Michter's US*1 Single Barrel Rye - 70cl
Michter's US*1 American Whiskey - 70cl
Michter's US*1 Sour Mash Whiskey - 70cl
Michter's American Whiskey
The American craft whiskey house with a 270-year heritage — origins traced to Shenk's Distillery, founded 1753 in Pennsylvania, the whiskey reportedly purchased by George Washington for his troops at Valley Forge. Privately held, low barrel entry proof, single barrel and small batch only, made in Louisville, Kentucky. The award-winning US*1 American Whiskey and US*1 Single Barrel Rye — delivered free across Singapore.
Buy Michter's American Whiskey in Singapore
The Liquid Collection stocks the live Michter's range available in Singapore — the award-winning US*1 American Whiskey (named World's Best American Whiskey at the 2019 World Whisky Awards) and the US*1 Single Barrel Rye, considered by many serious American whiskey drinkers to be the finest standard-range rye in the world. Michter's is one of the most respected craft American whiskey houses, with a brand heritage traced to 1753 — making it the heir to America's oldest whiskey lineage.
Every bottle ships free across Singapore with no minimum order. Browse the range above, or explore the wider American Whiskey category, compare with Kentucky single barrel bourbon at Blanton's, the wheated bourbon style at Maker's Mark, premium Kentucky bourbon at Woodford Reserve, or the Tennessee whiskey of Jack Daniel's.
From Schaefferstown 1753 to Louisville today
The story of Michter's spans nearly 270 years, three states, two centuries of American history, and one near-extinction. It begins in 1753, when a Swiss Mennonite farmer named John Shenk established a small distillery on his farm in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, making rye whiskey from grain grown on the property. The distillery was small, agricultural, and unremarkable — until George Washington reportedly bought whiskey from it during the brutal Valley Forge winter of 1777-78, where the Continental Army was camped through the harshest months of the American Revolution. By tradition, Shenk's whiskey is the first whiskey purchased by the United States military — making the Schaefferstown distillery the seed of an entire American whiskey tradition.
The distillery passed through generations of the Shenk family for more than a century, then to Abraham Bomberger in 1861 — becoming Bomberger's Distillery, which is the name that appears on most 19th-century records. The Bomberger era ran into the 20th century and the catastrophic interruption of Prohibition (1920-1933). The distillery survived, like several others, by producing medicinal whiskey under federal permit. After Prohibition the distillery changed hands several more times before being purchased in the 1950s by Louis Forman, who renamed it Michter's — a portmanteau of his two sons' names, Michael and Peter. The Forman-era Michter's produced the famous Michter's Original Sour Mash for several decades and became one of the most recognised craft whiskey brands of the 1970s. But the Schaefferstown distillery struggled with debt and operational difficulties through the 1980s and went bankrupt in 1989, closing the doors of the original 1753 site for the last time in 1990.
Three years later, in the early 1990s, Joe Magliocco and Dick Newman — both veterans of the American spirits industry — bought the dormant Michter's name and revived it. They initially sourced whiskey from existing Kentucky distilleries (a common practice at the time) while building toward their own production. In 2015 they opened the Michter's Shively Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky — Michter's first owned-and-operated distillery in over twenty-five years — and in 2019 added the beautifully restored Fort Nelson Distillery on West Main Street in downtown Louisville. Today's Michter's is genuinely Kentucky-made, with the heritage and the founding date carried forward from Schaefferstown.
Why Michter's — low entry proof and patient maturation
Low barrel entry proof
The signature technical decision behind Michter's is barrel entry proof. US bourbon law allows distillers to enter spirit into the barrel at any strength up to 125 proof (62.5% ABV), and most major Kentucky houses barrel-enter at 110-125 proof to maximise volume per barrel. Michter's enters its barrels at approximately 103 proof (51.5% ABV) — significantly lower, significantly more expensive, significantly slower to scale. The lower entry proof means the spirit spends its maturation life at a lower alcohol concentration, which produces softer, smoother, more rounded character development at the same age. The trade-off is genuine: Michter's needs more barrels and more warehouse space to produce the same finished volume as a higher-entry-proof brand. This is one of the production decisions that distinguishes Michter's from volume-oriented bourbon houses, and is part of why Michter's commands a price premium and the reputation it has built among serious American whiskey drinkers.
Heat-cycled barrel ageing
The second Michter's signature is heat-cycled barrel ageing. Most Kentucky bourbon ages through the natural seasonal temperature swings of un-air-conditioned wooden rickhouses — hot summers expand the spirit into the wood, cold winters contract it back out, and the cycle drives the chemistry of maturation. Michter's takes this further: the brand's warehouses are heated during the winter months to mimic an extended summer, accelerating the spirit-and-wood interaction without sacrificing the cycle character. Combined with the low barrel entry proof and the brand's strict commitment to single-barrel and small-batch bottling — Michter's does not produce mass-market blend bourbons — heat-cycled maturation is a key part of the consistency and richness Michter's achieves at every age tier. Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson, widely considered one of the most accomplished women in modern American whiskey, oversees the brand's ageing programme.
The Michter's house style — patient, balanced, fruit-forward
Across the range, Michter's is defined by the soft, balanced, fruit-forward character that comes from low barrel entry proof and patient single-barrel maturation. The signature notes for the US*1 American Whiskey (the brand's distinctive used-barrel-aged expression) include caramel, vanilla, honey, butterscotch, baked apple, dried fruit, soft toasted oak and gentle baking spice. The US*1 Single Barrel Rye offers vanilla, toffee, toasted almonds, cinnamon, crushed pepper, dried herbs and a hint of orange citrus. The aged expressions — Michter's 10 Year Bourbon, 10 Year Rye, 20 Year and 25 Year — layer in dark fruit, brown sugar, dark chocolate, tobacco and leather. Compared to other premium American whiskeys: Blanton's wears Mash Bill #2 high-rye spice prominently; Maker's Mark wears its wheat softness; Woodford Reserve wears its triple-pot-still richness. Michter's wears its low-barrel-entry-proof patience — a softer, more rounded, more elegant style that earns it consistently strong reviews among serious bourbon drinkers.
The Michter's range
The Michter's distillation team — Dan McKee and Andrea Wilson
Modern Michter's is built around a distinctive production team. Master Distiller Dan McKee — who joined Michter's in 2014 after a long career at Brown-Forman, where he worked on the Woodford Reserve distillery and other Brown-Forman bourbon brands — oversees distillation and the technical side of production. Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson, who joined Michter's in the early 2010s, oversees barrel programmes, warehouse conditions and the Michter's heat-cycling protocol. Wilson is widely considered one of the most accomplished women in modern American whiskey production and is one of the few people in the industry who carries the formal "Master of Maturation" title. Together, McKee and Wilson have presided over Michter's transformation from a sourced-whiskey revival brand in the 1990s and 2000s into a fully self-distilling, two-distillery operation in Louisville since 2015, while preserving the brand's commitment to low entry proof, heat-cycling, and single-barrel-and-small-batch-only bottling.
Michter's and the American whiskey landscape — the independent house
Modern American whiskey is dominated by a small number of global multinationals. Sazerac (privately held but at corporate scale) owns the Buffalo Trace family — Blanton's, Eagle Rare, Weller, E.H. Taylor, Pappy Van Winkle. Suntory Global Spirits owns Maker's Mark alongside Yamazaki, Hibiki, Hakushu, Courvoisier. Brown-Forman owns Jack Daniel's, Woodford Reserve and Old Forester. Heaven Hill, MGP, Diageo, Pernod Ricard each command additional significant share. Within this landscape, Michter's is one of the very few genuinely independent major American whiskey houses — privately held by Joe Magliocco's Chatham Imports, neither part of a global conglomerate nor publicly traded. The independence shows in the strategy: Michter's does not produce mass-market blend bourbons, does not chase volume metrics, and does not optimise for distribution scale. Instead, the brand has built itself around single-barrel and small-batch quality at every age tier — a deliberate counter-position to the volume-and-marketing model that dominates American whiskey at scale.
Awards and global recognition
Michter's has accumulated an unusually consistent record of major international awards over the past two decades. The US*1 Sour Mash Whiskey was named Whisky of the Year by The Whisky Exchange in 2019 — the first American whiskey ever to receive that honour. The US*1 American Whiskey was named World's Best American Whiskey at the 2019 World Whisky Awards. Michter's 10 Year Single Barrel Bourbon has been recognised by Food & Wine magazine as Best American Whiskey. The 10 Year Single Barrel Rye is consistently rated among the finest American rye whiskeys in production. The Celebration Sour Mash, first released in 2013, was the first American whiskey marketed as a luxury blended whiskey at the level of the rarest Scotch single malts. The 20 Year and 25 Year Limited Release bourbons are among the most sought-after aged American whiskeys released by any US distillery. Beyond specific medals, Michter's defining contribution has been to demonstrate that American whiskey can be made and marketed at the level of premium Scotch single malt and prestige Cognac — a category-elevation effect that has shaped the entire premium American whiskey market.
Michter's FAQ
What is Michter's?
Michter's is one of the most respected American whiskey brands in the modern bourbon revival, with a heritage that traces back to 1753 — when Swiss Mennonite farmer John Shenk established a small rye whiskey distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. That distillery, known successively as Shenk's, Bomberger's and eventually Michter's, operated continuously through American history (with George Washington reportedly buying whiskey from it during the Revolutionary War winter at Valley Forge) until the original distillery went bankrupt in 1989. The Michter's name was revived in the 1990s by Joe Magliocco and Dick Newman, and the modern Michter's now produces premium American whiskey in Louisville, Kentucky under Master Distiller Dan McKee. Michter's is privately held and is one of the few major American whiskey brands that is neither part of a global multinational nor publicly traded.
What does Michter's taste like?
Michter's house style is rich, balanced, expressive and fruit-forward — defined by the brand's signature techniques: low barrel entry proof (around 103 proof, lower than the legal maximum of 125), heat-cycled barrel maturation, and small-batch and single-barrel-only bottling. The signature notes for the US*1 American Whiskey include caramel, vanilla, honey, butterscotch, baked apple, dried fruit, soft toasted oak and gentle baking spice — bottled at 41.7% ABV. The US*1 Single Barrel Rye offers vanilla, toffee, toasted almonds, cinnamon, crushed pepper, dried herbs and a hint of orange citrus — bottled at 42.4% ABV. The aged expressions (10 Year Bourbon, 10 Year Rye, 20 Year, 25 Year) layer in dark fruit, brown sugar, dark chocolate, tobacco and leather.
What is the history of Michter's?
Michter's traces its origins to 1753, when Swiss Mennonite farmer John Shenk established a small distillery on his farm in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, producing rye whiskey from grain grown locally. The distillery operated through the American Revolution — with George Washington reportedly buying whiskey from the distillery to warm his troops during the brutal Valley Forge winter of 1777-78. The Shenk family ran the distillery for more than a century before it passed to Abraham Bomberger in 1861, becoming Bomberger's Distillery for several decades. The site went through several ownership changes and adopted the name Michter's in the 1950s, named for owner Lou Forman's two sons, Michael and Peter. The original Michter's distillery in Schaefferstown went bankrupt in 1989 and closed for good in 1990. The Michter's name was revived in the 1990s by Joe Magliocco and Dick Newman, who initially sourced whiskey from existing Kentucky distilleries before opening Michter's own distilling operation in Louisville. The brand opened its own Shively Distillery in Louisville in 2015 and an additional Fort Nelson Distillery in downtown Louisville in 2019.
What is Michter's low barrel entry proof?
Michter's enters its barrels at approximately 103 proof (51.5% ABV), well below the legal US bourbon maximum of 125 proof and lower than most of the major Kentucky bourbon houses (which typically barrel-enter at 110-125 proof). This is a deliberate Michter's signature, costly in production terms because lower entry proof means more barrels and more warehouse space are required to produce the same volume of whiskey. The trade-off is a softer, smoother, more rounded character at the same age — the bourbon and rye spend more of their maturation life at lower alcohol concentration, which encourages different flavour development from the wood and reduces some of the harsher congeners that higher-proof maturation can produce. Combined with Michter's heat-cycled barrel ageing and the single-barrel-and-small-batch-only bottling philosophy, the low barrel entry proof is a key part of why Michter's commands a price premium and reputation for quality.
Who owns Michter's?
Michter's is privately held by Chatham Imports — the family-run American spirits company founded and run by Joe Magliocco and his late partner Dick Newman, who together revived the Michter's brand in the 1990s. Magliocco continues as president and chairman of Michter's. This independent, family-controlled ownership is genuinely distinctive in modern American whiskey: most major American whiskey brands are owned by global multinationals — Sazerac (Buffalo Trace family), Beam Suntory, Brown-Forman, Heaven Hill, MGP Ingredients, Diageo. Michter's is one of the very few major American whiskey brands that has remained genuinely independent.
Where is Michter's made?
Modern Michter's is produced at two distilleries in Louisville, Kentucky. The Michter's Shively Distillery, which opened in 2015 in the historic Shively neighbourhood of Louisville, is the main production facility — handling distillation and most of the brand's ageing. The Michter's Fort Nelson Distillery, which opened in 2019 in downtown Louisville, is housed in a beautifully restored 19th-century building on West Main Street and serves as both a working distillery and the brand's visitor experience. Master Distiller Dan McKee oversees production at both sites; Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson, who is widely considered one of the most accomplished women in modern American whiskey, oversees ageing and barrel programmes. Both Louisville sites are open to visitors and are part of the wider Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
What does the US*1 designation mean?
The "US*1" designation that appears on the standard Michter's range is a tribute to the brand's heritage: the original Pennsylvania distillery's first batches were marked "US*1" because, according to brand history, Shenk's Distillery was the first registered whiskey-making operation in the United States. The asterisk and the numerical 1 are part of the Michter's brand identity today and indicate the brand's standard-strength, single-barrel and small-batch range — distinguished from the older limited-release and toasted-barrel and barrel-strength expressions. The current US*1 range stocked at The Liquid Collection includes US*1 American Whiskey (uniquely matured in used barrels rather than new charred oak) and US*1 Single Barrel Rye (a fully bonded straight rye whiskey bottled from individual barrels).
Why is Michter's US*1 American Whiskey so unique?
Michter's US*1 American Whiskey is genuinely unusual within the American whiskey landscape because of one distinctive choice: it is matured in used barrels rather than the new charred oak that US bourbon law requires. This makes it ineligible to be labelled "bourbon" (which by federal definition must be aged in new charred oak), even though it would otherwise meet the bourbon mash bill requirements. Instead, US*1 American Whiskey is labelled simply as "American Whiskey" — a federal category that allows the use of used barrels. Specifically, Michter's matures the spirit in barrels that have previously held Michter's bourbon, then air-dried and re-toasted in a proprietary process. The result is a softer, gentler, more vanilla-and-honey-driven whiskey than a standard new-oak bourbon — a uniquely Michter's expression. The US*1 American Whiskey was named World's Best American Whiskey at the 2019 World Whisky Awards.
Is Michter's a good gift?
Yes — Michter's is one of the most universally respected American whiskey gifts in the world for serious whiskey drinkers, particularly among those who already own the more obvious bourbon icons. The US*1 American Whiskey is a genuinely unique and award-winning gift; the US*1 Single Barrel Rye is consistently rated among the finest American ryes in production. The brand's privately held independent ownership and 270-year heritage from Shenk's Distillery (1753) give Michter's serious gift credentials. See our wider gifts selection for presentation options.
Do you deliver Michter's across Singapore?
Yes. Free delivery anywhere in Singapore with no minimum order. Standard lead time is 3 working days.