Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey (2022) Review

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The year is 2025 and so far there have only been four instances of Michter’s Celebration being released. The first one came out in 2013 under former Master Distiller Willie Pratt’s guidance. Then he batched a second release in 2016 as a sort of final “send-off” before he retired. Then in 2019, Dan McKee (Master Distiller) and Andrea Wilson (Master of Maturation) collaborated on making the third release. Finally, Dan McKee went solo for the blending of the 2022 release.

Throughout the years, the premise behind Celebration has been to take some of Michter’s oldest and best stocks of bourbon and rye whiskey and blend them together. The result cannot be called a bourbon or a rye whiskey so they call it a “Sour Mash Whiskey.” If you’re thinking “wait, this sounds like a bourye,” you’d be right. But why would they make a bourye as their premier flagship? It wasn’t done to be cutesy, it was designed to be an homage to the original “Michter’s Sour Mash Whiskey” sold from the 1940’s to 1990. That version used a mash bill that was 50% corn, 38% rye and 12% malted barley and could not legally be called a bourbon since it didn’t have at least 51% corn.

Since no distillery in Kentucky was producing a whiskey with a mash bill anywhere close to it, a decision was made to blend together bourbon and rye whiskey to achieve the style of the original Michter’s Sour Mash. Michter’s had already established a precedence for this concept in 2012 when they released “Michter’s Sour Mash Whiskey” which is a blend of bourbon and rye whiskey in undisclosed ratios. This paved the way for Celebration in 2013 followed by Shenk’s Homestead Whiskey (also a bourye) in 2018.

Celebration makeup

The first release of Michter’s Celebration comprised of barrels that were 20+ years old and barrels that were 30+ years old. I know that sounds vague, but since Michter’s is tight-lipped about stuff like this and since Willie Pratt passed away in 2020, we’ll probably never know the true composition. In the following years, they’ve used barrels as young as 10-years-old and also released a rough composite of how many and what kind of barrels were used for the blend. to create each release of Celebration.

I don’t know a lot about how the process of picking which barrels goes, but some of Michter’s oldest whiskey isn’t actually in barrels anymore. I know I’ve touched on this in previous reviews, but once the Master Tasters at Michter’s find a barrel is taking on too much oak, they will move it from the barrel into a stainless steel tank or drum so the aging stops. Their distillery has a room where these sealed drums are stored, waiting until they’re needed. Most are destined for M10, M20 or M25 releases, but they’re all up for grabs when it comes time to pick the 6 or 7 barrels that will go into the next batch of Celebration.

As a quick aside, I want to point out that just because a batch of Celebration might claim to have a 30-year-old barrel in it, that doesn’t mean it was distilled 30 years ago. In some instances, it might have been vatted in a drum years prior. Literally, we could be drinking a whiskey distilled in the 1980s in any bottle of Celebration. That’s a wild thought.

Let’s look at a quick breakdown of all four Celebration releases:

2013

273 bottles produced, 112.3 proof, $4,000 MSRP. Willie Pratt hand selected barrels that were older than 20 years old and barrels that were older than 30 years old.

2016

256 bottles, 116.8 proof, $5,000 MSRP, Willie Pratt hand-selected six rye and bourbon barrels between 10 and 30 years old.

2019

277 bottles, 115.6 proof, $5,000 MSRP, Dan McKee and Andrea Wilson hand selected and blended 2 barrels of bourbon and 4 barrels of rye whiskey with ages ranging from 10 to 30 years old.

2022

328 bottles, 112.8 proof, $6,000 MSRP, Dan McKee was solely in charge of selecting and blending 3 barrels of bourbon and 4 barrels of rye whiskey ranging from 12 to 30 years old,

The total number of bottles sold stands at 1,134 which makes it the second-most rare bottling of Michter’s (M25 Rye holds the spot for the most rare), but not by much.

One final topic to cover here involves the source of these bourbon and rye whiskey barrels. It’s impossible to know, but we do know many of the sources that Joe Magliocco and his team purchased barrels from so that could narrow it down. My guess is that the bourbon barrels that are over 20-years-old were probably distilled at the New Bernheim distillery while it was still owned by United Distillers. I assume that these barrels are primarily the same mash bill used for IW Harper back in the day. There’s also a good chance that pre-fire Heaven Hill barrels could be included if it’s true that Even Kulsveen had sold some of his stocks of bourbon to Joe. I believe the rye whiskey could be leftover from barrels that went into M25 rye – which would make it that rare “Cream of Kentucky” rye whiskey I covered in my previous review. And any 10-12 year old barrels have a high likelihood of being distilled at Brown-Forman (probably the Early Times mash bill).

The 2022 release of Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey

After Dan McKee completed his blend, the liquid was filtered through Michter’s proprietary filtering process which could have seen up to 36 different filters used to create the ultimate taste profile. Actually, I’m not sure if Michter’s would have filtered the whiskey before putting it into the stainless steel vats which might make more sense to me. I’ll have to look into this now, haha. From there, the liquid is bottled into a standard Michter’s Diva bottle (that’s the name of the bottle) that are made in France. Then an 18-karat gold labeling is screened onto the surface because what other kind of material are you going to use for a $6,000 bottle?

The box that surrounds the bottle is also a work of art made out of real wood with what appears to be a stitched leather interior and a real metal clasp that secures the neck of the bottle. I also found the website of the company that designed and produces the box, so tap on this link if you want to see the original concepts and how IPL Packaging arrived at their, errr, “Final Solution” (strange choice of words, IPL). You can also see that they were also involved in other high-end packaging like the box for Double Eagle Very Rare, luxury perfume and ultra-aged Scotch.

I know I covered this above, but here were the final specs of the 2022 release – it was bottled at barrel proof which was 112.8 proof and contained three barrels of bourbon and 4 barrels of rye whiskey. No exact ages were given for the barrels except to say that they ranged from 12 to 30 years old. The quick math says that each barrel yielded an average of 9.2 gallons of whiskey, although I bet that 12-year old barrel comprised quite a bit more than the rest. There were only 328 bottles produced which makes it one of the largest batches yet.

So how does a whiskey like this taste? Let’s find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: The first scent that comes to mind when I inhale is dessert Crêpes. Sweet, soft and buttery. Each sniff reveals a different kind of Crêpe – one filled with chocolate spread, one filled with lemon curd and one filled with baked pears. The soft oak is everywhere and touches everything. It’s accompanied by the scent of a perfectly toasted marshmallow. There are notes of butterscotch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I even find this citrus fruit note that I can only describe as “Tangelo” because of how fragrant it is. There’s a certain intangible character to the nose that is so rich and fragrant throughout. It has much more to offer than my descriptors suggest and there’s not too many whiskies out there that have the ability to fill your nostrils with such powerful, yet soft, scents.

Palate: Upon the first sip, I find oak of every kind on my tongue. There’s seasoned oak, antiqued oak, varnished oak and oak spice. While I’m on the subject of tannins, I am also pulling flavors of fine tobacco, leather polish and a bit of maple wood from the liquid. Sweetness comes from toffee and butterscotch candies – my favorite. Fruit notes include blackberry jam (another one of my favorites) and oxidized cherries. Spices are soft and tame and center mostly around nutmeg with the occasional ground cinnamon and allspice showing up. I haven’t gotten to the mouthfeel yet, but I find a really enjoyable viscosity similar to syrup. If this was given to me blind, I would have never guessed that there was rye whiskey in this blend. It doesn’t taste anywhere near the oak madness that Michter’s 25 Year Bourbon has, but that’s alright. The balance is superb and the age is understated. Nothing wrong with speaking softly but carrying a big stick.

Finish: The tannins come into full view with each completed sip. The tobacco notes fuse together with the cherry notes, the leather becomes somewhat dry and the oak becomes stronger, deeper and perhaps a bit more drying. That’s not to say this is a bitter finish or anything, it remains very well balanced by allowing other flavors to share the spotlight. I can still find lingering notes of butterscotch, vanilla bean and a hint of chalk. You might think that’s a strange note, but I did find a hint of “flint” in my review of Michter’s 25 Rye that I’m starting to wonder if some of that hasn’t made its way into this batch. The finish lasts forever and could also seem a bit understated to most but the beauty is in the depth continues to show off for minutes after the sip is complete.

Score: 10/10

Michter’s Celebration completes my trifecta of reviews that examines the top of the line whiskey that this storied brand has put together. It seems to be the perfect example of how to balance a mix of modern and “dusty” flavor profiles into one product that’s truly worthy of celebrating. What might seem like blasphemy to some, actually works. It’s the best of both worlds.

You may think I’m selling out by awarding perfect ratings in my last three reviews, but I fully stand by my assessment that each one showcases the pinnacle of whiskeymaking. Michter’s 25 Bourbon is a masterpiece in the power of what a new charred oak barrel is capable of. Michter’s 25 Rye shows that rye whiskey can still be sweet and oaky without covering up the floral and herbal characteristics that define a rye whiskey. And Michter’s Celebration shows how a whiskey with so many different components and ages can work together to be one of the most refined and balanced whiskies I’ve ever tasted.

Final Thoughts

You’re an extremely privileged individual if you own – or have tasted – all three bottles, but if you know you can only taste one, then I just laid out which one to look for depending on the characteristics that matter most to you. For those of you that follow me on Reddit, you’re probably aware this is my 1,000th whiskey review and I could have thought of no better bottle to celebrate that accomplishment with. No matter where you are, who you are or how much you like whiskey, I’d like to thank you for reading my reviews for the past 7 years. I hope that I can continue to educate, inform and offer an opinion you can count on and I’m truly grateful for the support I’ve received. Here’s to 1,000 more!