Dark Arts Whiskey House Files Two New Cask Strength Store Pick Options

Dark Arts Whiskey House — the Sparta, Kentucky blending and finishing operation founded by former Wilderness Trail single-barrel program manager Macaulay Minton — dropped two Cask Strength TTB approvals on the same day in June 2026. Both share their house Kentucky mash bill (64% corn, 24% rye, 12% malted barley) and wear matching neck labels pointing to a (placeholder) store pick release. Here's what the labels show.

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Dark Arts Cask Strength – Cognac Cask & Toasted Mizunara Staves (Batch Vol II)

This one layers two very different finishing influences: a Cognac cask and toasted Mizunara staves applied together, creating what Dark Arts calls a dual-wood treatment atop 7.5 years of Kentucky straight bourbon. It's labeled Batch Vol II, indicating a prior run exists, and the batch yields a tight 69/420 bottles — a number that feels very intentional for a brand that leans into mystique. The label lists ~111.5 proof (55.75% ABV), though COLA proofs frequently shift before release, so treat that as provisional. The "Whisky Specialties" TTB classification (rather than "Straight Bourbon") is expected here: adding post-maturation stave finishing takes the spirit outside straight bourbon's strict standards, even though the base liquid is Kentucky straight bourbon — a distinction Dark Arts uses across several of its finished expressions. Mizunara is already part of their core lineup at 100 proof; this Vol II escalates that concept to cask strength with Cognac cask character alongside it.

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Dark Arts Cask Strength – Brown Sugar Toasted French Oak Staves (Barrel BWT-100)

Where the Cognac/Mizunara release is a batch, this one is a single barrel — Barrel No. BWT-100 — making it the more limited and more variable of the pair. The finish here is Brown Sugar Toasted French Oak Staves, a treatment that caramelizes the wood sugars before contact, pointing toward richer vanilla and toffee notes on top of the same 64/24/12 Kentucky straight bourbon base, aged seven years. The filing lists ~115.2 proof (57.6% ABV), again subject to the usual COLA caveat. Dark Arts has described their French Oak sourcing in detail — including from the ancient Jupilles forest — so this isn't an offhand finish. No official announcement has surfaced yet; at this point it's a filing, not a confirmed release.

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Two expressions, one shared mash bill, opposite finishing philosophies — Dark Arts keeps doing exactly what it set out to do.