Washington’s Biggest Craft Distillery Rolls Out Its Oldest Whiskey Yet
Every year, Woodinville Whiskey puts out something special for its Harvest Release, and this year’s batch is a big one. The Washington distillery is sending two limited whiskeys out across the country this month: a 10 Year Bourbon and a 6 Year Bottled in Bond Bourbon. The 10 Year is the oldest whiskey the distillery has ever released. It is also the last chapter in a series that started a few years back.
Image credit: Woodinville
For anyone who follows American whiskey, the story behind these two bottles is a good one. One is about patience and the wood it takes to make a bourbon age well. The other is about a single season’s grain and the place it came from.
The Last Bottle in a Three-Year Run
The 10 Year Bourbon wraps up a stretch of annual releases that got older each time. Woodinville put out an 8 Year Bourbon in 2024 and a 9 Year Bourbon in 2025. Now the 10 Year arrives as the final release in the series. It is bottled at 100 proof.
Image credit: Woodinville
The whiskey has already picked up some hardware. It earned Double Platinum at the ACSOT Awards and Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Those are two well-known competitions, and a double medal at each is a good sign for a bourbon that is only just reaching shelves.
What Sets This Bourbon Apart: The Barrels
A lot of what makes this whiskey different comes down to the barrels. The bourbon aged in new oak barrels, which is required for bourbon, but Woodinville did things a little differently with how those barrels were built and treated.
Heavy Toast, Light Char
The barrels were heavily toasted and then lightly charred. According to the distillery, that combination is very rare in bourbon production. Most bourbon barrels get a heavy char and little or no toasting. The heavy toast and light char gives the whiskey more richness and depth than a heavily charred, un-toasted barrel would.
Wood Seasoned in the Open Air
The staves used to build the barrels were seasoned outside in the open air for 24 months. That is a long time to let wood sit. The distillery says the 24-month seasoning gives up to 50 percent more of the desirable extracts from the barrel than a standard kiln-dried barrel would.
Put plainly, the wood is doing more of the work here. After 10 years in barrels like these, the whiskey has had a long time to pull flavor out of the oak.
A Different Grain Recipe
The mash bill is another place where this bourbon breaks from the usual. The 10 Year Bourbon is made from 55 percent corn, 35 percent rye and 10 percent malted barley. Woodinville’s standard bourbon uses 72 percent corn, 22 percent rye and 6 percent malted barley.
That is a big jump in rye. The result is a stronger rye spice, which the distillery says blends well with the rich extracts that came from a decade of aging. Rye tends to bring a peppery, spicy edge, so the idea here is a bourbon where that spice sits alongside the deep oak character built up over 10 years.
The Second Release: A 6 Year Bottled in Bond
The other half of this year’s Harvest Release is the Woodinville 6 Year Bottled in Bond Bourbon. It is bottled at 100 proof, which is what the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897 calls for.
Image credit: Woodinville
A Whiskey Tied to One Season and One Place
What makes this one stand out is where and when it was made. The whiskey comes from a single distillation season. The distillery calls it a true celebration of place, and the idea is simple: the bourbon shows off the character of that season’s grain harvest. It also shows the unique traits of the individual barrels it aged in. Those barrels sat in Barrelhouse A in Quincy, Washington.
Only the Second of Its Kind
This is only Woodinville’s second Bottled in Bond release. The first came out in 2020 to mark the distillery’s 10th anniversary. That means the distillery doesn’t put out Bottled in Bond bottles often, which adds to the interest around this one.
Where These Bottles Are Being Released
Both whiskeys are on hand at the distillery in Woodinville, Washington, while supplies last. The 10 Year Bourbon is rolling out nationally through the distillery’s own channels and select retailers. The 6 Year Bottled in Bond is being released through the distillery only.
A Distillery With a Growing List of Honors
Woodinville is the largest craft distillery in Washington state, and it has been getting a lot of attention from the whiskey press. Forbes reported that it “may just be the best craft whiskey in America.”
Other outlets have taken notice too:
- The Robb Report named Woodinville Straight Bourbon one of the world’s “50 Greatest Whiskeys of the 21st Century.”
- Newsweek recognized Woodinville as one of the “10 Best Bourbons of 2026.”
- Kara Newman included Woodinville Straight Bourbon in the Wine Enthusiast “Best Bourbons of 2025” and also named it one of the “Top 100 Spirits of the Year.”
- That is a lot of recognition for a craft distillery, and it helps explain why the annual Harvest Release draws so much interest.
Camping Out for Bottle Number One
The Harvest Release is a big event at the distillery’s home base in Woodinville. The tasting room hosts exclusive launches like this one, and the people who follow the brand closely take it seriously. Woodinville Whiskey loyalists camp out for nights in advance just to get the first numbered bottles.
Tours at the Distillery
For those who want to see where it all happens, private distiller-led tours can be scheduled in advance at the distillery in Woodinville. The distillery is open daily. The Quincy bottling and aging facility, where the barrels rest, can be visited by appointment.
The Bottom Line
The 2026 Harvest Release gives whiskey fans two very different looks at what Woodinville can do. The 10 Year Bourbon is the oldest whiskey the distillery has made. It is built on specially toasted and seasoned barrels and a rye-heavy grain recipe. The 6 Year Bottled in Bond is a one-season snapshot of the grain and the barrels that shaped it. Together they cap off a year of strong praise for the Washington distillery and close the book on its run of annual age-statement bourbons.
