There are two things we know for certain about every release of Michter’s 20-Year-Old Bourbon. First, that at least a percentage of the liquid will be than 20 years old, and second, that it won’t taste like a stereotypical elder-statesman bourbon, many of which tend to be overly tannic and woody. That’s because Michter’s always bottles its whiskeys by flavor rather than by age.

Aging to taste is why there’s always one thing we don’t know for certain about the 20 Year Old — namely, when the next batch will be released. Fortunately for enthusiasts and collectors, the wait this time around was only a year. Last seen at the end of 2024, the Michter’s team, including master of maturation Andrea Wilson, master distiller Dan McKee, and president Joseph Magliocco, has approved the latest bottling of 20-Year-Old Bourbon, which will be released in limited quantities nationwide in time for the holidays.

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Michter’s launched its 20-year-old expression, now considered a ”holy grail” whiskeyin 2012.It had already made waves in the whiskey world with its 10-year-old and 25-year-old bourbons and ryes at the time, but it was still considered an upstart brand and didn’t yet have a distillery of its own (today it has two, in Shively and Louisville).

Michter’s president Joseph Magliocco recalls, “Our former master distiller Willie Pratt tasted our team on some of our bourbon barrels that were over 20 years, but under 25 years old, and we thought it was absolutely great whiskey.” than a decade after its initial release, the 20-Year-Old Bourbon is one of Michter’s most sought-after whiskeys.

Twenty-year-old bourbons are rare; 20-year-olds that don’t taste overly oaky are rarer still. To create theirs, Michter’s goes against the grain in many facets of whiskey making, including warehouses that are quite different from many of its Kentucky peers. “Michter’s warehouses are based on a standard of four floors, with each floor having three steel rack tiers for storing three barrels high on each floor,” Wilson says. “We opted not to build our warehouses seven floors high like many barrel warehouses in Kentucky because the higher floors can become very hot and cause accelerated maturation, which can cause dramatic shifts in liquid quality and flavor profile from the top to the bottom of the house.”

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Michter’s warehouses are also climate-controlled, sparing the whiskey from capricious elements and ensuring greater quality control over the final product. “We are working to keep continuity of the liquid profile by establishing a controlled environment for the aging period,” Wilson says. “Considering air flow, temperature, and humidity as examples. We focus on defining processes with a tremendous amount of care and attention to detail to achieve rich, complex, and flavorful whiskeys that are not overly oaked.”

Even though only a few years of aging separates Michter’s 20- and 25-Year-Old Bourbons, Magliocco notes that “when we have tasted (them) with friends, they enjoy them both tremendously, yet they have pointed out that the two have certain wonderfully different flavor nuances.”

Wilson describes the latest 20 Year Old as “a symphony of flavor from fruit to spice to confectionery, all wrapped within a silky, rich texture and a long, savory finish that lingers pleasantly on the palate.” Specific flavor notes include butterscotch, fudge, burnt sugar, honey, tobacco, leather, and cherry. It’s bottled at a cask strength of 57.1% ABV.

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While Michter’s has not released the exact number of bottles available, previous editions of the 20 Year Old have been limited to approximately 500 to 700 bottles. Despite a suggested retail price of $1,200 (and in-store prices likely much higher), the 2025 batch is expected to attract similar high demand. Bottles will be available at select retailers, bars, and restaurants starting December 1.