yeah, count me in.
Angel’s Envy’s Stout & Amburana Bourbon
This is where whiskey gets a little ~weird~ in the best way. Angel’s Envy has unveiled the latest release in its Distillery Series, and someone clearly decided that regular bourbon finishing was simply not exciting enough.
The 2026 expression combines Imperial Stout barrels and Brazilian Amburana wood, two finishes that bring very different personalities to the party. The bourbon itself is aged for six to seven years, with portions spending six to 24 months in stout barrels and another portion getting a much shorter one-month Amburana finish. The result leans into cinnamon, churro, mulled cider, chocolate orange and spiced Mexican hot chocolate. Which sounds less like a whiskey tasting note and more like the dessert menu at a very good downtown restaurant.
Only about 18,000 375ml bottles are being produced, and they will be sold exclusively at the Angel’s Envy Distillery in Louisville beginning September 10 for $54.99.
My take: This is exactly the kind of experimentation I want from whiskey right now. It’s unexpected without feeling like someone threw random ingredients into a barrel for Instagram and called it a day.
Hibiki 12 Is Finally Back
And naturally, you may have to travel to get it. If there is one thing whiskey brands know how to do extremely well, it is making us want something more by making it difficult to find. Hibiki 12 Years Old is back after an 11-year hiatus, but the comeback comes with a catch: the 2026 release is a travel-retail exclusive, meaning airports are suddenly looking a lot more appealing.
The new bottling once again brings together malt and grain whiskies from Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita, but Chief Blender Shinji Fukuyo has reworked the cask recipe, using American oak, Spanish oak and Japanese Mizunara oak. The previous expression’s umeshu plum-wine casks are notably absent from this version.
$600
Hibiki
12 Years Japanese Blended Whisky
The bottle is expected to retail around $188 but resale for 3x that (PHEW!) and is available at select international travel hubs, including JFK- which, as a New Yorker, I appreciate immensely.
My take: I love a travel-exclusive bottle because suddenly your airport shopping trip has a purpose. If you see me sprinting through JFK, mind ya business.
Redemption Single Barrel Bonded Bourbon
This one is giving whiskey nerds- but make it accessible. Redemption is relaunching its premium Higher Marques Collection with its first-ever Bottled-in-Bond bourbon, and this is one of those releases that manages to feel serious without requiring a second mortgage.
$49
Redemption
6 Year Single Barrel Bonded Bourbon Whiskey
The Single Barrel Bonded Bourbon is aged for six years, bottled at 100 proof and selected by master blender Alan Kennedy. It checks the classic Bottled-in-Bond boxes while still keeping the price at a surprisingly approachable $49.99. On the palate, expect vanilla, toasted oak, crème brûlée, sweet corn, baking spices and caramel, with a long oak-and-spice finish.
My take: This is the bottle I would bring to a dinner party where everyone suddenly becomes a whiskey expert after one sip. At $50, it feels like a pretty easy yes in my book.
Dogfish Head x Rolling Stone Whiskey
Whiskey, music and a little bit of rebellion? Obviously. Dogfish Head and Rolling Stone have teamed up on a limited-edition American Single Malt, and honestly, this collaboration makes so much sense that I’m surprised it took this long. (Also, if any PR girlies are reading this one, I’m also VERY open to a bottle hehe).
The whiskey is five years old and 90 proof, with its flavor coming from a blend of 12 different barrel types, including Dogfish Head’s own whiskey and brandy barrels and even barrels that previously held Samuel Adams Utopias. The profile hits caramel, allspice and sherry before finishing with a little citrus, and only 900 cases were produced.
$100
Dogfish Head X Rolling Stone
American Single Malt Whiskey
It is also one of those bottles where the story is half the fun. Dogfish Head has spent decades weaving music into its brand DNA, while Rolling Stone has, obviously, spent decades documenting the culture around it. Put the two together and you get a bottle that feels much more like a piece of culture than another celebrity spirits collaboration.
My take: Put this on the bar, turn up the music and pretend you’re much cooler than you actually are. I fully support it.
The Macallan Romantica Collection
This launch is for when your whiskey budget has entered another tax bracket. So, yeah, this one is not exactly a casual Tuesday-night bottle (unless your bank account has far more 0’s than mine). But we are talking about The Macallan, so casual was never really the assignment.
The Romantica Collection is a 1986 vintage released in 2026 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Macallan 1926. Only 258 bottles were created from a single sherry-seasoned European oak cask that was filled at The Macallan Estate in 1986.
$105,000
The Macallan
Romantica Collection
The collection is split across three label designs by artists Sir Peter Blake, Valerio Adami and Michael Dillon, with 86 bottles bearing each artist’s work. And yes, the bottles themselves are beautiful. But the real flex is the liquid inside: a four-decade-old single-cask Scotch with the kind of provenance that makes collectors start speaking in hushed voices.
My take: Is this the whiskey I’m casually pouring for friends at 2 a.m.? No. Is it the whiskey that makes me suddenly want to become a collector? Unfortunately, yes.
Jim Beam Ten-Pin Bottle
Hey! Your bar cart called. It wants this. Jim Beam has brought back one of its most wonderfully nostalgic collector bottles: the bowling-pin-shaped Ten-Pin decanter. The silhouette dates back decades, when Jim Beam used bowling-pin decanters as gifts for friends and associates. The 2026 version is filled with 10-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon, bottled at 100 proof. It is part bourbon, part collectible and part piece of Americana, which is exactly why I love it.
The limited release debuted at the James B. Beam Distilling Co. in Kentucky for $124.99, and even if you aren’t planning to drink it immediately, it is the kind of bottle that looks like it belongs on display.
My take: Do I need a bowling-pin whiskey bottle? No. Did I just glance over at my bar cart and suddenly feel like it’s incomplete without one? Absolutely.
AJ Bond Tennessee Whiskey
Move over, lover boy Jack, There’s a new Tennessee whiskey in town. AJ Bond Tennessee Whiskey marks Sazerac’s first entry into the Tennessee whiskey category, which makes this one of the more interesting strategic launches of the year. The brand was developed by master distillers Allisa Henley and the late John Lunn, with the whiskey built around a combination of pot- and column-distilled spirits that are aged separately before being married together.
The inaugural expression is bottled at 95 proof and launched in Tennessee at $39.99, with broader distribution expected later this year.
My take: Sazerac entering Tennessee whiskey is noteworthy on its own, but I’m more interested in what the brand does next. The combination of traditional Tennessee whiskey techniques with a slightly different production approach gives AJ Bond room to carve out its own personality.
$41
AJ Bond
Straight Tennessee Whiskey
So… Is Whiskey Having a Moment?
I think it is- just not necessarily in the way whiskey was having a moment five years ago. Back then, the conversation felt largely centered around bourbon: who had it, who could find it, which bottle was impossible to get your hands on and whether you were willing to stand in line at 7 a.m. for the privilege. Now, the more interesting story is what brands are doing to keep longtime whiskey drinkers curious while giving an entirely new generation a reason to care about what’s in their glass. And they’re getting creative.
We’re watching American Single Malt establish itself as a legitimate category, distillers push the limits with unexpected barrel finishes, Japanese whisky bring back cult favorites and heritage brands dig into their archives to revive bottles with serious history behind them. At the same time, whiskey is increasingly stepping outside of the traditional spirits world and into music, design, fashion, food and pop culture. Because apparently whiskey has finally figured out that the way to our hearts isn’t just through a perfectly aged spirit- it’s through a really good story, too.
That, to me, is what makes this new wave so fun. These launches aren’t all trying to do the same thing, and they certainly aren’t all made for the same drinker. Some are collector bottles, some are bartender bait, some are destined for the top shelf and some are simply the bottle you bring out when you want your friends to ask, “Wait, what is that?”
And honestly, I think that’s exactly where whiskey should be right now. The category has enough history behind it that it doesn’t need to prove itself anymore. Now, it gets to play.
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