Four Under-the-Radar Whiskey Brands to Know – Garden & Gun

There’s often a moment during a bourbon bottle share—whether an informal get-together at a friend’s house or perhaps in a hotel after a whiskey event—when someone pulls out a bottle and says something like, “But have you tried this?” Typically it’s not a well-known release that everyone is angling to taste but an under-the-radar find that delivers on style, originality, and flavor. Think of it like a bartender’s handshake—an off-menu drink that serves as a liquid wink-and-a-nod among those in the know—or, reaching back to those heady pre-internet days, like learning about a buzzy new band from your friend’s older brother. 

If you and I sat down to share some pours, here are four up-and-coming whiskey brands I would suggest. From relative newcomers reinventing tradition to bold experiments in blending and finishing, each is pushing boundaries and expressing a unique point of view—not to mention delivering great tastes.

Lasso Motel

Photo: Courtesy of Lasso Motel

Bourbon finished in Caribbean rum barrels.

Launching Lasso Motel in mid-2024, founder Devin Odell aimed to break away from the typical “one-dimensional” mold of many whiskeys, as he puts it, by infusing the brand with a free-wheeling, rock-and-roll vibe inspired by the storied Belmont Hotel in Dallas. Odell lived at the Belmont for four years, rubbing shoulders with musicians like Beau Bedford (of the Texas Gentlemen), Paul Cauthen, and Leon Bridges. “The hotel was always rocking,” he says. 

Photo: Courtesy of Lasso Motel

Devin Odell.

He channeled that atmosphere into the brand’s look and feel, debuting its whiskey lineup with a dozen expressions packaged in eye-catching square-shouldered bottles. Most employ the same base whiskey—four-year-old bourbon distilled at Kentucky’s Green River Distilling Co.—that is then finished in a variety of secondary barrels, including casks used to age Bordeaux rosé, port, moscato, Armagnac, cognac, and Caribbean rum, or casks made from a specific type of wood, like amburana. Tasting the various finishes side-by-side offers an exploration of how different barrels impact aroma and flavor. In musical terms, they’re riffs on a theme.

Before starting down that rabbit hole, however, it’s worth beginning with a pour of Lasso Motel’s 18-Year American Straight Whiskey. Distilled in Indiana and bottled at 121 proof, it’s a silky sip with cinnamon-dusted apricot buoyed by an exotic underswell of currants and spiced dates. That whiskey helped put Lasso Motel on the map with recent Best in Show recognitions at the Ascot Awards and the New York World Spirits Competition.

Rare Character Whiskey Company

Photo: Courtesy of Rare Character Whiskey Company

Rare Character whiskeys.

Pablo Moix and Peter Nevenglosky drew inspiration from Europe’s long-standing tradition of independent bottlers when they founded Rare Character in 2021. Combining Moix’s experience selecting single-barrel whiskeys for his L.A. cocktail bars and restaurants with Nevenglosky’s background in spirits, they built a large portfolio of distinctive barrels sourced from distilleries across the country. They’re primary customers are bars, liquor stores, bourbon groups, and others who select full barrels to buy, bottled exclusively for them with a barrel code and wax seal, the color of which corresponds to the whiskey’s general flavor profile.

Photo: Courtesy of Rare Character Whiskey Company

Peter Nevenglosky (left) and Pablo Moix.

While the barrel program remains the foundation of its business, Rare Character has also expanded into finishing whiskeys in various secondary casks, as well as bottling single-barrel bourbons and small-batch blends under both revived and new labels, including Fortuna, Pride of Anderson County, and the superlative Brook Hill.  

Putting it all together can be a bit complicated, but Moix, who tastes every barrel, has rightfully developed a reputation for his palate, and the core idea is straightforward: “We’re curators,” Nevenglosky says. “We find things that are unique, and people trust us because we continue to put out great stuff.”

Starlight Distillery

Photo: Courtesy of Starlight Distillery

Starlight Distillery.

Starlight sits on a seventh-generation family farm in southern Indiana, where Ted Huber, along with sons Christian and Blake, oversees a growing whiskey program rooted in agriculture. The family has cultivated the same land since 1843, and along with fruits and vegetables also produces estate-grown wine, jams, cider, and baked goods, all sold at an onsite farm market. 

Spirits came into the mix in the early 2000s, shortly after Ted helped push legislation to legalize craft distilling in Indiana and imported an eighty-gallon pot still from Germany to make grappa and brandy from the family’s farm-grown fruit. The distillery expanded into whiskey in 2013, now operating two pot stills and a column still, and the bulk of Starlight’s grains it either grows itself or buys from nearby farms, often working with them to cultivate heirloom varieties. 

Photo: Courtesy of Starlight Distillery

Starlight bourbon barrels aging on the farm.

Its recently released ten-year bourbon embodies the distillery’s agricultural ethos. The bourbon is a blend of three- and four-grain pot-distilled recipes made with locally grown grains and aged in heavily toasted, flash-charred barrels from the Napa-based Sequin Moreau cooperage (a nod to both Christian and Blake’s background in viticulture). The barrels aged in a warehouse on the farm, situated near a westward-facing wall that soaks up rays from the late-afternoon sun. The bourbon’s rich mahogany color speaks to the depth of influence from the barrels, while peppery, grassy rye undertones are complemented by a sorghum-like sweetness and a touch of raw grain and toasted oak. “They basically cooked over there in a corner,” Christian says. “I love the viscosity that brought out.” 

Dark Arts Whiskey House

Photo: Courtesy of Dark Arts Whiskey House

Dark Arts whiskeys.

When Dark Arts president and “chief alchemist” Macaulay Minton was developing the brand’s debut releases in 2023, he recalls that containers filled with whiskey experiments took over nearly every flat surface in his home. He tested secondary finishing in jars rinsed with wine and various spirits. He took a deep dive into the nuances of wood from around the globe and the effects of varying levels of toasting and charring. He even tried finishing whiskey in containers coated with maple syrup. 

That hands-on curiosity continues to inform Dark Arts’ method. Minton combs through his barrel inventory for an interesting base whiskey and then explores ways to enhance it through custom blending, re-barreling, and finishing. “I just want to innovate,” he says, “and push the envelope in the development of American whiskey profiles.”

Photo: Courtesy of Dark Arts Whiskey House

The Dark Arts tasting room in Lexington.

The results have begun to turn heads. At September’s Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, the line at the Dark Arts booth consistently snaked through the tasting grounds. While many were looking for the festival-only release of its sixteen-year-old Cuvée Buff-Turkey blend (dark cherry, tobacco leaf, orange zest, and so good), the core lineup offers a flavorful introduction to Dark Arts’ approach. Earlier this year, the company opened a tasting room in Lexington, Kentucky, inviting even more to try its ongoing experiments. “We’re always coming out with different flavors,” Minton says. “The whole cycle of coming up with an idea and manifesting it into reality and then putting it into people’s hands is a beautiful thing.”