Dried apricot | Stone fruit | Toffee

Tropical fruit | Seasoned oak | Roasted nuts | Toasted oak | Clove | Brown sugar

Allspice | Roasted coffee beans | Dark chocolate | Maple sugar | Lingering wood spice

The Hyperion is an inaugural limited edition release from Redwood Empire, a distillery in Vallejo, California, nestled between San Francisco and Napa in the San Francisco Bay Area. Noted as Batch 001 and the 2026 edition, it’s clear the company plans on future annual releases, though each is meant to be distinct and not repeated. The name pays homage to Hyperion, a coastal Redwood and, incidentally, the world’s tallest tree, over 381 feet tall, over 15 feet wide, and 919 years old.

The Hyperion blends four spirit types and encompasses 10 mashbills. Distillate combines Redwood Empire-distilled whiskeys and sourced whiskeys, with the single malt whiskey component entirely Redwood Empire-distilled. The release totals 12,000 bottles. The Hyperion debuts a new bottle design for Redwood Empire, featuring a natural wood-inspired glass texture and a “majestic crown closure” inspired by the Hyperion redwood tree, which translates to being a really unique bottle cork

Combining 10 whiskeys spanning four types of whiskey from various distilleries is a daunting task, though we’re increasingly seeing blends from brands that showcase these elaborate blends. Lauren Patz, Redwood Empire’s master blender, worked with the company’s master distiller Jeff Duckhorn to create the blend. The duo used some of their own oldest stock and some of their oldest sourced stock, which brings layers of flavor to the final blend. It has a noticeable sweetness throughout, with dried apricot, stone fruit, tropical fruit, brown sugar, and maple sugar notes playing a large role. They’re accented by a toffee scent on the nose, and then richer notes of roasted nuts at the midpoint, followed by roasted coffee beans and dark chocolate on the finish. Barrel-inspired flavors and spice accent the sweet undertones, with seasoned, toasted oak, clove, and allspice. The whiskey finishes with a lingering wood spice note.

Overall, Redwood Empire The Hyperion is a winner. It’s the best whiskey I’ve had from the company yet, and I like the fact that they combined various whiskey types and 10 mashbills to make it. It reaches a wider audience with its approachable, sweet-leaning flavor profile, while still appealing to enthusiasts with its overall richness and complex layers of flavor drawn from incorporating so many whiskeys into the blend.