From its rustic outpost in Vergennes, Vermont, Lost Lantern has bottled a wide variety of whiskeys from distilleries across the country (all 50 states, in fact). The independent bottler has primarily worked with craft whiskey makers, though some bigger distilleries such as High West and New Riff have also appeared in Lost Lantern releases. The company is now featuring a bigger name: Tennessee’s Cascade Hollow and its George Dickel brand, in Lost Lantern’s first collection dedicated to a single distillery.
When Lost Lantern founders Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski met with Nicole Austin, director of American whiskey liquid development at Diageo (parent company of Dickel), who, prior to taking on that role, had served as Cascade Hollow’s general manager and distiller since 2018, she was keen on sharing a different side of Dickel with them. “We knew that Dickel had a number of unique projects and experiments hidden in their warehouses, but honestly wouldn’t have known what to ask for,” says Polonski. “We asked Nicole what whiskeys she was particularly excited about and didn’t necessarily have immediate plans for—the kinds of whiskeys that would both excite folks who already love George Dickel, and intrigue folks who are more used to the small distilleries we usually work with.” The resulting Lost Lantern collection ranges from Tennessee whiskey (Dickel’s bread and butter) to light whiskey, non-charcoal filtered bourbon, and the first-ever bottled iterations of Dickel rye and wheat whiskey.
The three most widely available whiskeys in the George Dickel Collection are part of Lost Lantern’s Single Distillery Series, which emphasizes blends and has also included releases from Balcones, Whiskey Del Bac, and New York Distilling. Ganley-Roper, Lost Lantern’s head blender, created the blends with input from Polonski and Austin in the early stages, developing prototypes while visiting Dickel and then scaling them up in Vermont. Among the new whiskeys in the Dickel Single Distillery Series is Fabled Forest ($100), a Tennessee whiskey that’s bottled at a cask strength of 46.6% ABV. (Middle Tennessee is one of the few places in the U.S. where a whiskey’s proof will go down over time, due to persistent humidity in the warehouse.) It’s a blend of 7 barrels aged between 11 and 18 years, with about a quarter of the blend coming in at 18 years old.
Next up is Wild Woodland Tennessee straight rye ($80), which is comprised of 5 barrels of 7 year old whiskey and bottled at 59.15% ABV. It marks the first release of Dickel’s own Tennessee-distilled rye; previously, the distillery’s ryes have all come from Indiana’s MGP.
The Dickel Single Distillery Series rounds out with Golden Grove Tennessee straight wheat whiskey ($80), a blend of six barrels at 60% ABV; like the rye, it’s also the first release of such a whiskey from Dickel. There are 815 bottles of Fabled Forest, 665 of Wild Woodland, and 677 of Golden Grove, available online at lostlanternwhiskey.com and seelbachs.com; at retailers in California, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois; and at the Lost Lantern Tasting Room.
In addition to the three Single Distillery Series whiskeys, there are a bevy of single barrel releases, which are far more limited. There are seven unique Dickel single barrels in total:
- George Dickel 11 year old Tennessee whiskey; made from 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley (2 barrels)
- George Dickel 18 year old Tennessee whiskey; made from 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley, and bottled at 40.3% ABV. The oldest whiskey Lost Lantern has ever released (3/4 barrel)
- George Dickel 10 year old bourbon—not charcoal mellowed; made from 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley (2 barrels)
- George Dickel 10 year old Tennessee whiskey Groovy Staves; aged for 10 years in a barrel made with grooved staves to maximize wood contact (1 barrel)
- George Dickel Tennessee 7 year old rye; made from 84% rye, 8% corn, and 8% malted barley. The first standalone release of Dickel’s Tennessee-distilled, charcoal-filtered rye, though it previously appeared as part of a collaborative blend made with Colorado-based Leopold Bros. (4 barrels)
- George Dickel Tennessee 7 year old wheat whiskey; made from 100% wheat (2 barrels)
- George Dickel Tennessee 8 year old light whiskey; made from 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley. Another previously unreleased style from Dickel. (2 barrels)
The single barrel whiskeys are available exclusively through individual retailers; visit lostlanternwhiskey.com for information on where to find each one.
As Lost Lantern’s star and scope continue to rise, Polonski and Ganley-Roper expect their mission to remain the same. “Most of our partners will always be small distilleries…we are open to working with other major distilleries, but we need to be able to do it with full transparency, working closely with their team, as we did with Nicole,” says Polonski. “And we need to have something to add: something that Lost Lantern can say or share about the distillery that will excite and surprise people, even people who already love that distillery and know it well.”