Whiskey Atlas: Luxury Whiskeys from Around the World

This holiday season, elevate your celebrations with a guide to whiskey’s most exquisite origins. Five brands, five styles, and endless ways to savor the story of oak, grain, and place.

We kick off with Pendleton Whisky, born in the Great American West. Pendleton 1910 Bourbon, named to honor the inaugural year of the Pendleton Round-Up rodeo, is aged for 10 years in white American oak barrels and delivers smooth vanilla, caramel, and a spicy rye finish.

Next Stop: Bushmills, nestled on the coast of Northern Ireland. Bushmills Irish Whiskey boasts a legacy dating back to 1608, making it the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery and the originator of the single malt. Their award-winning 16-Year-Old Single Malt is triple-distilled and aged in bourbon, sherry, and port casks with notes of toffee, ripe fruit, and a hint of nuttiness.

TINCUP Whiskey, born at altitude in Colorado, is crafted with Rocky Mountain spring water. Its 10 Year Bourbon is leathery and spiced, with a biscuit-sweet finish built for campfire storytelling.

From Manhattan’s first and only legal distillery since Prohibition, Great Jones Straight Rye is crafted from 100% New York grains and cut with Catskill Mountain water to create a uniquely New York spirit. It’s bold and peppery, with orchard fruit and a touch of chocolate malt.

Finally, Stranahan’s American Single Malt Whiskey from Denver is the number-one and most awarded American single malt. This sherry cask offers an American approach to a European tradition with notes of cherry, blackcurrant, figs, honey, and nuttiness. It is double-distilled 100% malted barley, aged 5-7 years in virgin American white oak barrels, then finished in prized Pedro Ximenez Sherry barrels. 

One box. Five pours. A holiday flight worth gifting.

SMARTASS CORNER:

1. Bushmills holds the title as the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world, dating back to 1608. That’s before the U.S. had a president.

2. By law, bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn and aged in new, charred oak barrels. No shortcuts allowed.

3. Rye whiskey tends to be bolder and drier than bourbon, thanks to its spicy grain bill. It was America’s go-to pour until Prohibition pulled the plug.

4. Pendleton Whisky is cut to proof with pure glacier-fed spring water from Oregon’s Mt. Hood.

5. TINCUP whiskey takes its name from Tin Cup, an old mining town set on the western slope of Colorado and is named for the tin cups for which the resident workers drank their whiskey.

6. A single malt isn’t from a single barrel—it means it’s made from 100% malted barley at one distillery. Bushmills and Stranahan’s both qualify.

7. Great Jones Distilling Co. is Manhattan’s first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition, tucked between skyscrapers and subway stops.

8. Stranahan’s American Single Malt Whiskey is distilled and aged at mile-high altitude, helping give its whiskeys depth and complexity.