Duck Club Bourbon's Wetlands Release Marries High-Proof Craftsmanship with Waterfowl Conservation
There is a well-worn ritual in American hunting culture — the moment after the blind empties, when decoys are stacked, waders are peeled off, and a bottle gets passed around a fire that nobody wants to let die out. It is a tradition as old as the marshes themselves, rooted in the same landscapes that sustain millions of migrating birds each year. Duck Club Bourbon has built its entire identity around that ritual, and its newest release, Wetlands, represents the most deliberate expression of that mission yet — a high-proof, multi-state blend tied directly to the financial support of North America's disappearing wetland habitat.
Duck Club Bourbon, the official bourbon of Ducks Unlimited, has unveiled Wetlands, a limited-edition, 107-proof bourbon created in partnership with the conservation organization. The announcement landed on September 22, 2026, from Memphis, Tennessee — the same city where Morningside Brands, the spirits company behind the label, is headquartered. The timing was deliberate. Duck season looms in the early fall calendar like a religious holiday for anyone who has ever sat in a marsh before sunrise, and releasing a conservation-focused expression at the front edge of that season puts the bottle squarely in the hands of people who will understand exactly what it represents.
The First Chapter of a Conservation Series
The release marks the first expression in the brand's new conservation series, with proceeds from every bottle supporting Ducks Unlimited's mission to conserve and restore wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. That framing matters. This is not a one-off charity bottle — it is the opening salvo in what the brand intends to be an ongoing series of expressions, each presumably tied to a specific conservation theme or geography. For bourbon collectors and outdoorsmen alike, that structure creates both incentive and investment in whatever comes next.
Founded in 1937, Ducks Unlimited says it has helped conserve more than 20 million acres of habitat. That is a staggering figure — more acreage than the state of Maine — and it provides the institutional weight that makes this partnership feel substantive rather than cosmetic. Ducks Unlimited has been doing this work for nearly nine decades, long before conservation became a marketing hook, and its credibility lends a layer of authenticity to the Wetlands release that a less established partner simply could not provide.
Through the Proud Partner designation, Duck Club Bourbon will engage DU members and supporters through aligned marketing initiatives, events, and storytelling that celebrate camaraderie, responsible enjoyment, and conservation — reinforcing DU supporters' preference for brands that share their values and invest in the waters, wetlands, and wildlife they care deeply about. That three-year relationship has clearly evolved into something more structured and more commercial with the Wetlands release, turning a partnership designation into a revenue-generating conservation mechanism.
Inside the Blend: Three States, One Purpose
The liquid itself deserves serious attention, because it is not simply a charity release dressed up in camo. Duck Club went to the trouble of engineering a genuinely complex multi-state blend, drawing from three distinct American whiskey regions to build something that stands on its own merits at the tasting table.
The blend combines seven-to-nine-year-old straight bourbons drawn from three American whiskey regions. It comprises 42% Kentucky straight bourbon aged seven years, 36% Indiana straight bourbon aged nine years, and 22% Tennessee straight bourbon aged seven years. Each of these source states brings a distinct character to the final product. Kentucky bourbon tends toward rich caramel and oak-forward profiles, the result of the state's limestone-filtered water and its particular approach to warehouse aging. Indiana distillate — largely associated with the MGP distillery in Lawrenceburg — is known for its high-rye recipes, bringing a spicier, more assertive backbone. Tennessee bourbon, shaped by its own geography and aging conditions, rounds the blend with its particular expression of the grain.
Blending across state lines is not a new concept in American whiskey, but it is still viewed with some skepticism by the more tradition-bound segment of the bourbon community. What Duck Club has done here is essentially construct a flavor target and then source backward from it, pulling the best aged stock from each region to hit that mark. At 107 proof — 53.5% ABV — the Wetlands blend has enough viscosity and heat to carry complexity without the dilution that often flattens multi-source bourbons.
What the Glass Tells You
Bottled at 107 proof (53.5% ABV), the bourbon carries official notes of caramel, cream, cherry, maple syrup, and cinnamon on the nose. The palate delivers caramel, brown sugar, cherry, cinnamon, and saddle leather, followed by a finish of buttery vanilla cream, cinnamon, and spiced fruit. The profile leans sweet on entry — the Kentucky fraction doing its predictable and welcomed work — before the Indiana rye spice pushes through on the mid-palate. The saddle leather note on the finish is evocative and fitting for a bourbon built around the outdoor tradition; it is not a sophisticated French oak note, but it is honest and satisfying.
Independent tasting notes have also highlighted "creamy berries and vanilla" trailing on the palate, with "sweet oak and semi-dry almond paste" remaining long and coating. The almond paste note is the kind of detail that emerges from well-aged Indiana distillate specifically, where longer time in wood can coax out nutty, marzipan-adjacent characteristics that few other American whiskey regions can replicate. At 107 proof, those notes stay intact without water washing them away, which suggests the blenders made a considered decision about proof point rather than landing there arbitrarily.
The People Behind the Brand
Riley Green: More Than a Celebrity Label
Celebrity bourbon partnerships have proliferated to the point of numbness in the American spirits market. From country musicians to actors to athletes, the formula has become predictable: lend a famous name to an existing product, hold some events, move some volume. Duck Club Bourbon was always marketed as something different, and the Wetlands release puts that claim to a real test.
With roots in the sporting world, the brand draws inspiration from waterfowl hunting, land stewardship, and the stories told around early-morning blinds and late-night campfires. Country artist and lifelong outdoorsman Riley Green co-founded the brand, bringing authenticity and a genuine connection to the community it serves. Green is not a name attached to a product he has no connection to — he is, by all accounts, the kind of person who was spending time in hunting blinds long before the bourbon label existed. That biographical alignment matters enormously in a market that has grown allergic to inauthenticity.
Country music artist Riley Green, co-founder of Duck Club Bourbon, said the release held personal significance. "Being outdoors and spending time in the woods and on the water has always been a big part of my life, so being able to create something that gives back to the places and wildlife we care about means a lot to me," he said.
Green expanded on that sentiment: "Wetlands is a special release for Duck Club Bourbon because every bottle helps support Ducks Unlimited and the important work they're doing to protect these habitats for generations to come. We wanted this bourbon to be something you can enjoy with good friends after a day outside while also knowing you're giving back to something bigger than yourself." That last phrase — giving back to something bigger than yourself — is the kind of sentiment that lands differently when it comes from someone who has spent real time in a marsh, watching weather move across a flat horizon at first light. It is the language of people who hunt, not the language of a marketing brief.
McCauley Williams and the Morningside Vision
The brand was started by McCauley Williams — a name recognizable from Blue Note or Alma del Jaguar — alongside Riley Green. From the beginning, the idea was to build a bourbon that felt connected to hunters, anglers, and the people who spend their time outdoors. Williams brings significant spirits industry experience to the enterprise, which provides the operational backbone that many celebrity-driven brands lack. His track record suggests he understands both how to source quality whiskey and how to build a brand that outlasts the initial novelty of its famous co-founder.
Morningside Brands CEO McCauley Williams stated that the bourbon is positioned to meet consumer demand for heritage and quality. "Duck Club Bourbon represents exactly what today's bourbon drinker is looking for: authenticity, heritage, and whiskey quality at an incredible value," said Williams. The value positioning is notable. In a premium bourbon market where bottles routinely exceed $100 on the secondary market and even standard releases have crept upward in retail price, a brand that leads with quality-at-value messaging is making a deliberate choice about who it wants to reach.
Ducks Unlimited CEO Weighs In
DU CEO Adam Putnam reflected on the partnership's deeper resonance, noting: "Some of my favorite memories have been made in the marsh, on the water, and in the great outdoors, and many of them ended around a fire with family, friends, and a bourbon in hand." Putnam's framing is important because it acknowledges what the brand's marketing has always known — that bourbon and outdoor culture occupy the same emotional territory for a very large segment of American men. The fire at the end of a hunt, the bottle passed between friends, the conversation that carries on after the birds have been cleaned and the gear has been stowed — these are the moments that the Wetlands release is specifically designed to inhabit.
Availability and the Broader Duck Club Portfolio
Wetlands is available in limited quantities online and at select retailers. The limited-edition status is not merely a marketing contrivance. As the first installment in what Duck Club is positioning as an ongoing conservation series, Wetlands is genuinely constrained in supply — a reality that should push interested buyers toward action rather than procrastination. The $54.99 retail price positions it accessibly within the premium tier, making the conservation component feel like a value-add rather than a premium surcharge.
The Wetlands release sits atop a small but growing portfolio. Duck Club's lineup has grown to include a 92-proof, 5- to 6-year Kentucky and Indiana blend, prized for its accessible price point, and the 110-proof High Brass, a 5- to 8-year Kentucky blend with more intensity. The Wetlands expression slots in between those two anchor products in terms of proof but surpasses both in age and blend complexity, establishing itself clearly as the brand's prestige offering — the bottle you reach for when the occasion demands more than everyday sipping.
Duck Club Bourbon launched across Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas in 2025, with a planned larger national expansion across the United States in 2026. Additionally, Duck Club Bourbon is available for sale online with direct-to-consumer shipping in 42 states. The national expansion trajectory means that the brand's conservation-focused releases will gain audience in new markets just as consumer awareness of environmental issues — and willingness to spend in support of them — continues to grow.
The Broader Trend: Conservation as a Bourbon Category Story
Duck Club is not operating in isolation. The American bourbon industry has watched a growing number of brands attach themselves to conservation or environmental causes, recognizing that their core consumer — the outdoorsman, the hunter, the angler — cares about these issues with the kind of visceral, personal conviction that goes well beyond casual concern. For many hunters, wetland loss is not an abstract policy debate; it is something they have watched happen in real time, in places they know by name.
The precedent for this model exists in other corners of the spirits world. Yellowstone Bourbon has surpassed the $1 million mark in total donations since its partnership with the National Parks Conservation Association began in 2018. That milestone demonstrates that cause-driven bourbon releases can sustain long-term consumer loyalty and generate meaningful conservation funding over time — provided the underlying product quality justifies repeat purchase.
High West Distillery donates to the American Prairie Reserve, an initiative focused on conserving grasslands in the American West, aligning with their eco-friendly approach to whiskey making. These examples collectively form an emerging subgenre of American whiskey — bottles that carry conservation credentials not as a side note but as a core part of their identity and value proposition. Duck Club, with its Ducks Unlimited partnership and its explicit conservation series structure, is perhaps the most coherent and mission-driven execution of this model to date.
Why Wetlands, Specifically?
Wetland conservation carries particular urgency in the American conservation landscape. North America's migratory waterfowl depend on a chain of wetland habitats stretching across the continent's major flyways — the Pacific, Central, Mississippi, and Atlantic routes along which tens of millions of ducks and geese travel each year. When wetlands are drained for agriculture or development, those birds lose staging areas, breeding habitat, and wintering grounds. The cascade effects are enormous, touching everything from local insect populations to water filtration systems that communities rely on.
Ducks Unlimited has been the institutional force most consistently working against that tide since its founding. The Wetlands Edition conservation series is designed as an ongoing effort, with each release bringing together exceptional American whiskeys selected for character, age, and balance, and with proceeds from every bottle supporting the conservation of wetlands and the wildlife that depend on them. The series format — rather than a single one-off release — signals that Duck Club intends to make conservation funding a structural feature of the brand, not a seasonal promotion.
What This Means for Bourbon Enthusiasts and Collectors
For serious bourbon enthusiasts, the Wetlands release offers a case study in what purposeful sourcing can accomplish. Multi-state blends have often been viewed with suspicion in a market that tends to fetishize single-distillery provenance, but the best examples of the form — assembled by skilled blenders with clear flavor targets — can outperform single-source expressions in complexity and balance. The Wetlands blend, drawing on seven- to nine-year stocks from three states, represents a meaningful investment in aged whiskey that provides genuine structural depth.
Each release in the conservation series brings together exceptional American whiskeys selected for character, age, and balance. That framing — character, age, balance — is the blender's checklist, and it suggests that the selection criteria prioritize sensory outcome rather than sourcing convenience. The nine-year Indiana component in particular represents a significant commitment to aged stock at a price point that undercuts many competitive expressions by a considerable margin.
For the collector, the first-in-series designation adds another layer of interest. Conservation series releases from established brands have historically appreciated in value as subsequent expressions are released and the earlier bottles recede into the secondary market. There is no guarantee that pattern holds here, but the combination of limited supply, a compelling conservation story, and a genuinely high-quality liquid at the right price creates the conditions for that kind of outcome.
A Bourbon Built for the Long Haul
Duck Club Bourbon launched little more than a year ago as a regional proposition — a bourbon rooted in outdoor heritage, positioned for value, and built around a famous co-founder with real credibility in the markets it was targeting. The Wetlands release signals something more ambitious: a brand that is actively constructing a platform for conservation-driven releases that deepen its relationship with Ducks Unlimited and, by extension, with the millions of hunters and outdoor enthusiasts who make up that organization's membership base.
Duck Club Bourbon's status as DU's Proud Partner in the straight whiskey category underscores the brand's leadership in the premium bourbon space while strengthening its connection with conservation-minded outdoor enthusiasts. That positioning — simultaneously a quality bourbon brand and a conservation funding mechanism — is a harder thing to execute than it sounds. It requires the liquid to actually be good, the partnership to actually be substantive, and the brand's principals to actually care about the outcomes. Based on the evidence of the Wetlands release, Duck Club appears to be managing all three.
In a crowded bourbon market where differentiation is increasingly difficult and consumer skepticism toward celebrity-branded spirits runs high, Duck Club has staked out genuinely distinctive ground. The Wetlands expression is the strongest argument yet that the brand's ambitions extend beyond the initial launch buzz — and that the marshes, the flyways, and the birds that fill them will be better off for it.
