Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.

Just because something is expensive doesn’t mean it’s good, although a high price tag can go a long way towards making people believe it is. But sometimes really lavish things are also fantastic, like Petrossian caviar, a stay at the Aman Tokyo, and Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash. This is one of the priciest (perhaps the priciest) American whiskeys that you can currently purchase outside of auction, and after tasting it a few weeks ago I can say with confidence that it is indeed brilliant.

As a refresher for those who might not be familiar with Michter’s Celebration—this is the fifth edition (it’s listed as the 2025 release, but was released in February), and the first release in four years. This edition is a blend of seven barrels, four of which contained Kentucky straight rye whiskey, and three of which contained Kentucky straight bourbon. Some of that whiskey is pretty old—the age ranges between 12 and “well over” 30 years—and the final blend is bottled at 115.2 proof.

It’s kind of a cliche to say this, but Celebration Sour Mash just doesn’t drink as hot as you might expect. It also doesn’t drink like a super old whiskey, and that’s a very good thing. Older American whiskey is often not great, so blending together what I assume is a smaller percentage of the oldest whiskey with larger amounts of younger whiskey works well here, creating a layered palate that is vibrant even with more mature notes of oak and tannin at play (in fact, while I think Michter’s 25 Year is a very impressive release, I like Celebration even better because of that mix of ages). There’s so much going on as you sip—I picked up notes of chocolate (dark and milk), cherry syrup, black pepper, cinnamon, hot honey, maple candy, tobacco, charred wet wood, and brown sugar. Overall, this is a complex, multi-layered, fascinating, and delicious blend.

When Celebration Sour Mash first came out in 2013, according to master distiller Dan McKee, there were some in the industry who thought it would be hard to sell a bottle of ultra expensive American whiskey (it was priced at $4,500 at the time, compared to $6,000 now). But nowadays it seems like a no-brainer. So why is Celebration so expensive? Is it because it takes about a year to put each release together? That might be a factor. Is it the age of the whiskey? That’s certainly part of it, but this is a blend of ages and not a 30-year-old whiskey. Could it be the fancy packaging? That’s never enough to justify the price.

Maybe it’s the hype machine and marketing surrounding Celebration, combined with its actual scarcity. To paraphrase The Smiths, you want the one you can’t have, and it’s driving you mad. The good news is if you get what you want (please, please, please, let me), you’re going to be very satisfied because it’s a truly exceptional whiskey. Of course, whether or not that high price tag is worth it is totally subjective. You’re likely to see it listed for at least $20,000 on the secondary market, well above it’s suggested retail price. If dropping that much money on a prized bottle of whiskey doesn’t make you break out in a cold sweat, have at it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Score: 99