For nearly forty years, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey has made bourbon drinkers and rye drinkers pick a side. That ends now. The company just announced Bulleit '87, a brand new whiskey that puts bourbon and rye in the same bottle for the first time since Bulleit started making whiskey back in 1987. It's the first new addition to the core lineup since Bulleit 95 Rye showed up in 2011, and it's meant to be sipped slow, either neat or over ice.
What Exactly Is Bulleit '87
The name isn't some marketing gimmick tied to how long the whiskey sat in a barrel. It's not an age statement at all. Instead, '87 is a nod to 1987, the year the whole Bulleit operation got started. According to the company, the number represents the moment Bulleit set out to do things differently, and that's a mindset they say they still carry into every bottle they make today.
This new release sits alongside Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit 95 Rye to round out a three-bottle core lineup. But where those two are standalone spirits, '87 is a blend. It takes what makes bourbon and rye each good on their own and combines them into something new.
How It's Actually Made
This isn't a case of dumping two whiskeys together and calling it a day. Every part of Bulleit '87 was built with a specific job to do in the final blend.
The bourbon side starts in Shelbyville, Kentucky, where it's distilled, put into barrels, and aged. The rye side gets distilled and aged over in Indiana before it's shipped to Shelbyville to join the bourbon. Both the bourbon and the rye spend a minimum of four years aging before anything else happens to them.
From there, things get more interesting. The bourbon and rye are each finished separately, still in their original barrels, but with toasted American oak and French oak staves added in for four to six weeks. Only after that finishing period are the two whiskeys blended together and bottled, all back in Shelbyville.
Phil Gelineau, who runs Whiskey R&D at Bulleit, broke the process down in simple terms. "If I were to visualize it, it's like a cake," he said. "The bourbon is your delicious sponge, the rye is like chocolate shavings on top, and the staves are the buttercream that brings it all together."
The finished product comes in at 90 proof, which is 45% alcohol by volume, matching the strength of its two core lineup siblings.
What It Tastes Like
Based on the company's own tasting notes, the first thing you'll notice is caramel and brown sugar on the nose. That opens up into warm baking spices and a solid backbone of structured oak. The finish is described as layered and gentle, with a mix of sweet and spicy warmth that lingers rather than hits you all at once.
Bulleit is recommending this one be sipped neat or poured over ice, which lines up with how they're positioning the whole release. This isn't meant to be a mixing whiskey buried in a cocktail. It's built for drinking slow and paying attention to what's happening in the glass.
The Bottle Itself Got a Makeover Too
Longtime Bulleit drinkers will recognize the frontier-style bottle shape right away, but there's something new this time around. Bulleit '87 comes wrapped in a bold blue label, cut on that same familiar slant Bulleit has used for years. The company says this is the first time blue has shown up on one of their labels, making the bottle easy to spot on a shelf full of the usual browns and blacks.
Jenika Newsum, Senior Brand Manager at Bulleit Frontier Whiskey at Diageo, explained the thinking behind bringing bourbon and rye together after all these years. "87 brings together everything that makes Bulleit great," she said. "Bourbon and rye whiskey are at the heart of our brand since its founding and guide our philosophy to do things differently. Now, '87 unites them in one special bottle, balancing our signature bourbon sweetness with our rye spice in a bottle."
Where the Name Fits Into Bulleit's Bigger Story
Bulleit didn't become known in the whiskey world by playing it safe. The brand built its reputation on a high-rye bourbon recipe at a time when that style was far less common than it is today. Then, when bartenders started asking for something even spicier, Bulleit went further and released a 95% rye whiskey, which became their top seller.
That pattern of listening to bartenders and pushing boundaries is baked into how the company describes itself. They point to their rye as proof that when their bartender community dreams something up, it's worth chasing down and making real. Bulleit '87 is being framed as the next step in that same restless streak, taking the boldness that built the brand and pushing it into new territory by combining two whiskey styles instead of choosing one.
Hitting the Road This Summer and Fall
Bulleit isn't just putting '87 on store shelves and calling it done. The brand is taking the whiskey on a sampling tour across the country, with stops planned in 15 cities and more than 20 events total. Cities on the list include New Orleans, Austin, New York, Los Angeles, and Louisville, among others.
Each stop on the tour will pair Bulleit '87 with local food that's known for that city, built around the idea of exploring how dual flavors work together, much like the bourbon and rye do inside the bottle. Anyone interested in catching one of these events can follow along on Instagram at @bulleit to find a stop nearby.
Price and Where to Find It
Bulleit '87 is priced at $29.99 for a 750mL bottle, putting it right in line with what Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit 95 Rye already cost. It's set to hit select retail stores nationwide starting in September 2026.
As with all their releases, Bulleit is reminding anyone 21 and older to drink responsibly and keep a glass of water nearby while sipping. More details on the release, along with updates on where to buy it once it's out, will be posted on Bulleit's Instagram account and at bulleit.com.
The Bigger Picture: Bulleit's Roots
Bulleit Frontier Whiskey traces back to 1987, built around an old recipe that eventually turned into one of the fastest-growing whiskey brands in the country. What set it apart from the beginning was a high-rye mashbill, a departure from the more traditional corn-forward bourbons that dominated the category. That approach gives Bulleit whiskeys a bold, spicy character balanced out by caramel sweetness, along with a finish that the brand says holds its ground rather than fading fast.
Their top-selling rye whiskey exists because bartenders asked for it, and the company leaned into that request rather than ignoring it. That's become something of a core belief for the brand: if their bartender community dreams up an idea, it's worth turning into something real.
All of this comes together at Bulleit's distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky, which opened in 2017 and now sits as a stop along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The company has worked to build the facility around modern, sustainable production methods while still keeping the bold whiskey character that put them on the map in the first place. That effort hasn't gone unnoticed either, with Bulleit Bourbon taking home a Gold medal and Bulleit Rye earning a Double Gold medal at the 2024 Tag Spirits Awards.
Part of a Much Larger Portfolio
Bulleit is one brand under Diageo, a global beverage alcohol company with a long list of well-known names across spirits and beer. That portfolio includes Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, and Buchanan's whiskies, along with Smirnoff and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray, and Guinness.
Diageo operates on a global scale, with products sold in close to 180 countries, and the company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Diageo also runs DRINKiQ.com, a resource dedicated to responsible drinking information and best practices for anyone who wants to learn more.
Bottom Line
Bulleit '87 marks a genuine first for the brand: a bourbon and rye blend built from the ground up, not a stopgap or a limited experiment. With four years of aging behind each component, a finishing process built around toasted oak staves, and a $29.99 price tag that keeps it accessible, this is a whiskey that's asking to be sipped slowly and taken seriously. For anyone who's spent years going back and forth between a bourbon pour and a rye pour, Bulleit just gave them a reason to stop choosing.
