Michter’s Toasted Barrel Finished Bourbon (2024) Review

With strong ties to a distilling legacy spanning over 250 years, the Michter’s Distillery in Louisville, KY, has been producing a comprehensive range of award-winning American whiskies since the brand was resurrected by Company President Joseph Magliocco in the 1990’s. Now distilling in their own facilities since August of 2015, the Michter’s brand has seen a quick return to global recognition for the quality of both their own and their sourced whiskies under Master Distiller Dan McKee, Master Distiller Emeritus Pam Heilmann – the first woman to serve as a Master Distiller at a Kentucky Distiller’s Association distillery since prohibition, and Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson – the first woman to ever serve as Chair of the Kentucky Distillers Association and inductee to the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame®. Most recently in 2023 and 2025, Michter’s became the first American distillery to be crowned the “World’s Most Admired Whiskey” twice in the prestigious annual list of top 50 producers published by Drinks International, beating many other premium global brands. 

The Michter’s core range of whiskies, which are bottled under their popular US☆1 line, consists of their small batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon, their single-barrel Kentucky Straight Rye, their small batch Unblended American Whiskey, their small batch Original Sour Mash American Whiskey, and several limited edition variations of these. Their age–stated whiskies, which are bottled under their 10-year-old, 20-year-old, and 25-year-old labels consist of straight Kentucky bourbon and rye whiskey which come from sourced stocks and are released on a ‘when-ready’ basis to eager fans.

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2024 was another exceptional year for Michter’s. They were once again named World’s Most Admired Whisky by Drinks International – marking their second consecutive win; they were recognised as the Bestselling Brand and Top Trending Brand of 2024 in the same report; and, on a more low-key note, 2024 also marked the 10th anniversary of their iconic US★1 Toasted Barrel Finished Bourbon.

Over the past decade, toasted barrel finishes have grown increasingly popular in American whiskey, with numerous distilleries attempting to recreate it—often with mixed success. Michter’s, however, was among the first distilleries to pioneer and the first to truly refine this unique style of whiskey finishing and when their US★1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon debuted in latel 2014, it set a new standard and inspired all subsequent imitations.

So what’s the magic behind Michter’s Toasted Barrel Finished magic? In short- their dedication to excellence. The whole process begins with fully mature Michter’s US★1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon, which is then further matured in a specially crafted barrel. This second barrel, made from 18-month air-dried white oak, is custom toasted to enhance its flavours but left uncharred to produce the distinctive finish. Although there’s more technical secrets to it than just these few steps, the results have always spoken for themselves and every time Michter’s have released a Toasted Barrel-finished whiskey in the past decade, the whiskey have always reflected the sheer time, effort, and teamwork that goes into producing something that seems simple on the face but is highly technically challenging to perfect. 

To mark and celebrate the 10 year anniversary, in August of 2024, Michter’s announced that September would see the return of their classic US★1 Toasted Barrel Finished bourbon. According to their press release at the time, Michter’s President Joseph Magliocco is quoted on the news as follows, “Ten years ago, after a good deal of research and experimentation, we released the first toasted barrel whiskey: Michter’s US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon. We had no idea it would be such a groundbreaking product.” Additionally, Michter’s Master of Maturation, Andrea Wilson, who is responsible for Michter’s aging and finishing program, described it as follows, “It’s a testament to our team that so many other great distillers have followed us in releasing toasted barrel finish whiskeys. There are many different toast profiles in which the barrel is heated to create beautiful flavor notes.”

Today we’ll be taking a look at the 2024 release of Michter’s US★1 Toasted Barrel Finished Bourbon. Similar to their core US★1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon, this whiskey is a true small batch of no more than 20 barrels bended together, leaving no margin for “blending out” imperfection, and thus necessitating excellence from every barrel.

Vital Stats:

Name: Michter’s US★1 Toasted Barrel Finish Kentucky Sour Mash Whiskey (Batch No: L24H2818)
Age: NAS
Proof: 91.4 Proof (45.7% ABV)
Type: Kentuck Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in toasted barrels
Mashbill: Not disclosed (at least 51% corn)
Producer: Michter’s Distillery LLC, KY
Website: https://michters.com/us1-toasted-barrel-finish-sour-mash/ 
Glassware: Glencairn

Review

Nose: The nose opens with a mix of sweet red and dark fruits, decadent fudge, and aromatic toasted oak. As you nose deeper fragrant toasted oak notes continue to develop in complexity with notes of dark chocolate and dark caramels, red and black fruits, toasted marshmallows, herbaceous notes, coffee, and earthy barrel spices of cloves, and a touch of smoke emerging.. 

Palate: On the palate, it’s syruppy and viscous with warming toasted oak, dark caramels, milk chocolate, dark crushed fruits, a touch of grassiness, and black peppery spice. As you continue to chew, the toasted oak flavours of marshmallow and digestive biscuits (graham crackers) remain as the profile develops a heavy macerated red and black fruit profile balanced out by barrel-forward notes of coffee, charred oak, fragrant toasted oak tannins, earthy barrel spices such as nutmeg and subtle herbaceous charred oak notes.

Finish: The finish opens with lingering chocolate, aromatic toasted oak, earthy barrel spices, stewed red and black fruits, and peppery, drying tannic spices which continues to generate flavours of long after it has been swallowed. These fade to a long aftertaste full of distinct coffee notes, toasted oak notes, milk chocolate, and dark caramels. 

Overall

This whiskey is as exquisite as it reads and delivers a premium toasted barrel finish experience in every drop. Nearly as soon as you pull the cork from the bottle you are met by rich and complex flavours of a soft but fragrant bourbon washing across your senses. Sipping it, it has kept all the classic Michter’s US★1 Bourbon flavours of caramel, stewed red fruits, earthy barrel spices, and peppery rye but has the added benefit of all the complexity it has picked up from an aromatic and fragrant toasted oak barrel. Warm toasted oak is present in every part and every flavour of the whiskey, driving the overall complexity and rounding out the profile without overwhelming it’s already delicate nuances and flavours. 

It’s remarkable to think that a decade ago, toasted barrel finished whiskies were rare, often one-off releases by distilleries to either attempt to stand out or showcase an interesting innovation. Today, the success of this style has led many producers to make them a permanent part of their lineup. While TBF whiskies have become somewhat common, a few producers, like Michter’s, have produced a whiskey that does the style proper justice. Fortunately for us, Michter’s have perfected the art over the past decade, ensuring challenges are appropriately managed and risks properly mitigated through a combination of expertise and proprietary production processes, and each release is another testament to the skill and hard work of Andrea Wilson, Dan McKee, and their dedicated teams. In fact, Michter’s high production standards and proud reputation of only releasing a whiskey once they agree that it has met their desired standards is the reason we don’t have more regular releases of this whiskey. Thankfully, however, when we do get a release it hits the mark by design and reminds the cynics why they were the first American distillery to be crowned the “World’s Most Admired Whiskey” twice consecutively in the prestigious annual list of top 50 producers published by Drinks International.  

Try or Buy?

This release has a US MSRP of $110 per bottle. As such I would recommend you try it before you buy it, however, if this sounds like it would be something you may enjoy I would heavily consider picking it up at close to this MSRP. For Michter’s fans on this side of the pond, this bottle will hopefully fall under the €150 mark and I personally would consider it a steal at that.

If you do get your hands on a bottle my advice would be to open it, drink a measure or two, and put the bottle back on the shelf for a period of 2-3 weeks. In my experience this gives the toasted oak character some time to interact with the air in the bottle and mellow out, giving you a very enjoyable whiskey.