Journeyman Files Two New Ryes: Winston A. Fox Chapter Two and the Morton Arboretum

Journeyman Distillery's May 29, 2026 COLA approvals keep coming in waves; this pair extends the Three Oaks, Michigan distillery's well-established habit of building bottles around institutional and culinary partnerships — rye whiskey as relationship-in-a-glass.

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Winston A. Fox and the Tale of 6 Fine Ryes

The fox is back, and he's brought a second chapter. This is a collaboration between Journeyman and St. Elmo Steak House — the Indianapolis institution "Famous since 1902" at 127 S. Illinois St. — and the back label header "Chapter Two:" makes clear this builds on a prior edition. The label describes a blend of six rye whiskeys finished in French Oak Madeira barrels for 8 months, with a tasting narrative that moves from herbaceous grass and pepper through cinnamon, caramel, cherry, "hints of toffee and maple, and a curious whisper of banana." Journeyman's own release-dinner event page identifies the formula as five Journeyman ryes plus one rye from Rare Saint Whiskey, celebrating "nearly a decade of partnership" with the Huse Culinary Group — and the illustrated book spines on the back label quietly confirm the full group cast: The Tavern, Rare Saint, St. Elmo, Izzy's. The filing lists 100 proof / 50% ABV, a figure Journeyman's event page independently corroborates, though COLA proofs are technically provisional until bottling. Batch 1 / Bottle 1 markings indicate a freshly submitted label run, and a release dinner is already scheduled at Journeyman's Valparaiso, Indiana venue — a stronger-than-usual signal that a pour is genuinely imminent.

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Arboretum Oak Rye Whiskey

Journeyman's second May 29 approval pairs the distillery with The Morton Arboretum, the world-renowned tree-science institution in Lisle, Illinois. The back label states that the Arboretum is "proud to partner with Journeyman on this rye whiskey" and that the name honors "the essential part that oak plays in the distillation of rye whiskey" — a tidy conceptual bridge between an arboretum's mission and the charred barrel at the heart of American whiskey. One detail worth flagging for enthusiasts: the TTB class is plain Whisky, not Rye Whisky — Journeyman's flagship Last Feather Rye carries the stricter designation, so grain bill composition, oak treatment, or other processing factors may preclude the tighter category here. The front label shows ~45% ABV / 90 proof (COLA proofs are provisional), 750 mL, hand-made small batch, distilled across Journeyman's Two facilities in Three Oaks, MI and Valparaiso, IN, bottled in Three Oaks. The copyright reads © 2026, suggesting fresh development. The Morton Arboretum already runs whiskey programming — Whiskey Walks, Winter Whiskey Tastings, pairing dinners — so a branded collaboration bottle is a natural extension of an existing relationship, though no official release details have surfaced beyond this COLA filing.

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Two very different institutions, one consistent Journeyman ethos: organic Midwest grain, artisan craft, and an uncanny talent for finding unexpected collaborators.