A Rare Whiskey Built on Patience
Every so often, a bottle comes along that says as much about history as it does about flavor. J. Rieger & Co., the Kansas City distillery, has announced the 2026 release of Monogram Whiskey - Kansas City Whiskey Solera Reserve. The distillery calls it its most sought-after annual specialty whiskey, and the story behind it stretches from the Missouri River city to the sherry cellars of southern Spain.
The new release is timed to International Sherry Week, which runs November 2 through 8, 2026. That timing fits. The whiskey is a tribute to the meeting point of Spanish sherry craftsmanship and American whiskey tradition. It is also a lesson in cask finishing and the old art of blending.
Aged in Casks That Are Older Than Most Homes
The most striking part of Monogram is where it rests. The whiskey is aged in Sherry botas, which are big 500-liter casks. These are not ordinary barrels. The botas used here are between 50 and 100 years old. Many American whiskey drinkers will never see a cask with that kind of age on it, let alone taste something that has spent time inside one.
J. Rieger & Co. describes Monogram as a masterclass in cask finishing and historic blending practices. Finishing means the whiskey is moved into a second type of cask after its main aging, so it can pick up extra character. In this case, the second home is a century-old sherry bota.
How the Idea Got Started
Monogram did not appear out of nowhere. It grows out of the distillery’s flagship product, Rieger Kansas City Whiskey. That whiskey brought back an old pre-Prohibition habit: adding a small amount of Oloroso Sherry to a blend of American whiskey.
That one small step in the recipe turned into something much bigger. Using Sherry in the blend created a direct relationship between J. Rieger & Co. and the legendary Williams & Humbert bodega in Jerez, Spain. Over time, that relationship let the Kansas City distillery acquire rare Solera Especial botas straight from the bodega’s cellars.
Ryan Maybee, Co-Founder of J. Rieger & Co., put it this way: “Monogram is a showcase of patience, partnership, and heritage,” said Ryan Maybee, Co-Founder of J. Rieger & Co. “What started with a small addition of Sherry in our Kansas City Whiskey grew into a relationship with one of Spain’s greatest bodegas, giving us access to casks that simply cannot be replicated. Every annual release offers a new snapshot of those botas.”
The Solera System Explained
The heart of the whole project is the distillery’s Solera system. It is made up of 10 huge, historic Oloroso sherry bota casks. They range from 50 to 100 years old, and they came as a gift from Williams & Humbert.
A Solera works differently from the way most whiskey is aged. In a normal setup, a barrel is aged, emptied, and bottled. Here, the casks are never emptied all the way. Small portions of whiskey are taken from each bota and blended together. Then each cask is topped off with a new batch of whiskey.
That steady, partial blending is what gives the system its nickname, the “never-ending” barrel approach. Because new whiskey is always going in and a little is always coming out, the barrels keep a living mix of younger and older whiskey inside them.
What the 2026 Release Offers
The distillery points to a few things that set this year’s bottling apart.
A Mix of Ages
The 2026 release contains components that have been finishing in the Solera for 5 to 11 years. That range gives the whiskey a dynamic age profile. Some of what is in the bottle has had a long time with the old oak, and some has had less, and together they build a layered whole.
A Hands-On Blending Process
The blend is not left to chance. Every year, Master Distiller Nathan Perry, Co-Founder Ryan Maybee, and a panel of sensory experts sample each individual bota. From those samples, they put together a unique blend for that year’s release. The specific blend percentages and cask details are printed on the packaging, so anyone holding a bottle can see exactly how it was built.
A Flavor Shaped by Old Oak
The long contact between the straight whiskeys and the century-old oak gives Monogram what the distillery calls its signature terroir. The spirit carries layers of dark dried fruit, sweet confectionery notes, subtle tobacco, and a rich oak structure. Those are the kinds of notes that tend to come from patient aging in well-seasoned wood.
A Snapshot Every Year
One of the more interesting parts of the Solera method is that no two releases are exactly alike. Since the casks are continuously topped off and blended, each year’s whiskey reflects where the botas stand at that moment. As Maybee noted, every annual release offers a new snapshot of those botas. For collectors and longtime whiskey fans, that makes each year’s bottling a small piece of a long-running story.
The Long History of J. Rieger & Co.
The distillery’s roots go back to 1887, when Jacob Rieger founded the business in Kansas City. At one point, J. Rieger & Co. was the largest mail order whiskey house in the country. Then Prohibition arrived and shut down operations.
The brand stayed quiet for decades. In 2014, Andy Rieger, the great-great-great grandson of Jacob Rieger, teamed up with renowned bartender Ryan Maybee to relaunch the distillery. They did it as part of a new golden era in American spirits, with backing from industry legends and Master Distillers Dave Pickerell and Tom Nichol.
Today, the distillery operates from a landmark facility in Kansas City’s Electric Park District. Guests can find award-winning products, innovative cocktails, and memorable experiences there. The lineup includes Rieger Kansas City Whiskey, Straight Bourbon, Straight Rye, Monogram Solera Reserve, Midwestern Dry Gin, and Caffè Amaro. These products are served across the country and around the world.
Awards and Recognition
J. Rieger & Co. has earned a number of industry honors in recent years. Among them are a spot on the Robb Report’s Best Whiskeys of 2025 list and the title of Best American Whiskey at the ASCOT Awards. More information about the distillery is available at www.JRiegerCo.com.
Why Monogram Stands Out
Plenty of whiskeys talk about heritage. Monogram has a physical piece of it sitting in the warehouse. Casks that are 50 to 100 years old, a decades-long link to a famous Spanish bodega, and a blending method that never really stops all add up to something uncommon in American whiskey.
It also tells a bigger story about how a small habit from the pre-Prohibition era, adding a bit of Oloroso Sherry to a whiskey blend, can grow into something much larger when it is handled with care and given enough time. For anyone who enjoys the history behind what is in the glass, the 2026 Monogram release is one of the more interesting chapters in Kansas City whiskey to date.
