Buzzard's Roost Releases Its Newest Cigar Blend Bourbon — A Growing Series Earns Its Spurs Again
Buzzard's Roost has never been a brand content to repeat itself quietly. Since its founding in 2019, the Louisville-based independent whiskey producer has made a habit of releasing expressions that challenge the way enthusiasts think about secondary maturation and flavor architecture. Now, just over a year after its original Cigar Blend Bourbon sold out and drew national attention, the brand is back with a new iteration — a 7-year-old expression that builds on the formula that made the first release a standout, while pushing the concept further.
Buzzard's Roost has introduced a new expression of its Cigar Blend Bourbon: a 7-year-old, double-oaked whiskey designed to complement a cigar while offering enough character to enjoy on its own. Announced October 6, the release is bottled at 105 proof, or 52.5% alcohol by volume, and carries a suggested retail price of $84.99. It is available through national distribution, online, and at the Buzzard's Roost Distillery and Tasting Room on Louisville's Whiskey Row.
That's a tightly constructed package for a brand that has, in a remarkably short time, built one of the most recognizable secondary maturation programs in the American whiskey industry. For collectors and casual enthusiasts alike, the continued evolution of the Cigar Blend line is worth paying close attention to — not just for what's in the bottle, but for what it signals about where Buzzard's Roost is headed.
The Story Behind the Brand: Two Outsiders Who Bet on Oak
The Buzzard's Roost origin story doesn't read like a conventional distillery founding. There's no centuries-old family recipe, no rickhouse passed down through generations. Buzzard's Roost Sipping Whiskey started in 2019 after Judy Hollis Jones and Jason Brauner met while doing a barrel pick. That chance meeting set off a partnership that would eventually plant the brand's flag directly on Louisville's famous Whiskey Row.
Hollis Jones spent more than 25 years in supply chain management and brand development for Yum! Brands, Wendy's International, Fazoli's, and her own Hollis Jones & Associates. Brauner opened the popular Louisville food and drink spot Bourbon's Bistro in 2005, where he curated a successful single barrel program. The pairing of Hollis Jones's operational and brand-building expertise with Brauner's deep immersion in Kentucky's barrel culture turned out to be exactly the right combination.
Brauner's active single barrel program at the bistro provided him with invaluable opportunities to collaborate closely with the state's leading master distillers. Over the years, this hands-on experience not only enriched his knowledge but also earned him the respect of industry veterans like Jim Rutledge, who lauded Brauner's passion and palate. That credibility would prove essential when the pair approached Independent Stave Company — one of the most respected cooperages in the world — about developing a proprietary barrel program.
They knew they wanted Buzzard's Roost to be exceptional and unique. So they turned to a trusted barrel expert at Independent Stave Company, who worked with them to create proprietary barrels for secondary maturation. The design specifications they settled on are the foundation of everything the brand produces.
The Double Oak Program: What Actually Makes This Different
The term "double oak" gets thrown around a lot in the modern whiskey market. Finished bourbons, re-barreled expressions, and secondary maturation releases are everywhere. What sets Buzzard's Roost apart is the level of engineering that went into their proprietary casks — and the consistency with which those casks define the brand's flavor identity across every expression in the portfolio.
From the outset, the brand created a clear identity through secondary maturation in custom toasted barrels coopered by Independent Stave Company. These 53-gallon new American white oak casks feature staves seasoned outdoors for at least 18 months, followed by a #1 char and a proprietary toast.
That seasoning timeline is not incidental. It was decided to use Char #1 on all their barrels to let the whiskey access the oak influence more easily. It was also agreed to season that oak for at least 18 months — six months is the norm for other brands. That tripling of the standard seasoning period means the wood Buzzard's Roost sends into secondary maturation is fundamentally different in its chemical makeup — more oxidized, more porous, more capable of exchanging complex sugars and aromatic compounds with the spirit resting inside it.
Extensive research revealed that heavy toasting, varying the time and temperature, creates diverse flavor profiles, from sweet and spicy to smoky. These barrels are then lightly charred to a #1 level, chosen to preserve caramelized wood sugars. It's a deliberate counterpoint to the more aggressive char levels most major distilleries use. By keeping the char light, Buzzard's Roost maintains access to the toasted wood layer beneath — a zone rich in vanillin, lactones, and terpenes — rather than burying it behind a heavy carbon filtration layer. The result is oak influence that reads as warmth, complexity, and depth rather than raw char.
Buzzard's Roost whiskeys stand out for their exceptional flavors, which are created using a breakthrough approach to secondary maturation including 18-month-seasoned oak barrels for intensified flavors, and low-char / high-toast barrels designed to coax multiple layers of flavor from each barrel, leading to bourbon and rye whiskeys that taste like no other.
The Cigar Blend Series: From Rye to Bourbon and Back Again
Where It Started: The Cigar Rye
Before there was a Cigar Blend Bourbon, there was a Cigar Rye — and that release left a significant impression on the market. The 2023 Cigar Rye is still circling high in whiskey circles, considered by many to be one of the best cigar-style whiskeys ever bottled. It also set a commercial precedent that the brand would need to live up to when it pivoted to bourbon.
Buzzard's Roost Distillery announced that its Cigar Blend Bourbon would be released on September 5th, marking the company's return to cigar-focused spirits following the sellout success of its Cigar Rye. Sellout velocity matters in the limited-release bourbon world. When a brand's previous cigar-focused expression disappears from shelves faster than almost anything else in the portfolio, the pressure is on to deliver something worthy of that momentum with the follow-up.
Co-founder and CEO Judy Hollis Jones put it plainly: "We are anxious for people to taste our new Cigar Blend Bourbon. We know how much people loved our original Cigar Rye, and think this one turned out beautifully. My father and grandmother loved good cigars, and this bourbon brings me happy memories with every sip."
That personal connection to the concept — the idea that cigar culture runs through the family lineage of Buzzard's Roost's leadership — gives the series a kind of authenticity that pure marketing can't manufacture. This isn't a brand slapping a lifestyle concept onto a product for shelf appeal. The Cigar Blend series appears to be a genuine creative statement.
The 2025 Expression: Six Years and Fully Formed
The first bourbon entry in the Cigar Blend series, released in September 2025 during Kentucky Bourbon Festival and Bourbon Heritage Month, was a precise, intentional release that won critics over fairly quickly. Buzzard's Roost Cigar Blend Bourbon is a 6-year-old whiskey coming in at 105 proof, with a mash bill of 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley.
That mash bill is worth noting. The 36% rye content is substantially higher than the legal minimum and places this firmly in the category of high-rye bourbon — a style known for producing whiskey that skews spicy, dry, and angular. The 2025 Cigar Blend Bourbon starts with a high-rye mashbill distilled by MGP in Indiana, aged for a minimum of six years. MGP's high-rye recipe is well-established as a reliable base for secondary maturation experiments — it has the structural backbone to absorb additional wood contact without losing its defining character.
The 17-barrel blend is then finished in custom-toasted barrels coopered by Independent Stave Company — lightly charred but heavily toasted using a proprietary technique developed exclusively for Buzzard's Roost. The fact that the distillery selects from 17 different barrel profiles for this process means there's genuine craft in the curation — not every barrel makes the cut, and the ones that do are chosen with the cigar-pairing context explicitly in mind.
Master blender Jason Brauner explained the logic behind that selection process: "Our unique double oak process really shines in this bourbon. From our 17 different barrel profiles, we choose a handful of barrels for secondary maturation that we knew would bring out specific aromas and flavors that would complement a fine cigar, just as a great red wine complements a juicy steak."
It's a compelling analogy, and one that holds up under scrutiny. The pairing logic between red wine and red meat is built on the way tannins in wine interact with the fatty acids in beef — each enhancing the other's character without either one dominating. Translating that kind of complementary interplay between bourbon and a cigar requires a whiskey with specific qualities: enough body to stand up to the smoke, enough sweetness to contrast with the tobacco's bitterness, and enough complexity to develop alongside rather than against the cigar's profile.
Tasting the 2025 Release: What Critics Found in the Glass
Multiple reviewers got their hands on the 2025 Cigar Blend Bourbon in the fall of that year, and the consensus was broadly positive — with genuine nuance in the profiles they described.
The nose opens with blackstrap molasses joined by a sharp thread of wintergreen. Not far behind, burnt marshmallows bring toasted sugar and char, adding a smoky presence that sets the tone. After a moment, a touch of espresso settles in, adding dryness and balancing out the sweetness. Throughout it all, that wintergreen note continues to wind through the experience, tying everything together.
On the palate, burnt brown sugar leads the way, followed closely by a strong hit of allspice that gives the sip plenty of life. As the spice fades, it gives room for cedarwood and a snap of red apple peel, bringing a woodsy sharpness and a bit of fruit skin bitterness. The texture is thick and substantial, carrying each note across the palate.
The finish brings a punch of spiced gingerbread, which pushes up against campfire smoke and roasted espresso beans. It's a steady, flavorful close that stays with you without overstaying its welcome.
Breaking Bourbon's reviewer found an even more layered profile: charred oak combines with almond, cardamom, burnt sugar, and stewed peach and apricot, reminiscent of Amaretto but with a more baking spice-focused profile. Likewise, the palate leads with spiced cookies while tobacco, leather, and charred oak fill in the middle ground before concluding with buckwheat. The finish is characterized by the distinctness of clove and a smoky note, before layering toasted oak against tamarind chutney and Saigon cinnamon.
Whiskey Consensus came away similarly impressed: Buzzard's Roost Cigar Blend Bourbon delivers a well-built, flavor-forward experience that strikes an impressive balance between sweetness, spice, and the brand's signature toasted complexity. The caramel and brown-sugar foundation carries effortlessly into layers of baking spice, coffee, and subtle campfire warmth, all wrapped in a long, oily finish that lingers with chocolate, apple spice, and charred oak.
It's an approachable cigar-inspired bourbon that doesn't rely on heavy smoke or aggressive oak to make its point, and the double-oak treatment shows excellent restraint and precision. While the limited availability and non-cask strength proof may leave some wishing for a little more access or intensity, the overall profile, price point, and easy versatility make this a standout release that cigar lovers and non-smokers alike can appreciate.
Buzzard's Roost Double Oak Cigar Blend Bourbon offers a distinctly spice-filled and char-heavy flavor profile, creating a unique sipping experience in a sea of other cigar batch bourbons. That last phrase matters. The market for cigar-themed or cigar-adjacent whiskeys has become crowded in recent years, with numerous brands releasing expressions under that banner with varying degrees of intentionality. Buzzard's Roost's double oak framework gives it a legitimate claim to differentiation.
The 2026 Expression: A Year More, A Different Animal
Now the brand has raised the stakes again. Buzzard's Roost, the Kentucky distillery known for its innovative approach to blending and double oak finishing, has announced the newest expression of its acclaimed Cigar Blend Bourbon. This time, the age statement climbs from six to seven years — a meaningful jump that gives the whiskey additional time to resolve and deepen in the barrel before it ever sees the secondary maturation stage.
Technical specifications show an age of 7 years and a proof of 105. After spending years in new oak barrels, this bourbon was re-casked into Buzzard's Roost's lightly-charred, heavily toasted barrels for secondary maturation. The mash bill continues in the high-rye tradition that defined the 2025 release, maintaining the structural spine that allows the double oak process to build complexity without the whiskey collapsing into a one-dimensional oak bomb.
The latest expression builds on the original Cigar Blend's rich, layered style while introducing a different taste profile through barrel selection and secondary maturation. The distillery describes the bourbon as bold and complex, with an emphasis on how whiskey and cigar flavors can complement one another.
Hollis Jones offered context for how the brand approaches each new iteration of the series: "Cigar Blend has become one of the expressions our fans look forward to most, so we wanted this release to feel familiar while still offering something new. It's a bourbon built for slowing down, whether you're enjoying it with a cigar or sharing it on its own with friends around a fire."
That framing — familiar but evolved, unhurried and social — is consistent with the brand's broader tone. Buzzard's Roost doesn't chase hype cycles or court collectors who flip bottles. The Cigar Blend series is designed for people who actually use whiskey the way the founders intended: thoughtfully, in good company, with time to notice the details in the glass.
Context and Competition: Where Cigar-Pairing Bourbon Fits in 2026
A Crowded Category With Few True Believers
The intersection of bourbon and cigar culture has become a legitimate market segment, with distilleries from Kentucky to Texas releasing expressions designed with smoky, bold, and leather-forward profiles. Most of these releases rely on straightforward finishes in wine casks or rum barrels, borrowing flavor rather than engineering it from the ground up. The distinction matters because borrowed flavor has a ceiling — it adds novelty but doesn't fundamentally change what the base spirit is doing.
Buzzard's Roost's approach is structurally different. With this new expression, Buzzard's Roost continues to explore the relationship between bourbon and cigars, bringing together carefully selected barrels to create a whiskey that is bold and complex. Rather than simply matching a bourbon with a cigar, Buzzard's Roost approaches its Cigar Blend Bourbon as an exploration of how whiskey and cigar flavors can complement one another. The result is a pour that stands comfortably on its own while inviting thoughtful pairing with a favorite cigar.
That philosophy — building the complementary relationship into the whiskey's DNA rather than slapping a lifestyle label on a standard release — reflects a genuine point of view about what cigar-pairing whiskey should actually be. The result is a bourbon that works in both contexts rather than being forced into one.
The Sourcing Conversation
No serious discussion of Buzzard's Roost is complete without acknowledging the sourcing question, which the brand has handled with more transparency than most. Much of the whiskey released to date has been transparently sourced from MGP in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. In the current bourbon landscape, sourcing from MGP is neither a secret nor a scarlet letter — MGP produces high-quality distillate that has served as the foundation for some of the most praised American whiskeys of the past decade.
What Buzzard's Roost does with that sourced spirit is the real question, and it's a question the secondary maturation program answers convincingly. Buzzard's Roost's value proposition is that they take fully aged, sourced bourbon and rye whiskies and re-barrel them for approximately 90 days using a proprietary second barrel created using specific seasoning, toasting, and charring methods. Ninety days in a barrel engineered to that level of specificity — with 18 months of outdoor seasoning, a proprietary toast, and a #1 char — is capable of moving a whiskey significantly from its starting point.
As an independent distiller, blender, and bottler, Buzzard's Roost is known for its pioneering barrel program, including 18-month-seasoned oak and low-char, high-toast barrels designed to shape each expression with intention. That reputation for barrel innovation has become the brand's most durable competitive advantage — and the Cigar Blend series is where that advantage is most fully on display.
Beyond the Standard Release: Single Barrels and the Cigar Blend Rye
For those who want a more intense engagement with the Cigar Blend concept, Buzzard's Roost has consistently offered more than just the flagship bottling. In addition to Cigar Blend Bourbon, Buzzard's Roost is also offering a limited number of single barrels of barrel-strength Cigar Blend Bourbon as well as Cigar Blend Rye. The barrel-strength offerings strip away the dilution and let the full expression of the double oak program come through at cask strength — a very different experience from the 105-proof standard release, and one that rewards slow, deliberate exploration.
The availability of Cigar Blend Rye alongside the bourbon is also significant. It means Buzzard's Roost is running the cigar-pairing concept across two distinct grain philosophies simultaneously — high-rye bourbon on one side and straight rye whiskey on the other — allowing enthusiasts to experience how the same secondary maturation philosophy plays out across fundamentally different base spirits. That kind of cross-expression comparison is genuinely instructive, and it's the kind of portfolio thinking that serious whiskey consumers reward.
The Cigar Blend Bourbon continues this approach, joining the portfolio alongside select single-barrel releases of both Cigar Blend Bourbon and Cigar Blend Rye. Together, these releases form a coherent thematic series that gives the brand a recurring annual event to look forward to — something that builds loyalty and gives the community a reason to engage with the distillery year over year.
The Louisville Home Base: Whiskey Row as a Living Tasting Room
Buzzard's Roost Sipping Whiskey has landed in its new home on Whiskey Row in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. That address — 624 W. Main Street — puts the brand in the geographic heart of American bourbon culture, steps away from distilleries, bars, and institutions that have defined the category for generations. For a brand that launched without a distillery of its own, the Whiskey Row presence has served as both a physical flagship and an educational hub.
Visitors to the Buzzard's Roost Whiskey Row Experience are immersed in whiskey education and have access to a variety of cocktails. Acclaimed bourbon expert and author Susan Reigler created three whiskey classes, and author and whisky educator Heather Wibbels developed three hands-on cocktail classes. Each class includes tastings and is taught by trained Whiskey Guides. The investment in education suggests a brand that's trying to build genuine understanding of its product rather than just move bottles through retail channels.
Buzzard's Roost Sipping Whiskeys are available in 25 U.S. markets, online, and at the Buzzard's Roost Distillery and Tasting Room at 624 W. Main Street in downtown Louisville. For a brand that's only been around since 2019, that distribution footprint is substantial — and it suggests that the Cigar Blend series, with its national reach through the 2026 release, will find its way to enthusiasts far beyond Kentucky.
What the Series Tells Us About Where Buzzard's Roost Is Going
The evolution of the Cigar Blend series — from Rye to Bourbon, from six years to seven, from a Kentucky Festival exclusive to national distribution — traces a brand that's gaining confidence in a specific creative lane. Each new expression carries more age, more refinement, and more ambition than the last. The fact that Cigar Blend has become, in Hollis Jones's own words, one of the expressions fans look forward to most gives the distillery both a success to protect and a standard to beat.
Buzzard's Roost has delivered a focused and satisfying release with this Double Oak Cigar Blend. It's especially well-suited for fans of toasted finishes and spicier profiles. While good whiskey can be enjoyed any time of year, this one feels particularly right for cooler evenings, especially those spent outside. That description doubles as a mission statement for the series as a whole: a whiskey built for specific moments, deliberately crafted rather than generically assembled.
All Buzzard's Roost whiskeys are second-barrel aged and bottled at Bardstown Bourbon Company. Bardstown Bourbon Company's bottling and maturation facilities are among the most respected contract operations in Kentucky — another example of Buzzard's Roost assembling a production chain from best-in-class partners rather than building vertically integrated infrastructure it doesn't yet need.
The larger picture is of a brand that has figured out its identity — rigorously engineered secondary maturation, high-rye base whiskeys, intentional flavor targeting — and is now systematically deepening that identity through annual limited releases. The Cigar Blend Bourbon series is the sharpest expression of that strategy. It takes everything Buzzard's Roost does well and focuses it toward a specific experiential goal. Whether it's the 2025 six-year release that broke ground or the 2026 seven-year that builds on it, the series has established itself as one of the more thoughtfully conceived limited-release programs in the American whiskey market today.
For enthusiasts who care about craft, transparency, and flavor with a purpose — rather than hype, scarcity, and allocated drama — Buzzard's Roost has earned its perch. The Cigar Blend Bourbon is proof that a Louisville upstart with the right partners, the right barrels, and the right philosophy can carve out something genuinely worth watching.
