LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 15, 2026) – New Era Distillery in Lexington has released Marquee Bourbon, a small-batch bourbon that the distillery didn’t blend itself, sort of. It asked nine Kentucky bourbon professionals to taste barrels and choose the first batch. The result combines eleven Kentucky bourbon barrels aged 5 to 9 years from seven mash bills. SRP is $49.99.
The nine panelists tasted 30 barrels, split into three teams, and each team built its best blend. They then voted on the three blends to choose the winner. The selection committee for Batch #1:
- Edward Callico, Bourbon Brotherhood
- Felicia Chism, Kentucky Black Bourbon Guild
- Maggie Kimberl, Content Editor, American Whiskey Magazine and spirits judge
- Himanshu Mallick, General Manager and Bourbon Barrel Pick Specialist, The Pour House
- Kenny Mills, Co-host, the Mash Up Bourbon Podcast
- Chris Rose, Lexington Bourbon Society
- Mark Rucker, Co-host, The Bourbon Life Podcast
- Tom Wilburn, Creative Bar Lead, Watch Hill Proper
- Brad Williams, Senior Category Manager, Liquor Barn
“The tastemakers that blended this first batch of Marquee had a blast and created a stellar whiskey,” said Zane Brammell, the founder of New Era Whiskey, a rare, cask-strength, single barrel brand. “I love cask strength bourbon. All of our New Era single barrel releases are cask strength. But I recognize sometimes people don’t always want a super strong, high-priced bottle. Some cocktails and social occasions call for a bourbon like Marquee,” said Brammell.
“People seem to love the variety of creative labels on our newspaper style New Era bottles. We wanted to continue the fun with these colorful Marquee Exclusive labels,” added Brammell.
“New Era has embarked on a new chapter, one which I thoroughly enjoyed participating in. I was invited to a roundtable-style blending session, during which we broke out into teams to create blends we would all later vote on. We worked hard on this first Marquee Bourbon blend and I hope everyone enjoys the fruits of our labor!” said Maggie Kimberl.
Price and availability:
$49.99 for a 750mL bottle at the New Era Whiskey Distillery, online, and soon at some Kentucky retailers. A new group of tastemakers from across the U.S. will pick future batches.
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