The Best Michter’s 10 Year Old Bourbons Of The Last Decade

By Richard Thomas

Michter’s 10 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon 2017
(Credit: John Rayls)

Few brands have divided the bourbon enthusiast community quite like Michter’s, and a case study is the reaction to their annual limited edition expression, Michter’s 10 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon. On the one hand are the growing ranks of people who will tell you Michter’s has never steered them wrong, and this well-crafted and middle-aged single barrel bourbon is a pretty good buy for the money.

The detractors often start by scoffing at that “good buy for the money part,” pointing out that another bourbon, Henry McKenna, is also 10 years old and also a single barrel and officially retails for $35 instead of $130. To that I answer “if you can find it.” The pricing on Michter’s 10 Year Old Bourbon is a pretty close reflection of market reality; to buy this item on demand with online retailers, one should expect to pay about $150. One of the virtues of putting your official price on par with the market price is it levels the playing field in terms of actually getting a bottle, following the basic rules of macroeconomics.

For my part, I’m much fonder of the 10 Year Old Rye, but concur that it’s a good buy. Some years have produced barrels that clearly surpassed not just McKenna, but W.L. Weller 12 Year Old, and that particular chimera is now commanding a market average of $280 a bottle! If you don’t want to pay $150 for a bottle of whiskey, I get it, but whining about prices and wishing it was 2005 just isn’t realistic. You might as well join Grandpa Simpson in shouting at passing clouds.

All that said, Michter’s 10 Year Old Bourbon is both an annual limited edition and a single barrel. So, it’s not just that the release varies from year to year; it varies within given years as well. That said, I’ve sought multiple opinions and tried to draw a conglomerate picture for each year in question. As for why you should care, if you do buy a bottle from an online retailer, you’ll often find you can shop for a particular year.

Sharp readers with a memory might note that the four picks for the best Michter’s 10 Year Old Bourbons of the last decade are all from the tenure of Willie “Dr. No” Pratt. That is nothing against Pamela Heilmann or Dan McKee (the second and third Michter’s Master Distillers respectively). Both were involved in the creation of whiskeys before their assumption of top slot. It’s really a reflection that Pratt was Master Distiller for seven of the ten releases under consideration; the odds favored him heavily.

Michter’s 10 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon
(Credit: Richard Thomas)

The standard proof for Michter’s 10 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon is 94.2.

2010: Let’s put it this way. The first release of Michter’s 10 Year Old Bourbon for the decade was so good that it won over even the commenters on Reddit, that den of toxic nerdom so full of croakers who usually can’t stand Michter’s, especially back in 2010. It won high marks for it’s refinement and sophistication.

2014: This year was noted for its richly layered, hefty and musty character, quite the contrast with some later years that were lighter and sweeter. This led many to observe that the youngest barrel that year must have been 10 years old, the one they were sipping from was probably a good bit older.

2015: The bourbon for this year was marvelously well-balanced, taking the traditional bourbon profile and layering it with a tropical fruitiness, spicy and woody notes, and a creamy texture. Although not as full-bodied or as refined as 2010 and 2014, this 2015 release managed the difficult feat of covering a lot of bases and covering them well.

2016: This release teased some into wondering if it wasn’t a wheated bourbon, which I might have agreed with if it’s citrus aspect wasn’t complimented by a generous dollop of spiciness. It was silky, subtle, and by far the most interesting sipper on the list. The other three were bourbons you enjoy for this or that reason; this was the one you pour and study, again and again.