Cinnamon | Buttercream frosting | Browned butter | Floral undertone

Crème brûlée | Honey | Toasted sugar | Sweet oak | Dried fig | Cinnamon stick

Honey | Buttercream frosting | Dried apricot | Stone fruits | Lingering sweetness

Seelbach’s Private Reserve “The Beekeeper” is back for round two after Seelbach’s hit it out of the park with the first batch. According to the company, “Beekeeper Batch 002 begins with straight bourbon made from a mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. It [was aged] for over 8 months in barrels infused with wild honey.” It’s “older and more complex” than the first batch, and “includes a blend of ex-20-year light whiskey, ex-16-year bourbon, and ex-bourbon barrels. The ex-bourbon barrels were 72-month air-dried staves.”

Sometimes a whiskey isn’t necessarily better or worse than its predecessor; it’s just different. As honey finished whiskeys can be polarizing, Seelbach’s succeeds in making Batch 002 less polarizing than Batch 001. Batch 002 more effectively balances the base bourbon flavors against the honey finish than Batch 001, which dialed up the honey influence to a high degree in both the flavor profile and the liquid's viscosity. Don’t misinterpret, though, Batch 002 still brings plenty of honey influence; it’s just less overt. Sweet flavors of crème brûlée, buttercream frosting, browned butter, toasted sugar, and a hint of honey on the backend all feel more driven by the honey finish than by the underlying bourbon.

Following the heels of my favorite honey finished whiskey from 2025, Seelbach’s once again delivers a fantastic honey finished bourbon with the latest batch of Seelbach’s Private Reserve “The Beekeeper.”