Lost Lantern Is Declaring This the Summer of Bourbon (Again)

What we’re drinking: Lost Lantern’s Summer of Bourbon II collection

Where it’s from: Co-founded by Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski, this independent bottler from Vermont offers unique, limited-edition releases from American craft distilleries, all under one label. The expressions are cask strength, non-chill-filtered and with no color added. This marks the second Summer of Bourbon collection.

Why we’re drinking these: We’ve been fans of Lost Lantern since its start in 2020, and we’re big bourbon drinkers. And this feels like their most ambitious collection yet, featuring nine whiskies from 12 states (we’ll explain).

Summer of Bourbon II features a multi-distillery blend, a blended expression from a ghost (closed) distillery in Mississippi and seven single-cask releases, including LL’s first finished bourbon release. Of the latter, only two are returnees from previous Lost Lantern collaborations. The newcomers here include Woodinville (WA), Union Horse (KS), High Wire (SC), Leiper’s Fork (TN) and Rock Town (AK).

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“Summer of Bourbon II shines a light on the true variety and depth that great bourbon can have,” co-founder Adam Polonski said in a press release. “This Collection contains several firsts for us: our first Tennessee whiskey, our first finished bourbon, our first bourbon from a closed distillery and our first bourbons from several new partners and states.”

The bottles here are limited releases — a few hundred bottles at most — and unique to Lost Lantern. The ages of the bourbons range from three to seven years and the proofs from 115.8 to a whopping 146.2. There’s a lot of variety here, so let’s dive right in.

How they taste:

Far-Flung Bourbon II: A blend of bourbons from five different distilleries (Starlight, Kings County, Rich Grain, Smooth Ambler and Wollersheim), Far-Flung II embraces caramel, vanilla and nutmeg on the palate with some graham cracker, lemon zest and an overall creamy mouthfeel.
Mississippi Memory Rich Grain Distilling Straight Bourbon: Taken from a now-closed distillery, you’ll find plenty of heat and oak spice on this 140-proof release. But it’s tempered with a strong praline profile, a sweet and nutty concoction with hints of cocoa and dark fruit.
Corbin Cash California Straight Bourbon Single Cask: A returnee distillery, this one’s a Hazmat release (146.2 proof, and yes, it made us sweat after one sip). So there’s plenty of heat here, but temper with a few drops of water and you’ll find a lot of blackberry, caramel, lemon and oak spice.
Woodinville Washington Straight Bourbon Single Cask: A 72/22/6 mix of corn, rye and malted barley, this one is full of orange zest, vanilla custard and baking spices. It’s delicious and dessert-pairing ready.
Union Horse Kansas Straight Bourbon Single Cask: A mash bill of just corn and rye (80/20), the latter grain dominates at first on the nose, followed by notes of toasted rye bread and eucalyptus. Further sips bring out brown sugar, caramel, vanilla and allspice with hints of maple and chocolate.
High Wire South Carolina Straight Bourbon Single Cask: Made from 100% Jimmy Red corn, it’s full of a nutty popcorn character with a hint of fruit.
Leiper’s Fork Tennessee Whiskey Single Cask: Lost Lantern counts Tennessee whiskey as bourbon, and so do we (legally it’s fine and it’s just undergoing a maple charcoal filtration). Caramel, lemon peel, vanilla and eucalyptus notes dominate this smooth sipper.
Rock Town Arkansas Straight Bourbon Single Cask: Made primarily from local Arkansas corn and wheat (with some malted barley), this one features heavy notes of ginger, butterscotch, malt, caramel and lemon custard.
Boulder Spirits Armagnac Finished Colorado Straight Bourbon Single Cask: A high-malt mash bill, this is Lost Lantern’s first finished bourbon; it spent more than two of its seven years of maturation in an ex-Armagnac cask (very Bhakta-esque). It veers more toward a fruity single malt, although plenty of vanilla, caramel and oak spice follow the initial blast of chocolate and raisin.

Fun fact: If you can’t decide what bourbon to get and don’t want to shell out $90 to $130 on an unknown bottle, Lost Lantern created a fun decision tree encompassing all the new Summer of Bourbon expressions and a few older bourbons they still have in stock.

Where to buy: Whiskies in the Summer of Bourbon II collection are available at Lost Lantern’s site, Seelbachs, at select retailers in New York and California, and in the Lost Lantern tasting room in Vergennes, VT.