Welcome back to Your Bourbon Journey! It’s time for our August Whiskey of the Month blind tasting showdown, and this lineup is an absolute powerhouse! 🥃🔥
This month, we brought together six standout contenders—featuring unique secondary barrel finishes, historic solera aging, craft blending innovation, and rich malt profiles. With an average age of 7.25 years, an average proof of 109.37, and an average retail cost of $103.33, every single bottle on the table brought serious competition.
With our rolling “Road to the Sweet Sixteen” cutoff sitting high at 93.5+ points and a top-10 average over 96.5, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Between jaw-dropping dark horse performances, stunning upsets from fan favorites, and a down-to-the-wire tiebreaker for the crown, this blind tasting delivered one of our closest scoreboards all year!
Which bottle conquered the palate to take the August Whiskey of the Month title and punch its ticket toward our Whiskey of the Year tournament? Watch along, track your own guesses, and see how the blind ranking unfolds!
Let us know in the comments: What has been your favorite pour this month? Don’t forget to Like, Subscribe, and hit the bell so you never miss a review, blind flight, or cocktail guide!
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Featured Contenders & Original Tasting Videos:
🥃 Bardstown Bourbon Company – 2026 Discovery Garryana Oak Finish (112.8 Proof)
🥃 Lost Lantern Whiskey – United States of Bourbon Edition No. 1 (123.0 Proof / Cask Strength)
🥃 Neeley Family Distillery – Old Jett Brothers Amarone Red Wine Cask Finish (106.4 Proof)
🥃 Starlight Distillery – Sakura Reserve Bourbon Batch 0001 (118.0 Proof / Cask Strength)
🥃 Stitzel-Weller Distilling Co. – Blade & Bow 12-Year Solera Reserve (104.0 Proof)
🥃 Virginia Distillery Co. – VHW Scholar’s Craft Coffee Cask American Single Malt (92.0 Proof)
🥃 OUR SCORING PROCESS: We’ve revamped our scoring to be more transparent than ever. No more “Redundancy”—just pure, data-driven blind competitions. Read the full breakdown of our new rubric and the “Sweet Sixteen” bracket process on our website: 👉 https://yourbourbonjourney.com/2026/02/27/decoding-the-pour-the-new-your-bourbon-journey-scoring-woty-process/
📊 SEE THE LIVE LEADERBOARD: Want to see where this bottle ranks against the rest of the field? Check out our real-time leaderboard here: 👉 https://yourbourbonjourney.com/2026/02/27/the-live-leaderboard-road-to-the-sweet-sixteen/
🚨REMEMBER TO ALWAYS DRINK RESPONSIBLY🚨
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NOTE: Most spirits in this review were purchased by us; 2026 Discovery was provided by Lofted Spirits. We were not compensated by the spirit producer for this review. This is simply our opinion based on what we tasted on this day. Please drink responsibly.
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