Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 'Mizunara Reserve'

• Limited edition, small batch Mizunara-cask finished bourbon produced by Starlight Distillery in Starlight, Indiana
• Batch #0003
• Blend of mash bills including a 3-grain mash bill of 60% corn, 20% rye, 20% malted barley (the greater proportion of the blend) and a 4-grain mash bill of 51% corn, 20% rye, 20% malted barley, 9% wheat
• Produced using estate-grown, non-GMO corn, rye, and wheat; the malted barley is locally sourced
• Closed-top, sweet mash fermented in stainless steel for seven days
• Twice distilled in a Vendome brass and copper pot still
• Prior to finishing, aged for a minimum of 8 years in charred new American oak barrels from ISC, Canton, Kelvin, and ZAK cooperages
• Finished for 8 months–1.5 years in a blend of 225–228-liter new and second-fill Mizunara oak barrels with a medium and heavy toast from Ariake Sangyo in Tsuno, Japan
• A blend of 8 barrels
• Notes of vanilla, sandalwood, incense, and green tea develop into corn tassel, roasted corn, and cigar wrapper. Buttery on the palate, with a late appearance of orchard fruit and citrus zest, this whiskey finishes long and dry, driven by white pepper spice and proof.
• Double Gold medalist at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition
• Non-chill filtered; bottled at a cask strength of 55% ABV

Starlight’s talent for finishing whiskey is elevated to high art in this hotly anticipated annual release. (The heat just got hotter: The expression was awarded a 99-point score and a Double Gold medal at the 2026 SFWSC.) In this case, Starlight’s fanatical attention to detail leads—as it often does—to the distillery’s Warehouse 2, the coolest rickhouse on the Huber property. It’s there that the batch’s already mature bourbon receives a finely tuned finish in 200–500-year-old Mizunara oak grown in Hokkaido, Japan, and coopered by Ariake Sangyo (the country’s last remaining Mizunara cooperage). Cognaçais-elegant, balanced and expressive, packed with high-toned nuance yet still undeniably a bourbon: It’s the whiskey wish you wish tonight.