The Most Anticipated Spirits Releases for 2026
For certain spirits fans, it sometimes feels like they are living through Groundhog Day. Year after year, they sit around waiting for the same exact limited releases. Your Pappys, your BTACs, your Parker’s Heritage Collections.
These people vigorously discuss these same upcoming releases, try to score them, bemoan not finding them, celebrate landing some, debate their quality relative to the previous years, and then do it all again the next year.
You’d almost think there’s nothing else worth pursuing.
That couldn’t be further from the truth if you just know what to look for. In fact, this year will see plenty of exciting new bottlings, all of the never-before-released variety, all certain to tickle and tantalize the most discerning drinkers.
And it won’t just be bourbon, either. Sure, most of them are indeed bourbon — bourbon continues to be the spirits category most interested in pumping out hyped-up limited releases. But below you’ll also see single malt whisky, rum, tequila, and even a cinnamon-infused rye.
The Macallan ‘Diamonds Are Forever’
Release date: February
A new Macallan — sorry, The Macallan — release is always thrilling to a certain breed of whiskey drinkers and this one will be no exception. Tagged to the 55th anniversary of the James Bond film “Diamonds Are Forever” and meant to celebrate, according to the brand, “Bond’s connoisseurship of sherry wine,” this 18-year-old single malt (distilled in, har, 2007) is indeed matured in sherry and red-wine-seasoned casks. This is all part of an ongoing series of 007-related bottlings that will continue to be released over the coming years.
Black Maple Hill 11 Year and Black Maple Hill 16 Year
Release date: March
Around the turn of the century, Black Maple Hill was bottling some of the most coveted (and high-priced) liquid out there. Perhaps it was even Stitzel-Weller. Eventually the good juice dried up and the quality of its liquid turned the brand’s name to mud. This release, however, will hopefully return the label back to its glory days, thanks to being acquired by Pablo Moix and Peter Nevenglosky’s Rare Character, surely the hottest company going in American whiskey today. While little is known just yet about the liquid or its source, it’s hard to imagine the RC team not delivering on this luxury label that is sure to be one of the most tater-pursued releases of 2026.
Hampden Fifteen
Release date: April/May
Hampden Estate is one of the few rum brands that have found a cult following among the spirits world at large, and there was much excitement when the Jamaican distillery and its collaborator La Maison & Velier announced the release of their most mature (and fully tropically aged) expression yet. (Many independent bottlers have acquired, aged, and bottled Hampden at older ages overseas.) While the highly anticipated expression has already been released in Europe, the funk won’t hit U.S. shores and stores until the spring.
Don Julio 1942 FIFA World Cup 2026 Limited Edition
Release date: May
Sometimes the anticipation for a limited release simply comes down to the bottle, rather than what’s inside it. Such is the case with this World Cup-inspired bottling that will have the same exact Don Julio 1942 Añejo that you already know and love. As the official tie-in for this summer’s upcoming soccer (er, fútbol) tournament, expect both 1942 and footy fans to snap up bottles.
Booker’s The Reserve 2026
Release date: September
While taters have eagerly awaited a second release of Booker’s Rye — the world-class 13-year-old rye released by Jim Beam for the one and only time back in 2016 — this isn’t quite what they had in mind. In fact, when the label first appeared on the TTB database, the online cognoscenti was aghast. Booker’s Rye, but finished in apple brandy barrels and infused with cinnamon?! Was this some sort of joke? We’ll find out in the fall, when plenty of people will surely clammer for it.
Elmer T. Lee 40th Anniversary
Release date: Not yet known
Just about every year, Buffalo Trace finds another of its brands to start creating pricy, impossible-to-find line extensions for. If fans have long wondered why there isn’t an Elmer T. Lee BTAC bottling, this would essentially seem to be that. Uncut and unfiltered, bottled at a 127.8 proof, and designed for “honoring Elmer T. Lee’s first single barrel” — though this release does not seem to be a single barrel itself — expect this to be impossible to find, and to go for a pretty penny.
Four Roses 21-Year ‘Anthology Origin’ Bourbon
Release date: Not yet known
While not quite in the Buffalo Trace or even Heaven Hill stratosphere, every LE from Four Roses is welcomed with open arms and almost all are excellent. This 21-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon, courtesy the fruity and mellow “OESO” house recipe and bottled at barrel-strength, would be the oldest age statement the Lawrenceburg distillery has ever released. (Having said that, plenty of LEs from its past have featured older bourbons as components in a blend.) As the inaugural release in what would seem to be a new, yearly series, this will be highly sought-after, no doubt. (Might the hype be even greater than usual with the recent Gallo acquisition?)
Glendronach 14 Year Old Boynsmill House Edition 200th Anniversary
Release date: Not yet known
Founded in 1826, the cult-beloved Glendronach will celebrate two centuries this year. Not surprisingly, the Brown-Forman-owned single malt will release a milestone bottling for the occasion: a 14-year-old aged in oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks before being finished in red claret wine casks. For fans of Glendronach’s iconic wine-finished profile, this already sounds like a home run.
Wild Turkey 16-Year Gold Foil Edition
Release date: Not yet known
One of the most beloved bottlings from bourbon’s 1980s “glut” era is a 12-year-old Wild Turkey release with a gaudy label and known to fans as “Cheesy Gold Foil.” Surely capitalizing on that desirable dusty with this release, Gold Foil will reportedly feature top barrels approaching two decades in age. If Cheesy Gold Foil was completely ignored when it was actually on shelves, this release will continue to prove that the bourbon boom is still booming.
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