Lost Lantern's 2026 Wave: Four Single Casks From Iowa to North Carolina

Four TTB label approvals filed between May 29 and June 2, 2026 confirm what Lost Lantern followers have come to expect each year: a geographically ambitious wave of natural cask-strength, non-chill-filtered singles, sourced from distilleries the Vergennes, Vermont-based independent bottler has personally visited.

Lost Lantern — Saratoga Summer IIIB: Cedar Ridge Iowa Straight Wheat Whiskey 8 Years Old

Now in its third annual installment, the Saratoga Summer series is a collaboration between Lost Lantern and First Fill Spirits; the 2026 edition splits into two expressions — a bourbon and this wheat — both sourced from Cedar Ridge in Swisher, Iowa. This wheat version (edition FFS-3B) is built on 100% malted white winter wheat, aged 8 years, and bottled non-chill-filtered at natural cask strength. The filing lists ~66.5% ABV, though COLA proofs routinely shift before release. With only 60 bottles in existence, this is one for First Fill subscribers to watch closely — an 8-year craft Iowa wheat whiskey at this level of maturity is a genuine rarity. Cedar Ridge is one of Lost Lantern's most consistent partner distilleries, and the back label credits the distillery's "creaminess and depth of flavor" specifically to its Midwestern character.

Lost Lantern — Redwood Empire: California Straight Bourbon Whiskey (2026 Single Cask No. 3)

The back label explicitly flags this as Lost Lantern's first-ever bottling from Redwood Empire Distillery, located in Graton, Sonoma County, where the brand has built its reputation around Northern California's temperate coastal climate and a mission of redwood forest conservation. The mash bill is 71% corn / 17% rye / 7% malted barley / 5% wheat, and the filing lists ~60.0% ABV (provisional). One detail worth flagging: the label's body copy states the whiskey was "aged for 5 years," while the legal age statement at the very bottom reads "4 years old" — a discrepancy that will resolve when the release drops, with the legal statement typically controlling. At 200 bottles and with Lost Lantern pledging a donation to the Save the Redwoods League alongside the release, the context makes this bottling more than transactional. The described nose of lemon, apple, and vanilla spice sounds consistent with the distillery's signature fruit-forward style.

Lost Lantern — Balcones Brimstone: Smoked Straight Corn Whiskey Finished in a Pedro Ximenez Cask, 7 Years Old (2025 Single Cask No. 6)

The most technically unusual release in the batch: Balcones Brimstone is already one of American craft whiskey's stranger propositions — 100% roasted blue corn, aged in used oak, smoked directly with Texas scrub oak — and Lost Lantern then ran this cask through a three-stage journey: roughly 2 years 11 months in an ex-bourbon barrel, 2 years in a Pedro Ximenez sherry cask, and another ~2½ years back in ex-bourbon, totaling 7 years. It's worth noting that the TTB classifies this filing as "CORN WHISKY" (not "straight"), very likely because the PX sherry-cask period disqualifies the "straight" designation under federal regulations, even though the front label describes the base spirit's character as "smoked straight corn whiskey." The filing lists ~64.0% ABV (provisional); at 200 bottles, allocation will be tight. The back label describes the nose as "warm, deep barbecue smoke and rounded red fruit" — exactly the arc you'd expect from that PX interlude meeting Brimstone's characteristic smoke, and previous Lost Lantern × Balcones single casks have earned strong community reviews.

Lost Lantern — Broad Branch Distillery: North Carolina Straight Rye Whiskey 8 Years Old (2026 Single Cask No. 5)

The sleeper of this batch comes from Broad Branch Distillery, a grain-to-glass operation in Winston-Salem, NC, housed in a century-old tobacco warehouse in the city's Arts District. The label itself calls this "an intensely powerful hazmat rye whiskey" — a descriptor signaling the final bottling proof is expected to land above the federally defined "hazmat" threshold (57.15% ABV / 114.3 proof), regardless of what the provisional COLA figure (60.0% ABV) ultimately settles at. It's 100% rye, aged 8 years in a 53-gallon char 1 wave stave barrel, non-chill-filtered and cask strength — and it's bottled exclusively for Burlington Wine & Spirits, making this a genuine exclusive store pick. At just 60 bottles, it's the smallest expression in this batch and extremely unlikely to travel far beyond the retailer's customer base.

Four states, four different grain bills, four very different stories — this batch is a useful reminder of just how much ground American independent bottling has covered since Lost Lantern helped define the category.