Veteran-owned brand Hooten Young has teamed up with U.S. firearms maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. to launch Ruger First-Fire Bourbon and two cigars, Rim Fire and Center Fire. The Jacksonville, Florida-based company will open an online pre-sale for the limited collection on October 14, 2026, at 1 p.m. EST.
Hooten Young makes the RUGER Whiskey & Cigars range under license from Sturm, Ruger & Co.
The partners call the collaboration one “built on a shared belief in American craftsmanship.”
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First-Fire is a seven-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon. The release totals 1,776 individually numbered 750ml bottles, a nod to the year of U.S. independence.
The liquid comes from 10 barrels. A 54-inch Vendome column still in Kentucky produced the spirit, and it matured in Speyside reference char #4 barrels.
Manifest Distilling in Jacksonville bottled the whiskey at 96 proof (48% ABV). The mash bill is 70% corn, 21% rye and 9% malted barley.
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READ THE STORYAccording to the official notes from the brand, the nose offers “caramel, vanilla, and toasted oak layered with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a whisper of dried stone fruit.” On the palate, toffee and honey give way to dark cherry, orange zest and rye spice. The finish brings oak spice, leather and caramelized brown sugar.
First-Fire has an MSRP of $45.99 (£35 / ₹4,400).
Both cigars are 6 x 54 Toros. Hooten Young Cigars hand-rolls them in Estelí, Nicaragua.
Rim Fire has a Connecticut Shade wrapper and a medium body. Center Fire uses a San Andrés wrapper and has a medium-to-full profile.
The brand will offer 250 boxes of 20, with 10 of each blend per box. Four-packs will also be sold, and single cigars cost $20 (£15 / ₹1,920).
Sales run only through store.hootenyoung.com. “Given the strictly limited quantities… availability is expected to be brief,” the company said.
Retired US Army Master Sergeant Norm Hooten — a veteran of the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” mission in Mogadishu — and Tim Young founded the brand. Actor Eric Bana portrayed Hooten in the film Black Hawk Down.
At the brand’s launch, Norm Hooten, president of Hooten Young, said: “Hooten Young was crafted to help folks slow down, bond with the people around them and remember those who are no longer here.”
Hooten Young has worked with partners before. It made a 16-year American whiskey in partnership with #1 New York Times bestselling author, retired Navy SEAL, and creator of The Terminal List series, Jack Carr.
Ruger was founded in 1949. It sells almost 800 variations of more than 40 product lines under its Ruger, Marlin, and Glenfield brands.
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