Every year, I try a few hundred different whiskeys in all categories, including single malt scotch, cask-finished rye, Japanese rice whisky, Irish single malts, and affordable craft bourbons. It’s a lot.
I’m looking across all categories and styles from major brands and small craft distilleries from around the world to critique the most interesting expressions. Sometimes they can be very good, like the selections below, or sometimes they can be pretty bad (please stop finishing whiskey in Amburana wood, and maybe we don’t need another hazmat proof bottle). These are the 10 best whiskeys of the first half of this year that received my highest ratings on a scale of 100. My top picks range from some expensive unicorns to some much more readily available bottles. Check it out and catch up on something you missed or find out about something new, and happy bottle hunting.
10. Garavogue 20-Year-Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Photo : Hawk’s Rock
This whiskey is the inaugural release from Hawk’s Rock Distillery, which Buffalo Trace parent company Sazerac acquired and renamed in 2022. Former Bushmills master blender Helen Mulholland oversaw this release, a 20-year-old Irish single malt that is a blend of whiskeys given a variety of cask finishes—some in rum barrels from Barbados, and some aged in Barbadian rum, Cognac, marsala, and virgin oak casks that were finished in Spanish Pedro Ximénez sherry casks for 15 months. The result is a complex and fruity sipper with a nice balance between hits of sweetness and spice, and notes of ripe pear, vanilla, rum raisin, brown sugar, fig, dried cherry, apricot, and toasted nuts on the palate.
9. Bomberger’s PFG
Photo : J Sprecher
This whiskey is an extension of Kentucky distillery Michter’s Legacy Series, which includes Bomberger’s Homestead and Shenk’s Declaration. PFG, which stands for “Precision Fine Grain,” is a straight bourbon that was finished in new toasted and charred French oak barrels made of wood that came from the Tronçais, Allier, Nevers, and Vosges forests in France. That has transformed the whiskey into something very different from other Michter’s expressions. It’s a spicy, woody, fruity dram that has notes of caramel, fermented grapes, leather, sweet tobacco, milk and dark chocolate, and a variety of different baking spices on the palate.
8. Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series 14
Photo : Jack Daniel’s
Jack Daniel’s didn’t make rye until 2011, but fans of this Tennessee distillery–and whiskey fans in general–are glad that they decided to add a new mashbill. This rye whiskey, which is part of the Distillery Series, was aged for four to six years and then put into a “high-toast, no-char maple barrel” for an additional three years. There is a sweetness from the maple wood barrel, but that is balanced by notes of spiced nuts, apple, pear, cherry, orange, oak, and cinnamon. And the higher than usual for Jack ABV of 53% (compared to Old No. 7 at 40% ABV) goes a long way towards augmenting the whiskey’s flavour.
7. J. Rieger Bourbon
Photo : J. Rieger
This small Kansas City, Missouri distillery released an inexpensive bourbon that can stand up to anything you’ll find coming out of the big Kentucky operations. It’s a high-rye straight bourbon produced in-house at the distillery that was aged for a minimum of four years in new charred oak barrels. There’s a sweetness to the palate that doesn’t go overboard, with notes of vanilla, flamed custard, maple, brown sugar, and milk and dark chocolate, along with some spice and fruit from the high rye content. This bourbon works well in cocktails, but is good enough to sip on its own.
6. Remus Gatsby Reserve
Photo : Ross & Squibb
Indiana’s MGP distillery might be scaling back its whiskey production this year, but it’s still releasing some fantastic bourbon and rye under its in-house labels. One that really stands out is the new edition of Remus Gatsby Reserve, an expensive 15-year-old bourbon that falls in the upper reaches of that sweet spot of maturation. It’s a combination of two high-rye mashbills, resulting in a palate that is rich and complex with notes of stone fruit, cherry, black pepper, vanilla, caramel, and a surprising hit of banana that pops up. If you want to splurge on a new bourbon, consider this one.
5. The Last Drop 27 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon from Buffalo Trace Distillery
Photo : Liam Curtin
The latest release from Last Drop Distillers was a bourbon distilled at Buffalo Trace that was aged for a staggering 27 years. It was matured for at least part of that time in the distillery’s Warehouse P, a climate-controlled environment that helps to slow down the interaction between wood and whiskey. Still, nearly 30 years is a really, really long time for a Kentucky bourbon to spend inside a barrel, but somehow this whiskey turned out to be fantastic. There are aromas of brown sugar, honey, cherry, and oak, followed by caramel, cinnamon, grape jelly, and toasted coconut on the palate–with a hint of peat smoke on the finish (although no peat was involved).
4. Sazerac 18
Photo : Buffalo Trace
The Buffalo Trace Antique Collection is an annual series of bourbons and rye whiskeys that becomes an instant collector’s item upon its release. That’s because these are older and higher proof versions of other whiskeys produced at the distillery that are released in very limited numbers, including George T. Stagg and William Larue Weller. There’s also an 18-year-old version of Sazarac Rye, and this year it stood out as the star of the collection. It’s bottled at 45% ABV, the same as the regular version of the rye, but it strikes a perfect balance between sweetness and spice, with notes of dark cherry, soft licorice, menthol, and a bit of smoke from all that time in a barrel.
3. Jack Daniel’s 14 Year Old
Photo : Jack Daniel’s
A few years ago, Jack Daniel’s started releasing age-stated whiskeys, something it hadn’t done for about a century. First there were 10 and 12-year-old whiskeys, and then this year a 14-year-old arrived—and it was the best thing to come out of the distillery in a long time. That’s not just because it’s the oldest, because after all age doesn’t equal quality. It’s an intensely flavourful Tennessee whiskey that adds new layers to the familiar Jack profile, with notes of barrel char, leather, tobacco, red berries, burnt orange peel, and dark chocolate. This bottle is selling at a hefty markup on the secondary market, but it’s worth the splurge if you have the means.
2. Glengoyne White Oak 24
Photo : Glengoyne
Glengoyne is not the best known name in scotch whisky here in the U.S., but this 24-year-old expression might help to change that. Most of the whisky made at the distillery is aged in sherry casks, but this new single malt was aged mostly in bourbon barrels along with a small amount that spent time in virgin oak. The result is spectacular, a well-aged whisky with a burst of tropical fruit at the front of the palate, followed by notes of vanilla, green apple, honey, dark and milk chocolate, and baking spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
1. Redemption 18 Year Old Bourbon
Photo : Redemption Whiskey
The headline for this review summed it up—this 18-year-old bourbon is better than Pappy Van Winkle 23. Make no mistake, 18 years is a long time to age a bourbon, and it can go wrong with overpowering notes of tannic oak. That’s not the case here at all—Redemption 18 Year Old, which is sourced from MGP in Indiana from two different mashbills, is vibrant and complex. Look for notes of cherry, brown sugar, black pepper, pipe tobacco, leather, and flamed orange peel. And at 52% ABV, there’s some nice warmth on the finish that doesn’t scorch your tongue. This is a bit of a splurge (although it’s still much cheaper than Pappy), but well worth the cost.
The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.
Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.
A watch from the Constellation Observatory Collection, with the Observatory dome on display. Omega
“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”
In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.
A look at a gold case-back from the collection. Omega
Each model is a callback to myriad design features on past Omega models. That two-hand dial, for one, comes from the 1948 Centenary (the brand’s first chronometer-certified automatic wristwatch), while the pie-pan dial (seen in various blue, green, and golden hues throughout the line) and that Constellation medallion caseback both appear on watches from 1952. The star adorning the space above 6 o’clock also harks back to 1950s timepieces from Omega. And to finish off the look, you can opt for alligator straps in a variety of colours, or perhaps a gold iteration to match the precious-metal models; the brick-like pattern on the 18-karat Moonshine bracelet was also inspired by Omega watches from the ’50s.
We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any other Constellation Observatory timepieces (or any other unreleased models from the brand) at the rest of the star-studded events headed our way this year—perhaps the Met Gala?
A modern classic in the making, combining naturally aspirated power with elegant restraint to deliver performance that feels as refined as it is visceral.
In a year when carmakers of all persuasions sheepishly extended hyperbolic electric targets, it’s fitting that the monastic puritans of Maranello—who, lest we forget, won’t finally yield to the sin of battery power until October with the Elettrica—opted to make combustion their major power play.
As an uncertain future of AI omnipresence barrels towards us, the 12Cilindri—an analogue, open-topped tribute to Ferrari’s late-’60s/early-’70s grand tourer, the Daytona—represents a defiant fade into the past, a pause for breath, a fleeting return to The Good Times when nascent technology provoked excitement rather than existential dread.
Guiding this automotive nostalgia trip is, as the nomenclature suggests, a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine, generating an unceasing wave of power as it sears towards the 9,500 rpm redline with relative nonchalance. That’s because the 12Cilindri is not a mouth-foaming attack-dog. It scales performance heights with the refinement of the finest Italian works of art; its “Bumpy Road” mode facilitates comfy al fresco GT cruising, and even the imperious powerplant is mannerly at most speeds.
For all the yesteryear romance, progressive technologies and engineering, such as a world-class 8-speed transmission, advanced electronic aids and independent four-wheel steering, are baked into the deal. The 12Cilindri’s clean, stark design somehow toggles between retro and modern; and while vaguely polarising, one can’t ignore its magnetic road presence.
In terms of aesthetics, Ferrari describes the 12Cilindri as being “ready for space”; in many ways, a fantasy vehicle that transports users to another dimension is probably what the world needs right now.
On the fourth floor of Westfield Sydney, near the Castlereagh and Market Street entrance—in the space formerly occupied by Chanel—Loro Piana has opened its first Australian boutique. It is a significant address change for that corner of the mall, and a meaningful one for the Italian house, which has sourced Australian merino wool for decades but until now had no retail presence here.
The facade is understated—creamy, tactile, more about texture than theatre. Inside, the store unfolds across a single, expansive level divided into distinct men’s and women’s wings. The separation is clear without being heavy-handed: womenswear leads from soft accessories and leather goods into ready-to-wear, while menswear occupies its own assured territory, with tailoring and outerwear given proper breathing room. Footwear (supple loafers, luxurious slides, pared-back sneakers) is particularly strong, and the sunglasses are a quiet standout: mineral-toned frames with a disciplined elegance that feels entirely of the house.
That same restraint carries into the interiors, where the surfaces do much of the talking. Walls are wrapped in the company’s own linen and cashmere; carpets are custom, dense underfoot, softening the acoustics and the pace. Oak and carabottino wood add warmth without fuss; marble accents introduce a cool counterpoint. The effect is a composed space calibrated around material, proportion and restraint.
The Spring 2026 collection now in store underscores that sensibility. Silhouettes are elongated and fluid; cashmere, silk and featherweight merino move in sandy neutrals, creams and muddied earth tones, with flashes of marigold and pale turquoise breaking the calm. Tailoring is softly structured and projects confidence without aggression. Leather goods arrive in buttery skins that feel almost pre-lived, as though time has already worked its magic.
What distinguishes Loro Piana, particularly in a market that has grown noisier by the season, is its refusal to perform luxury in an obvious register. There are no oversized insignias telegraphing allegiance. Instead, the status is encoded in fibre count, in hand-feel, in how a coat hangs from the shoulder. It assumes the wearer knows and, crucially, does not need to announce it.
Sydney’s luxury landscape has matured in recent years; global houses no longer test the waters but commit to them. Yet Loro Piana’s arrival feels different. It is not trend-driven expansion but material logic. For a country whose sheep stations have long contributed to the house’s fabric story, this boutique reads almost as a thank-you note written in cashmere.
If all you’re going to do is look at it, a leather Dopp kit from a fashion house is a fine choice. But if you take travelling seriously—and do it often, for business, pleasure, or both—such a bag will inevitably end up blemished with droplets of water or stained by errant flecks of toothpaste. Get stuck with a cavalier team of baggage handlers, and it can even get soaked in your favourite fragrance or anti-ageing serum.
But Patricks, the high-performance Australian grooming brand stocked in Harrods and Bergdorf Goodman, has a solution. Its limited-edition bathroom bag, called BB1, is purpose-built to protect everything inside and out. Conceived by industrial designer George Cunningham with brand founder Patrick Kidd, the cuboid design is executed in a water-resistant recycled nylon you can rinse clean. It’s lined with a thin layer of shock-absorbing foam to safeguard your products, but if a bottle somehow gets cracked in transit, the two-way water-resistant zippers and sealed seams (which keep liquids from seeping in or out) ensure that whatever leaks won’t ruin your cashmere. Inside, two dual-sided zippered compartments are ideally sized to fit toothbrushes, razors, and other small essentials.
And though its clean lines and rugged construction make it undeniably masculine, its greatest feature is borrowed from women’s makeup bags. Like the best of these, BB1 unzips to lie flat, giving you unobstructed access to everything inside. Well, you and the 999 other gentlemen who move fast enough to snag one. $289
Courtesy of Patricks
1. Hanging Loop
The G-hook system isn’t just a stylish handle: You can also use it to hang the bag from a hook or secure it to your carry-on.
2. Two-Way Zipper
The closures are water-resistant in both directions, meaning liquids won’t get in or out.
3. Fold-flat Construction
BB1 opens to 180 degrees, letting you scan its 4.2-litre capacity at a quick glance.
4. Technical-Fabric Shell
The durable recycled-nylon is easy to maintain and woven to survive splashes and leaks from your go-to products.
You can bet on pretty much anything these days, from when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will get married to who will be the next James Bond—and now that includes the Rollies on your wrist, or on your wishlist.
Prediction market platform Kalshi, regulated in the U.S., and luxe watch marketplace Bezel have teamed up on a new platform called Watch Futures that allows users to splash down cash on where they think the prices of a particular luxe timepiece are going, whether that’s a Rolex Submariner or a coveted Patek Philippe, Time & Tide reported.
You can also place a wager on which models might be discontinued, as well as any future launches from the top watchmakers on the new platform; with Watches and Wonders coming up, it’s certainly a well-timed launch that could see a lot of activity as a slew of new releases are announced at the event.
Watch Futures is all based on Beztimate, Bezel’s system (once used only internally) to help it accurately calculate the market price of a timepiece. It draws data from real-time transactions, live bids, verified sales, and other market offers to spawn its own series of independent valuation models to establish a watch’s value. From there, it’s up to bettors to place their wagers, and then the platform will showcase any price fluctuations or other updates as time goes on.
This new platform could have some pretty large implications for the watch industry. As any horological savant would know, the internet and collectors alike are constantly chattering about which models are on the way out or when a certain timepiece of the moment’s time in the limelight will fade, of course, having a large impact on the prices of said model. And now, a Watch Futures user can have a direct stake in where a model is headed—and if they own said timepiece, it can be a protection from dwindling values on the marketplace, say, if a user places a bet on their model losing value and that actually comes to fruition.
To see Watch Futures in real time (and scope out how some pieces in your collection are faring), you can use the Kalshi app or its website.
Courtesy of Patricks
