4 New Pours to Hunt This Week, Including a Whiskey Finished on Playable Records

A Chattanooga whiskey finished on playable maple-wood records, a wheated bonded bourbon from Northern Kentucky, a peach-brandy rye and a holiday blend that finally met sherry. Here's what's worth your hunting energy this week.

Mid-October is when the release calendar stops being a calendar and starts being a firehose. Between the big fall limited editions and the holiday bottles creeping in early, it's easy to miss the genuinely interesting stuff. So we dug through the latest announcements and pulled four pours we haven't covered yet: one Tennessee oddity that's as much a concert as a bottle, one club-only Kentucky release, and two finished whiskeys that push their series somewhere new.

1. Chattanooga Whiskey Bad Chattanoogan (Side A & Side B)

This is the most fun release of the month, and we're not close to arguing about it. Chattanooga Whiskey's Experimental Distillery took two blends of what it's calling its first "Tennessee Whiskey" and finished each one for a month with 15 toasted maple-wood records. Each set of records is engraved with an original song from local band Dollars Family: Side A carries "Bad Chattanoogan," Side B carries "City I Love." And yes, according to Chattanooga Pulse, the records actually play.

Both sides are bottled at 100 proof and aged more than four years. The bottles drop Friday, October 23, at the Experimental Distillery on Market Street, with limited quantities hitting Seelbach's in the weeks after. The night before, the distillery is hosting a listening party with the band, which is already sold out.

Proof: 100 | Suggested price: $65 | Availability: Chattanooga Whiskey Experimental Distillery from Oct. 23, then limited online via Seelbach's

How to pour it: If you can grab both sides, do it. Pour them neat, side by side, and see how much one month on different maple "records" really changes things. Bonus points for putting the actual songs on while you taste.

2. New Riff 6 Year Old Wheated Bourbon

New Riff has been on a heater, with its flagship Bottled-in-Bond named World's Best Bourbon at the 2026 World Whiskies Awards. Now the Newport, Kentucky distillery is rolling out a six-year wheated bourbon, bottled in bond and without chill filtration. The mashbill is a wheat lover's dream with three different wheats in the mix: 65% corn, 18% floor-malted wheat, 10% unmalted wheat and 7% dark wheat.

The catch: it went on sale October 16 exclusively to members of New Riff's Whiskey Club, with distillery pickup only. If you're in the club, this is your reminder to go get it. If you're not, it's a good argument for joining before the next one.

Proof: 100 (Bottled in Bond) | Suggested price: $59.99 | Availability: New Riff Whiskey Club members, distillery pickup only

How to pour it: Neat first, then try it next to your go-to wheater. A bonded wheated bourbon with a mashbill this unusual is exactly the kind of pour that rewards a side-by-side.

3. Angel's Envy Cellar Collection Vol. 6

Angel's Envy built its name on finishing, and this year's Cellar Collection goes double. Volume 6 is a straight rye aged 8 to 11 years in total, and it's the first release in the series with a dual finish: some components spent 15 to 23 months in peach brandy barrels, while others spent 6 to 12 months in toasted oak barrels. Master Distiller Owen Martin then married the two.

It's a limited edition, but with about 36,000 bottles released nationwide on October 9, it's one of the more findable premium pours of the season.

Proof: 106.4 | Suggested price: $199.99 | Availability: Limited, nationwide (U.S.) since Oct. 9

How to pour it: Neat with a couple drops of water to open it up. This is a dessert-hour bottle if we've ever seen one.

4. High West A Midwinter Night's Dram, Act 14

The holiday bottle that kicks off the holidays for a lot of rye fans is back, and High West shook it up for its 20th anniversary. Act 14 starts with the familiar base, Rendezvous Rye, a blend of straight ryes aged four to 10 years, and keeps the Ruby and Tawny Port casks. New this year: Amontillado, Oloroso and PX sherry casks, the first time sherry has entered the series, per The Whiskey Wash.

It's non-chill filtered, and it's out now in limited quantities through High West's General Stores and website.

Proof: 98.6 | Suggested price: $124.99 | Availability: Limited, through High West General Stores and highwest.com

How to pour it: Neat by the fire, or swap it into a Manhattan for a holiday riff. The port-and-sherry finish should play nicely with sweet vermouth.

The Bottom Line

If you only chase one, make it Bad Chattanoogan. It's a Tennessee bottle with a story you'll be telling at every bottle share this winter, and at $65 it won't wreck the budget. New Riff's wheater is the insider's pick if you're a club member, while Angel's Envy and High West are the two you have the best shot of finding on a shelf.

Which one is going on your hunt list? Drop your pick in the comments or tag us on social. And for more stories from the people and places behind the pour, catch the latest episode of Barrels, Banter & Blind Tigers, The Blind Tiger Collective podcast.

Please enjoy responsibly.

Sources: Chattanooga Pulse; Chattanooga Whiskey Experimental Distillery (Tock event listing); BevNET (New Riff press release); Bourbon Obsessed (Angel's Envy press release); The Whiskey Wash.

Header photo by Adam Jaime on Unsplash.