As an annual vintaged release, Shenk’s Homestead is a sour mash blend of whiskies featuring one or more innovations by the Michter’s Team. These innovations can include things such as using special wood finishes, making proprietary changes to the barrels the whiskies are aged or finished in, using special mashbills, etc., and are used to create something unique that wouldn’t necessarily fall within Michter’s ‘House Style’.
For the 2025 release, the distillery has returned to a specific innovation that previously sparked significant interest among enthusiasts: the use of French oak. While the 2022 and 2023 releases utilised air-dried wood from the Vosges region of France, the 2025 vintage emphasises a targeted finishing process instead. Specifically, a portion of this whiskey was finished in French oak barrels that were toasted, not charred, and crafted from wood grown in that same celebrated Vosges forest. This technical choice was made to elevate the rye components of the sour mash, providing a different structural frame than the American oak typically found in the Michter’s portfolio.
Discussing the thought process behind this year’s profile, Michter’s President Joseph J. Magliocco noted that the production team “puts a great deal of thought and a lot of effort into making our Legacy Series releases special.” Master Distiller Dan McKee further highlighted the wood’s impact, observing that the toasted French oak “helped to accentuate the character of the rye in this whiskey.” Bottled at 91.2 proof (45.6% ABV) the 2025 Shenk’s continues the brand’s trajectory of precise, wood-forward experimentation. Today, we’re going to see how this year’s toasted French oak influence stacks up against previous vintages – let’s dive in!
Vital Stats:
Name: Shenk’s Homestead (Batch: 25E1903)
Age: Non-Age Stated
Proof: 91.2 Proof (45.6% ABV)
Type: Kentucky Sour Mash Whiskey
Mashbill: Not disclosed – mixed mashbill of corn, rye and malted barley
Producer: Michter’s Distillery, KY
Website: https://michters.com/shenks-homestead/
Glassware: Glencairn
Review
Nose: The pour opens up very delicate and sweet with dried cherry and candied ginger notes that are balanced out by a faintly herbaceous and warm toasted oak. You get some caramel in the mix, but really that combination of subtly warm wood, dried fruits, and baking spices is front and center here. As you nose deeper, some vanilla bean starts to emerge alongside deeper dried red fruit notes and toasted cereal. It has a nice hit of honey and those unmistakable earthy baking spices followed by a subtle milk chocolate note that the toasted oak imparts.
Palate: This has a nice semi-viscous mouthfeel that starts with an initial wave of faintly peppery and richly earthy baking spices before yielding to more of those dried red fruits, honey, and that subtly herbaceous toasted oak and candied ginger I found on the nose. As you keep chewing on it, the spice settles into a warm glow on the mid-palate which props up notes of peppery toasted oak tannins and honey. The milk chocolate from the nose is actually replaced by baking spices here because the toasted oak and rye work together to bring out layers of warm grain flavors. After about the third sip, a distinct pink marshmallow note develops while the baking spices line the palate and the inside of your cheeks.
Finish: A subtle heat remains on the palate along with some dried fruit, faint floral notes, and a peppery bite that quickly turns into a flash of herbaceous forest honey. The aftertaste is long and layered, alternating between honey and those warm toasted oak notes.
Overall
The 2025 release of Shenk’s Homestead Sour Mash will throw you a bit of a curveball if you’re coming into it expecting the same profile as previous years. What stood out to me straight away was just how soft and subtle this is because it’s not a whiskey that jumps out of the glass to grab you like some of the other Michter’s toasted expressions do. In fact, it’s so understated at first that I found it actually responded very wel in the glassl to a bit of body heat from my hands just to wake it up and get things moving. Once it warmed up, of course, the profile shifted from a quiet, herbal opening into something much more interesting that revealed layers of warm oat cakes soaked in honey and dusted with baking spices and milk chocolate.
When I looked at the specs Michter’s put out for this release after tasting it, I can see exactly where those flavours seem to be coming from since they really leaned into the rye side of things and used toasted-only French oak from the Vosges region for this one. In the glass, that translates to a very grain-forward and earthy warmth profile rather than those big juicy vanilla notes you’d get from a whiskey that’s aged or finished in a standard toasted American oak barrel. Finding that distinct forest honey note was also a first for me in a Shenk’s and it works alongside that pink marshmallow note on the finish to create a really unique profile that I haven’t found them pulling off before.
Comparing this side-by-side with the 2024 release, it further highlights the difference in direction because the 2024 is definitely the punchier cousin of the two with a deeper color and a much more pronounced hit of dark cherry and bold caramels. Whilst the 2024 feels like a richer bread pudding style pour that punches way above its weight, the 2025 is more of a subtle baked-goods affair that rewards you for paying attention. I’ll be honest, I still find myself reaching for the 2024 because I love that big flavours hit, but the 2025 is a delicious and a unique beast in its own right!
When you try things like these, especially side by side, you have to give Michter’s credit for what they’re doing with the Legacy Series lately, because between this, and the two very different Bomberger’s releases we’ve seen last year, they’re clearly not interested in just doing the same thing over and over. It might not have the immediate flavour intensity of the 2024, but the way they’ve balanced the spice of the rye with that French oak and forest honey shows a lot of skill and results in one of the more curious releases I’ve tasted in recent times.
Try or Buy?
This is a very interesting whiskey that shows a different side of what Michter’s can do, but I’d recommend you try this one before you go hunting for a full bottle. While the MSRP is usually reasonable at around $110, we all know that once these hit the shelves or the secondary market, that price climbs pretty fast.
In Ireland, for example, you can expect to pay anywhere from €150 to €170 depending on which specialist shop you find it in. Given that the 2025 is such a subtle and unique profile compared to the bolder releases of the past, it’s worth finding a pour at a bar first to make sure this softer, grain-forward style is actually what you’re looking for before you drop that kind of cash. It’s a great whiskey for the curious nerd, but if you’re strictly after those big juicy fruit bombs, you might find yourself still longing for the 2024!
About Shenk’s & Michter’s
With strong ties to a distilling legacy spanning over 250 years, the Michter’s Distillery in Louisville, KY, stands as one of the most respected names in American whiskey. Since its revival in the 1990s by Company President Joseph Magliocco, Michter’s has built a reputation for producing a diverse portfolio of high-quality whiskies that honour tradition whilst simultaneously embracing cutting-edge innovation.
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®. In addition to their Shively distillery, Michter’s also operates a historic distillation site in downtown Louisville, KY, a dedicated maturation and bottling facility, and a farm where they conduct grain and barrel research, with each site playing a role in their continued commitment to quality and innovation. Their commitment to excellence has earned Michter’s global acclaim and in a recent historic achievement, the distillery was named World’s Most Admired Whiskey by Drinks International for three consecutive years (2023, 2024, and 2025), becoming the first American distillery ever to win the title, the first distillery to win it three times, and the first to do so back-to-back. This recognition again confirms Michter’s rightful place among the elite producers of whiskey worldwide and rests on the shoulders of their existing accolades and achievements both in the US and internationally.
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.
Shenk’s Homestead Sour Mash whiskey is a small-batch American whiskey produced by Michter’s Distillery in Louisville, KY. The brand honours the legacy of the original Michter’s Distillery in Schaefferstown, PA, which was owned by Swiss Mennonite farmers John and Michael Shenk and began distilling in 1753. As a satellite brand, Shenk’s allows Michter’s Master of Maturation, Andrea Wilson and Master Distiller, Dan McKee along with their dedicated teams an opportunity to innovate and produce unique flavours beyond their typical brand profile through special wood finishes, interesting mashbills, and more.
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