Michter's 20 Year Old Bourbon (2024) Review

In 2002, Julian Van Winkle III approached Joe Magliocco about a new development to their business relationship – he had just signed an agreement with Buffalo Trace to continue his famous Pappy Van Winkle line at their distillery in Frankfort. That meant he would be closing up shop at the Old Commonwealth Distillery (previously known as the Hoffman Distillery) where he had been hand-bottling barrels of bourbon for Joe’s newly resurrected brand Michter’s (when he wasn’t bottling his own bourbon). But Julian wasn’t going to leave Joe in a tight spot; he introduced him to Even Kulsveen over at Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD aka modern day Willett) who agreed to continue selling him barrels as well as bottle them up.

Early in their relationship, Even secured some young, bulk rye whiskey and American Whiskey at a good price. He offered them to Joe who used the barrels to create a cheaper introductory range of whiskies: Michter’s Single Barrel Rye Whiskey and Michter’s Unblended American Whiskey. Joe was pleased with the quality of the products but figured it might be cheaper to deal directly with the source. Who was the source of those whiskies? Brown-Forman.

The two entities hit it off and entered into an agreement in 2004. Essentially, Brown-Forman would produce distillate for Michter’s for a few days out of each year. They’d also age it for them. Distilling began that year and soon enough, Michter’s had several thousand barrels of whiskey in their inventory.

Michter’s contract distillate turned 20 in 2024

Michter’s continued to purchase barrels from KBD (Willett) for as long as they could. My guess is until 2008. These barrels (along with any leftovers from the ones they bought from United Distillers in the late 1990’s) went into the Michter’s 10 Year bourbon and rye whiskey labels. The younger whiskey they purchased in bulk or had distilled at Brown-Forman went into their standard bottles.

With whiskey sourcing and contract distilling under control, Joe and his team sorted through the stocks of older barrels and decided they had the means to create something really rare. So in 2008, Michter’s 25 Year Old Rye and Bourbon were released. The success of these two undoubtedly inspired Michter’s to bottle up a new line of 20-year-old bourbon in 2012. The sources from these barrels were always kept a secret but are believed to be bourbon and rye sourced from the various distillates produced by United Distillers before their demise in the mid-90s.

As the years passed, Michter’s enthusiasts kept a close eye on two key dates. The first one is 2004 – the year that Brown-Forman began to distill for Michter’s and the second is August, 2015 – the year that Michter’s own distillery came online. Knowing this, we can deduce the source of the liquid inside of certain bottles. What we can assume is that this late season 2024 release of Michter’s 20 is likely the first time that we get to taste something made at the Brown-Forman Distillery (formerly known as the Early Times Distillery) that was aged for at least 20 years.

The making of Michter’s 20 Year Bourbon

Many people know by now that Michter’s decided to use (or was told they were going to use) the Early Times mash bill (79/11/10) rather than the Old Forester mash bill (72/18/10). The Early Times mash bill is also different from the Old Forester one because it uses a different yeast. Michter’s added the requirement that they wanted theirs to have a barrel entry proof of 103 instead of the standard 125.

These barrels were then aged in a heat-cycled warehouse for the past 20 years. I imagine these barrels had to be moved at some point in their life since Michter’s couldn’t use the Brown-Forman warehouses after ~2011 to age them in. Regardless, during that time they had to go through a lot of testing and vetting to make sure that they were up to snuff. The last hurdle for an M20 barrel getting the nod to move into this coveted territory happens at the 17-year-old mark where the taster will determine if it’s good enough to keep aging those final three years.

Batches of Michter’s 20 typically range from the mid-300’s to the mid-500’s in terms of how many bottles are produced. This probably means anywhere from 5 to 8 barrels were blended together to make one batch and it’s released on an annual basis.

Once the batch is blended together, they go through Michter’s proprietary filtering process. M20 Bourbon is always bottled at 114.2 proof which means it was proofed down some. How much it was proofed down is not known. My guess is that the 2024 bottling of M20 is going to be the least proofed-down version of M20 yet because the barrel entry proof started so low. Even the bourbons that United Distillers made didn’t have barrel entry proofs that low.

So how is the first true iteration of M20 to have come from Brown-Forman’s stills (with a barrel entry proof of 103)? Thanks to my good friend David over at Whiskey In My Wedding Ring, I get to find out. He was also generous enough to invite me to a tour of Michter’s Shively distillery late last year – an experience I can’t thank him enough to have been a part of. So cheers buddy, I hope this review does this bottle justice. As usual, I’ve sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Nothing rivals the oak I find on the nose of this M20. Rich scents of furniture polish, weathered and seasoned oak and walnuts permeate. Other tannins like fine leather and chocolate ganache also give each sniff a deep and foreboding experience. That’s not to say that the nose is without its brighter notes – I am also smelling plenty of preserved cherries, raspberries and blackberries. On the sweeter side of things is coffee cake coupled with another baked good that ties both fruit and confections together – Christmas Fruitcake,

Palate: The intensity and breadth of the oak on this nose is almost incomparable. Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year is about the only bourbon with oak this perfect (oof, that statement is going to get some hate mail). I’ve never had tannins this powerful without being bitter – yet Michter’s pulls it off. More notes of Christmas Fruitcake are accompanied with strawberry hard candies, licorice, jellybeans and candied citrus rind. Layers of other flavors also run the full gamut of bourbon flavors which include macadamia nuts, espresso, candle wax, coconut shell and flaxseed oil? There are also baking spices like ground cinnamon, and nutmeg. And just when you thought I couldn’t possibly list any more flavors, my tongue tells me not to forget a slight banana runt note and a dash of Ruby Port. Damn.

Finish: Tannins… tannins everywhere. I find dusty antique store funk, allspice, anise and soft cinnamon. Dessert notes like Oreo cookies and Almond Joy about. Fruit notes like (stone fruit) marmalade and more coconut shell. There’s even a hint of ash which somehow it doesn’t taste bitter. The whole finish lacks a bit in sweetness but still tastes exceptionally balanced.

Score: 10/10

What we have here is perfection in a glass. It’s complex, layered with complimentary flavors and dripping with maturity. The way the tannins have influenced each sip is unrivaled. It has the perfect balance of age, punch and brighter notes. Almost nobody does it better.

Leading up to my experience with this bottle, I was nervous for what it would taste like. Previous M20’s were always a transformative experience to me, but many of the recent M10’s (which are still Brown-Forman produced until maybe next year) have been solid, not exceptional. I was concerned that the distillate would not be what we all hoped it would be at the 20 year mark. Well, after tasting this one I can confirm there’s nothing to worry about. This M20 met every criteria I expect from such a hallowed label.

Final Thoughts

The hard part about wrapping up a review with a bottle that scores a perfect 10 is that I know the majority of my readers won’t be able to experience this for themselves. I wish that weren’t so. But the reality is that so few of these bottles gets produced each year that it’s always out of our reach. The only bit of advice I have is to not pass up a chance to try a pour if it’s ever available in your neck of the woods. It’s that special.