*Original photo credit: Lost Lantern Whiskey.*

We’re only now entering the second quarter of 2026, and it’s quickly becoming the year of the blend. It’s also forced me to reevaluate my rating system, because I’ve had more Gold and Platinum award-winners at this point than I had through half the year in 2025.

When Lost Lantern announced its Spring 2026 Collection, the topline item was a new type of pairing. Most collections have at least one blend (unless it is entirely focused on single casks), hence this being the fourth iteration of their Far-Flung Bourbon blend. For the first time, though, you could get it in both the cask strength version (60.4%) and a 100 proof version, with the idea that not everyone likes their whiskey at high proof.

Not to worry, though - there’s also an Idaho bourbon in the collection that hits 155 proof and 10+ years old, so if you’re a proof hound you’ll be just fine.

I’ll dive into the rest of the collection (as many as I can get to, at least) in separate posts, but I wanted to dedicate one just to Far-Flung Bourbon IV.

This is the best product Lost Lantern has yet released.

The blend, comprised of bourbon from seven distilleries in seven states, is a masterpiece. I’ve had five of the seven on as podcast guests; another is a ghost (closed) distillery, and the final one (SanTan Spirits) is new to me. Aside from SanTan, I’m fairly familiar with the profiles of the other six distilleries. None outshines the other, and if I’m being 100% honest, I couldn’t pick any of them out as a clear “this note is from [enter distillery here].”

Distilleries included (data from Lost Lantern):

Baltimore Spirits, Baltimore, MD (Whiskey Ring Podcast Episode 155)
- Mashbill: 60% Boone County White Corn, 21% Rye Malt, 19% Sonoran White Wheat
- Barrel Details: ISC Char 2
- Age Statement: Aged 4 years
High Wire Distilling Co., Charleston, SC (Whiskey Ring Podcast Episode 167)
- Mashbill: 100% Jimmy Red Corn (first harvest of Covid)
- Barrel Details: Kelvin Cooperage Char 3
- Age Statement: Aged 4 years
Rich Grain Distilling, Canton, MS (ghost distillery)
- Mashbill: 11 cask blend of 66% corn, 17% wheat or rye depending on the cask, and 17% malted barley
- Barrel details: Barrel Mill Char 3
- Primary Maturation: 5 years
- Spirit Age: 7 years
SanTan Spirits, Chandler, AZ
- 55% Corn, 13% Rye, 32% Malted Barley
- West Virginia Great Barrel Company Char 1 Medium Toast
- Aged 4 years
Still Austin Whiskey Co., Austin, TX (Whiskey Ring Podcast Episode 29)
- Mashbill: 70% Corn, 25% Wheat, 17% Barley
- Barrel details: ISC Char 3
- Age statement: Aged 5 years
Whiskey Acres Distilling Co., DeKalb, IL (Whiskey Ring Podcast Episode 202)
- Mashbill: 75% Corn, 15% Wheat, 10% Barley
- Barrel details: Kelvin Char 3
- Age statement: Aged 5 years
Wollersheim Distillery, Prairie du Sac, WI (Whiskey Ring Podcast Episode 213)
- Mashbill: 66% Corn, 22% Rye, 12% Malted Barley
- Barrel details: ISC Char 3 Coopers Select
- Age statement: Aged 6 years

Sometimes blenders want you to be able to tell the components, others don’t. It’s clear to me that this is meant to be about the final product, not the pieces, all of which could still be excellent whiskies on their own. At 120.7 proof, it should be hotter, yet it drinks closer to 10-15 points below that.

I struggled to find faults here. The intentionality is clear, and the mouthfeel is one of the best I’ve had on a bourbon in the past few years. This got tougher after trying the 100 proof version, which I found lacked many of the original’s best qualities, most of all the mouthfeel.

I’ll reserve the right to revise my score higher…it doesn’t feel right not to give a 10/10 if I don’t have a fault, but I’ve also given out exactly three 10/10s in thousands of reviews. I want to go back and see those reviews to see if there’s something I considered in those that I didn’t here. In the meantime, try and pick up one of the 119 bottles available (there were 120, but you know I’m grabbing one).

Slainte!

Thank you to Lost Lantern for supplying this sample for review. All opinions are my own.

Lost Lantern Far-Flung Bourbon IV: Specs

Classification: Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskies

Producer: Lost Lantern

Mash Bill: Individual Mashbills Listed Above; Resultant Mashbill not Disclosed

Proof: 120.7º (60.35% ABV)

Age: 4 Years Old

Location: Maryland, South Carolina, Mississippi, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, and Wisconsin

Lost Lantern Far-Flung Bourbon IV Price: $100

Official Website

Lost Lantern Far-Flung Bourbon IV: Tasting Notes

Eye: Black tea. Medium running rims, broken legs and tiny droplets.

Nose: Corn milk, tassles just on the edge of burning. Sweet with a caramelized edge that keeps that sweetness in check. Proof is subtle. Horehound candies, root beer ones, too, tinge of mint and fresh leather.

Palate: Proof hits harder here than on the nose, racing to the center of my tongue and settling down like candy cooling. Spicier bourbon profile emerges here, rye but also a complexity to the corn, custardy and lemony. Mouthfeel is viscous and medium-to-full-bodied, almost syrupy, the proof keeping it moving. Oily, warming, barest astringency, black tea.

Finish: A honeyed note opens late to pair the black tea. The sharp baking spices continue to challenge an increasingly complex corn sweetness. Red raisins and blackcurrant jam on toast. Long finish.

Overall: Excellent blend of sweet, spice, and body. This excels in allowing the corn’s sweetness to diversity without letting you forget it’s a bourbon. The mouthfeel is fantastic, one of the fullest I’ve had in quite some time for a bourbon. I’m having a hard time finding fault. Extraordinary.