Brother Justus Drops Founder's Reserve IV: Minnesota's Most Anticipated Whiskey Release Gets Even Better
Four years into one of the most quietly compelling limited-release programs in American craft whiskey, Brother Justus Whiskey Company has just dropped its latest entry. The Minneapolis distillery has released the fourth edition of its annual Founder's Reserve series, offering whiskey drinkers a limited-production American whiskey made entirely from malted barley and aged in Minnesota white oak. The bottle carries a $149.99 price tag, is coming in at 110 proof, and if the momentum behind this series means anything, collectors and enthusiasts should move fast.
For those who have been tracking Brother Justus since its early days grinding away in northeast Minneapolis, the Founder's Reserve program represents the clearest window into what this distillery is really capable of — and what founder and CEO Phil Steger is chasing every year when he walks the barrel warehouse with a thief in hand, tasting his way toward a single vision of what American single malt can be.
The Details: What's in the Bottle
Proof, Production, and Availability
Founder's Reserve IV is bottled at 110 proof, or 55% alcohol by volume, and is limited to fewer than 1,000 750-milliliter bottles, with a suggested retail price of $149.99. That's a modest step up in price from the previous three expressions, all of which came in around the $130 mark, and it reflects both the maturity of the barrels selected and the growing reputation this series has earned in the industry. At sub-1,000 bottles, this is a genuine limited release — not the kind of "limited" marketing language that gets applied to products sitting on shelves for months.
The 2026 release was created from 25 barrels ranging from 2 to 4 years old. The whiskey was made from 100% two-row pale ale malted barley and matured in new, charred Minnesota white oak barrels, with the blend incorporating both single- and double-distilled whiskey. That last detail — the co-mingling of single- and double-distilled spirit — is a deliberate structural choice that differentiates Founder's Reserve IV from its predecessors in technique, not just age profile. It suggests Steger is actively probing the limits of his own production system, using the Founder's Reserve platform as a laboratory as much as a showcase.
Founder's Reserve IV is available online with shipping to most states, as well as at the distillery bottle shop in Minneapolis and select retailers in Minnesota and Illinois. The distillery will also open its Minneapolis cocktail room for a special Founder's Reserve IV event on Thursday, September 17, where registered guests will have an opportunity to sample the new whiskey at no charge.
Tasting Notes: A Savory Turn for the Series
Any regular drinker of the Founder's Reserve line will notice immediately that this fourth expression charts different sensory territory than its predecessors. The first three releases leaned heavily into fruit-forward and candy-sweet profiles — candied cherry, orange peel, lemon drizzle cake, pineapple. Founder's Reserve IV pivots toward something more complex and earthy.
According to the distillery's tasting notes, Founder's Reserve IV opens with dried apricot, sage, blackberry, and brown bread on the nose. The palate brings marmalade, brown sugar, herbed butter, and toasted sesame seed, followed by a finish of rye cracker, walnut, and wildflower honey. The whiskey is described as having an orange-topaz color.
Where the earlier releases in this series often reminded tasters of fruit-forward single malts from warm, short-maturation climates, Founder's Reserve IV reads more like a whiskey that has had time to settle into its oak. The dried apricot and brown bread on the nose signal Maillard reaction compounds from the malted barley doing real work, while herbed butter and toasted sesame on the palate suggest the white oak is contributing something more nuanced than simple vanilla and caramel sweetness. The finish — rye cracker, walnut, wildflower honey — is long and layered in a way that demands revisiting.
The Founder's Reserve Series: A Year-by-Year Chronicle
From a Debut to a Legacy
The Founder's Reserve series launched in 2023, and the concept behind it has been consistent from day one: the Minneapolis craft distillery produces a different Founder's Reserve expression each year, with no edition intended to repeat the whiskey that came before it. That philosophical commitment — to never retrace steps, never recreate a successful formula just because the market would accept it — is rarer than it sounds in an industry where reliable annual releases are the commercial backbone of most brands.
The first-ever Founder's Reserve, bottled at 58.5% ABV and 117 proof, was a cask-strength expression selected to capture a sense of place — rich and expressive, drawing on Minnesota's landscape for inspiration, layering toasted malt, vanilla oak, caramelized fruit, and fresh herbal spice into a bold expression that set the tone for every release that followed.
Steger's own words about that inaugural release reveal the ambition behind the whole program. "The barrels I selected for our first-ever Founder's Reserve express my founding desire to make a single malt whiskey that contains Minnesota's grand landscapes in a glass. Each sip blooms with the toasted malt and tallgrass herb of our prairies, the vanilla oak and caramelized stone fruit of our leafy woods, and the dark, resinous spice of our boreal forest, with a finish as fresh and clean as our sky-blue waters. And at full proof, it has even more of the spirit of Minnesota's rebellious monk, Brother Justus."
The first and second expressions, released in 2023 and 2024 respectively, were met with numerous industry and consumer accolades, including being awarded 98 points and named a finalist for best-in-class in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2024. The second release, bottled at 62% ABV and 124 proof, leaned into expansive, flavor-forward expression — jammy orange, melted butter, wildflower honey, and baking spices coming together in a bold yet rounded expression that emphasized breadth, warmth, and generosity over restraint.
For the third expression, Founder's Reserve 3 was bottled at cask strength and comprised specially reserved whiskey, two-thirds of which was aged three years and 100 days in new, medium-char 30-gallon casks, and the other third aged one year and 150 days in new, medium-char five-gallon casks. That release was a critical and commercial high point for the series. Founder's Reserve III placed fourth on whiskey writer Fred Minnick's annual Top 100 American Whiskeys list and was named his personal favorite of the year, according to the distillery.
The Philosophy of Never Repeating
Steger has been clear-eyed about what the Founder's Reserve program is designed to accomplish within the distillery's larger portfolio. "Our Founder's Reserve series allows us to explore the broad horizons of flavor that simple Minnesota water, malt, and oak can produce together, beyond the profiles of our core products," Steger said. That framing is worth sitting with: these releases aren't anomalies or showboating — they're explorations of how much variation a distillery can coax from a deliberately constrained set of ingredients.
As Steger has put it about the philosophy behind the series: "Our Founder's Reserve never repeats itself, because the whiskey always has something new to reveal." It's the kind of statement that sounds like marketing copy until you actually line up all four expressions side by side. The proof is in the glass — each one tastes like it came from the same place, made by the same hands, but has arrived somewhere entirely different.
Who Is Brother Justus, and Why Does It Matter?
A Founder's Unlikely Path
Minnesota native Phil Steger had been a longtime whiskey lover, but the idea of actually making whiskey himself was never part of the plan — that is, until he visited a distillery in Kentucky and started formulating an idea for a "better American whiskey." But even then, he spent years working on whiskey chemistry while also working as a lawyer and an activist before moving full-time to distilling and taking the plunge to found Minneapolis-based Brother Justus Whiskey Co. in 2014.
A law school graduate, Steger's eclectic career included work as an attorney and humanitarian, as well as years spent helping monks to digitally preserve centuries-old manuscripts. It was during that time that he came to appreciate the importance of protecting cultures — and it was also during this period that this whiskey-lover had a life-changing moment: after visiting James B. Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky to take a tour in 2007, his dream to produce his own whiskey began to take shape.
What followed was years of quiet, unglamorous preparation. From the shadow of Prohibition to the present day, Brother Justus evolved through years of experimentation, patience, and precision — including the 400-plus distillations it took to get the recipes exactly right. That number — 400-plus distillations before going to market — is the kind of detail that separates a craft distillery built on conviction from one built on a press release and a good label.
The choice of American single malt was strategic, as Steger didn't want to go up against a highly crowded bourbon market. "The [bourbon] industry is so competitive, and there's so much good liquid," he says. Instead of fighting for shelf space in one of the most saturated categories in American spirits, he went sideways — into territory where the rules were still being written, and where a distillery with a genuine point of view could actually matter.
The Brand Name and Its Origins
The name Brother Justus isn't arbitrary. The new logo directly honors the bootlegging, Prohibition-era Minnesota monk who helped his neighbors survive two Depressions and inspired the company's brand and spirit in its pursuit of flawless flavor. This whiskey is crafted to honor the brand's namesake, Brother Justus Trettel, a bootlegging monk from Minnesota, and the land it represents — where the barley-growing Great Plains, the white oak stands of the Eastern Hardwood Forest, and Boreal Forest peatlands all converge. It's a name with genuine Minnesota roots, not a fabricated heritage story — and that authenticity has become increasingly important to a whiskey-drinking audience that can smell a marketing myth from a mile away.
Minnesota as a Whiskey Terroir: The Ingredient Story
Why the North Makes a Difference
The American craft whiskey scene has matured enough that the word "terroir" — borrowed from wine — has become meaningful in spirits conversations. Brother Justus has been making the case for Minnesota-specific terroir since before it was fashionable. The distillery is one of few in Minnesota creating all of its spirits from 100 percent ingredients sourced from Minnesota, and only one of a handful of distilleries in the world using American peat.
Brother Justus makes its American whiskeys from two-row pale ale malted barley, cold-climate-grown white oak, and limestone water sourced from the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Each of those three ingredients is doing specific work. The pale ale malt delivers the fruit-forward, biscuity character that defines the house style. The cold-climate oak — trees that have spent decades enduring Minnesota winters that push well below zero — develops denser grain and more complex extractable compounds than oak grown in milder climates. And the Mississippi headwaters water, cascading over 640 miles of limestone bedrock between its headwaters in Lake Itasca and the distillery in Minneapolis, acquires an ideal pH and mineral balance for distilling the purest whiskey.
Steger makes no apologies for his geographic conviction. "Minnesota has the land and the history for whiskey," he says. "This is the ecological and geographical center of North America, and a state that has every ingredient you need to make malt whiskey." Minnesota is the only state where four bioregions converge, creating an ideal foundation for whiskey shaped by land, climate, and time — found nowhere else.
The peat story is particularly compelling for American whiskey drinkers who associate peated spirit exclusively with Scotch. Minnesota has over 6,000,000 acres of bogs rich with ancient peat, more than both Scotland and Ireland. These vast stretches of land, some of which were never harvested, host a diverse and constantly evolving ecosystem. Millennia in the making, Minnesota peat contains flavors that began forming at the end of the Ice Age 10,000 years ago, as glaciers traveled southward. Brother Justus's Cold-Peated expression uses that peat not to smoke the malt — the Scottish method — but as a filtering agent, a process Steger has applied for patent protection under the name the Aitkin County Process.
Fermentation, Distillation, and the House Philosophy
The distillery's approach brings together expressions and harmonies of malt and oak — 100 percent pale ale malted barley mash, fermented seven days to generate fresh, bright fruit and biscuity malt notes, distilled at higher proof to eliminate heavier, oilier, spicier flavors from the final profile, and then aged in new, charred, slow-growth Minnesota white oak to create pure, bright caramel and fruity hard candy character.
Aged in custom white oak barrels made from the world's coldest oak, the whiskey adopts a richness that makes for an incredibly smooth experience. That richness comes from a barrel that has endured four independently harsh seasons, from bitterly cold winters to stiflingly hot summers, contrasted by short and sweet growing seasons — wood so perfectly seasoned and filled with character, it can only yield the smoothest whiskey pour possible.
Industry Recognition and What It Signals
Competition Wins and Critical Momentum
The accolades have arrived steadily and from credible quarters. Brother Justus's American Whiskey was awarded a Double Gold medal and Best of Class designation at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The flagship also received 97 points, a Double Gold medal, and Best of Class Finalist recognition at the same competition, mirroring honors that Founder's Reserve I received when it was first released in 2023.
The Fred Minnick endorsement for Founder's Reserve III deserves particular attention. Minnick is among the most widely read and trusted voices in American whiskey criticism, and his Top 100 list carries real weight among serious drinkers and buyers. Landing at number four on that list — and earning the label of his personal favorite — is the kind of coverage that moves bottles and opens doors at accounts that wouldn't have previously stocked a Minnesota craft whiskey. Steger noted that Minnick has called Brother Justus whiskey a "game-changer" and "everything I want in a whiskey."
Growth, Distribution, and What Comes Next
Brother Justus is not operating like a distillery content to stay small. The company doubled production with the addition of a second still and four more fermenters, and expanded its contract with Breakthru Beverage Group to bring products to select restaurants and retailers in the Chicago area. In February 2026, the company named George Simpson, a spirits industry veteran, to the newly created role of Chief Growth Officer.
"We have devoted more than a decade to working the ground for growth: original, award-winning product, manufacturing consistency, efficiency, and scalability, and an original brand rooted in Minnesota's unique landscape and heroic history that every American can relate to," Steger said. "Last year was tough for the industry, but it was our biggest year yet, and 2026 is already off to the races."
The category shift is also worth noting. In April 2026, Brother Justus unveiled a new logo and adopted "American Whiskey" as its category, a change from its previous "American Single Malt" categorization. For a distillery that was an early mover in building American single malt as a recognizable category, this pivot may reflect a strategic desire to broaden appeal rather than any change in production method. The liquid inside the bottle hasn't changed — but the label is now speaking to a wider audience.
Where Founder's Reserve IV Fits in the American Craft Whiskey Landscape
The American craft distillery scene has spent the last decade producing an enormous amount of uneven, overpriced whiskey. The survivors — the distilleries that have actually built followings and earned respect — tend to share a common characteristic: they are uncompromising about their raw materials and are willing to wait for whiskey to be ready before they bottle it. Brother Justus checks both boxes.
By distilling malted barley, like Scotch, and aging the liquid in charred Minnesota white oak casks, like bourbon, Brother Justus delivers something truly remarkable. That hybrid positioning — drawing technical inspiration from both traditions without being beholden to either — is exactly what the American single malt category was built to do, and few distilleries are executing it with the consistency that Brother Justus has shown across four years of Founder's Reserve releases.
At $149.99, Founder's Reserve IV competes in a price tier that asks a drinker to make a real decision. This isn't an impulse purchase. But given that the previous three expressions in this series have each landed with critics and enthusiasts and sold out without extended shelf life, the value proposition holds. Steger has said he plans to release one Founder's Reserve each year for the foreseeable future — which means the question for any serious American whiskey drinker isn't whether to try one of these eventually. It's whether they can find one in stock when they decide they're ready.
The answer, as with any genuinely limited release, is probably: don't wait.
