Holladay Distillery is releasing Ben Holladay 10 Year Bourbon on October 17, its oldest expression to date and the marquee event of the Missouri distillery's 170th anniversary year. Bottled at 111 proof (55.5% ABV), the whiskey was drawn from barrels that have aged onsite in Holladay's iron-clad rickhouses since the distillery relaunched its bourbon program a decade ago — a timeline that makes the 10 Year as much an operational milestone as a product launch.
The Liquid
Master Distiller Kyle Merklein hand-selected standout barrels from the original Ben Holladay Bourbon mash bill for the release. Merklein said the decade of maturation was critical to the final profile. "Ten years gives you a lot of time to watch how a bourbon develops and how the interaction between the whiskey, the barrel and the environment continues to shape it," he said. "At 111 proof, we felt like we found the sweet spot where you can really experience what those ten years gave us." The proof point was chosen deliberately, he added, to preserve depth of character while delivering a more balanced final batch than a cask-strength bottling would allow.
Supply and Distribution
Availability will be sharply constrained. The release is limited to one bottle per person and will be sold exclusively at the Weston, Missouri distillery beginning at 10:00 a.m. on October 17, while supply lasts. No retail or e-commerce distribution has been announced, positioning the expression firmly in the direct-to-consumer, destination-purchase segment that has become a significant revenue driver for craft and heritage distilleries. For operators and buyers tracking premium bourbon trends, distillery-only allocations of aged expressions continue to generate outsized consumer engagement relative to their physical volume.
170 Years of Context
Founded in 1856, Holladay is among the oldest continuously operating distillery sites in Missouri. The property went through an extended dormant period before its bourbon revival began roughly ten years ago — meaning the barrels selected for this release entered the rickhouse essentially at the moment the modern program launched. That narrative arc, a decade of aging aligned with a decade of operational revival, gives the release a marketing coherence that is relatively rare in the craft spirits sector. The distillery will formally mark its 170th anniversary on December 5, 2026.
The Ben Holladay 10 Year Bourbon release reflects a broader pattern across the American whiskey category: heritage-site distilleries leveraging long barrel-age statements to differentiate their premium tiers from younger craft competitors and large-volume blended expressions. As Food & Beverage Magazine has documented, aged-statement bourbons command meaningful price premiums and drive brand equity disproportionate to their production volumes, making them a strategic priority even for smaller producers managing limited barrel inventory.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
