A Swiss Mennonite farmer named John Shenk established his family close to Pennsylvania’s Blue Mountain Valley in the 18th century. Shenk started distilling the extra grains into whiskey after a few years of collecting more grains that he could sell. Shenk’s distillery became the first distilling enterprise in the United States and was later renamed Michter’s Distillery. General George Washington started buying Michter’s Distillery Whiskey just twenty years after Shenk had founded his distillery. This was done to help his men stay strong during the harsh and protracted winter at Valley Forge. As they claim, the whiskey that kept the American Revolution warm was from Michter’s Distillery.

Almost all distilleries in the United States were forced to close, including Michter’s Distillery, when Prohibition was passed in 1919. However, Joseph J. Magliocco and Richard Newman joined together in the early 1990s to try to revive the brand. According to Magliocco, “Dick and I wanted to get back to the ‘cost be damned’ roots and produce the finest whiskey possible when we set up our whiskey program for Michter’s Distillery.” Our intention was to demonstrate that excellent whiskey produced anywhere in the world could be matched by whiskey produced in the United States michter’s barrel proof bourbon.

Michter’s Distillery 10 Year Old Bourbon is the brainchild of master distiller Willie Pratt. Pratt, a maturation perfectionist with over forty years of distilling experience, is known as “Dr. No” since he often refuses to bottle aging barrels of whiskey. According to Pratt, whiskey that is aged for over a decade hits a “fork in the road,” and can either become incredible or unpalatable. “One of the barrels we sampled was unbelievably woody,” Magliocco says. “And we reject that, we literally sewer it. Willie had another barrel that tasted delicious, but the consistency was like molasses, and we obviously couldn’t sell that.” michter’s barrel strength bourbon

Pratt recognized that the sourced bourbon, Michter’s Distillery 10 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon, had reached its zenith. The single barrel bourbon smells of espresso, toffee, and whipped cream and has a dark caramel color. With hints of lemon, grapefruit, molasses, and vanilla, the palate is dominated by spice notes. There are hints of tobacco, aged leather, and figs in the medium-long finish michter’s 10 year bourbon 2024​.

“Best American Whiskey” was the title given by Food & Wine Magazine to Michter’s Distillery 10-year-old single barrel bourbon.

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Michter’s 10 Year Old Single Barrel Straight Bourbon Whiskey Notes on Tasting

It has a dark caramel color and a whipped cream, toffee, and espresso scent. With hints of lemon, grapefruit, molasses, and vanilla, the palate is dominated by spice notes. There are hints of tobacco, aged leather, and figs in the medium-long finish.