Iowa’s Mississippi River Set To Release Oldest Bourbon Yet

By Richard Thomas

A handful of the “middle wave” of American craft distilleries have been around long enough that they are now releasing small batches of four year old, Bottled-in-Bond whiskeys. Just this season, Dad’s Hat and Wigle in Pennsylvania both released Bottled-in-Bond ryes.

While it’s not actually a Bottled-in-Bond, Mississippi River Distilling Company (MRDC) in Iowa is celebrating it’s 6th anniversary by tapping Barrel 120187, a bourbon cask that is four years old. The result will be the oldest whiskey yet released by MRDC.

This four year old bourbon is bottled as a single barrel, with a yield of just 132 bottles. It will be released as a distillery-only product on December 2nd.

MRDC also has out a new, slightly larger limited release, the Cody Road Uncommon Double Barrel Bourbon. This run of 500 bottles is the end product of their collaboration with Bent River Brewery on their Barrel Aged Double Uncommon Stout. In what is becoming a more common practice (see Jameson Caskmates), MRDC sent some of their old bourbon barrels to the brewery for making bourbon barrel stout. The barrels then came back to put the finish on some standard Cody Road Bourbon.

Cody Road Uncommon Double Barrel Bourbon will be available in Iowa and Illinois.