Editor’s Note: We received a review sample of this whiskey from the brand. However, in accordance with our editorial policies, this has not influenced the outcome of our review in any way.
Michter’s Distillery is one of the more popular Kentucky distilleries today. This brand’s legacy started in 1753 in Pennsylvania and, through many twists and turns, ultimately ended up in Kentucky under the still-ongoing leadership of Michter’s President Joseph J. Magliocco.
While the Michter’s of 2024 has a decidedly forward-looking agenda that is Kentucky-centric, Magliocco and company look to honor the brand’s history through its Legacy Series, a yearly two-bottle, vintage-dated offering that also lets the distillery team play outside the usual Michter’s sandbox in that each release differs from those of previous years.
“While there is some continuity from year to year, our production team makes creative adjustments to each edition of these whiskeys,” said Magliocco when this year’s bottlings were unveiled.
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The two offerings in this lineup, Shenk’s Homestead Kentucky Sour Mash Whiskey and Bomberger’s Declaration Kentucky Straight Bourbon, play to the history timeline as follows: In 1753, Swiss Mennonite farmer John Shenk founded Shenk’s distillery in Pennsylvania. This distillery was later renamed Bomberger’s Distillery in the 1800s before its name changed again to Michter’s Distillery in the mid-20th Century.
What’s in the bottle
The whiskey being reviewed here, Shenk’s Homestead Kentucky Sour Mash Whiskey (2024), follows the standard sour mash process of using a portion of the previously distilled whiskey mash in the next batch. It is standardly made with “a substantial amount of rye.”
“In the 2024 Shenk’s release,” said Michter’s Master Distiller Dan McKee of it, “we used rye, malted rye, and for the first time caramel malt, which offers a nice creaminess to complement the whiskey’s herbaceous qualities and notes of spice.”
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At the time of this whiskey’s release, it was noted that, as in the last several years, some of the barrels used in the production of Shenk’s include oak sourced from the Vosges region of France. The oak is air-dried and seasoned for 24 months before being toasted to Michter’s specifications.
Shenk’s is 91.2 proof (45.6% ABV) and has a U.S. suggested retail price of $110.
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