Cedar Ridge's 2026 Anniversary Edition Bourbon: Iowa's Most Ambitious Limited Release Yet
There's a particular kind of confidence that comes with turning 21. For Cedar Ridge Distillery, Iowa's oldest operating distillery, that milestone isn't just symbolic — it's been distilled into a bottle. The 2026 Anniversary Edition Bourbon, the second installment in what the Swisher, Iowa-based operation has now established as an annual limited-release series, represents Master Blender Murphy Quint's most complex and ambitious blending project to date. Five distinct wine casks. A powerhouse 112-proof bottling. And a price tag that, at $64.99, makes it one of the more accessible ultra-premium limited drops of the season.
This isn't a distillery slapping an anniversary label on an existing expression to move bottles. What was once assumed to be a one-and-done release, Cedar Ridge has done it again — this time using each edition as a way to capture a moment in the distillery's history. That intentionality is evident in every decision Quint made here, from the pivot in sherry cask selection to the introduction of finishing vessels he's working with for the very first time.
The Roots: How Iowa Became Bourbon Country
A Pioneer in the Cornbelt
Founded by Jeff and Laurie Quint in 2005, Cedar Ridge Distillery is Iowa's first and oldest distillery. That founding wasn't just a business decision — it was an act of regional advocacy. Jeff and Laurie Quint founded Cedar Ridge because they believed it was time for Iowa — the number one corn-producing state in the U.S. — to share its homegrown bourbon whiskey with the world. Getting there, however, required more than belief. In 2005, Cedar Ridge became the first licensed distillery in the state in over 70 years.
Initially, the distillery produced wine and various other spirits before venturing into whiskey production. In 2010, they launched their first bourbon as a tribute to Iowa's status as the largest corn-producing state in the U.S. That winemaking origin story is not incidental to who Cedar Ridge is today — it is the defining thread running through the distillery's entire identity, and it's what makes the Anniversary Edition series so thematically coherent. Cask finishing their bourbon was a proof of concept, but with positive feedback and refinement, ex-wine casks became a core part of Cedar Ridge's identity. "We determined pretty early on that it would make sense for us to focus on wine cask finishing. That's something that we have here and we could use to our advantage. Then, we could scale and bring wine casks in from all over the world, which we do," continued Quint.
Murphy Quint and the Next Generation
Jeff's son Murphy joined the family business in 2014 and was appointed Master Distiller in 2024. Under his leadership, Cedar Ridge shifted its focus increasingly to the production of Bourbon Whiskey. That transition in leadership has brought with it a more experimental and technically refined approach to cask finishing. Murphy Quint ushered in a period of innovation that included the development of American Single Malt and extensive cask-finishing programs. Using Iowa-grown corn and aging in non-climate-controlled rickhouses, Cedar Ridge now manages every stage of production on-site. That grain-to-glass control, combined with the family's deep winemaking roots, gives Quint a toolset that few bourbon makers in the country can claim.
The Quint family's accomplishments in just over two decades are hard to overstate. In 2020, Cedar Ridge became the top-selling bourbon in the state of Iowa, beating out household-name Kentucky brands like Jim Beam and Maker's Mark. Cedar Ridge has held the title in Iowa ever since. It's become the first craft distiller in the country to produce the number-one selling bourbon in any state. That's not a regional novelty story — that's a genuine disruption of one of the most entrenched product categories in American retail.
The 2025 Debut: Setting the Stage
To understand the ambition behind the 2026 release, you have to look at what Quint built in 2025. Cedar Ridge Distillery launched its first Anniversary Edition Bourbon, a limited release featuring four different cask finishes to commemorate 20 years of Iowa whiskey production. That inaugural bottle drew on the distillery's clearest origin points: Iowa Bourbon finished in Tokaji, Ruby Port, Amontillado Sherry Casks and second-use new American Oak Barrels, expertly blended together by Master Blender Murphy Quint.
To mark the 20th anniversary, Quint wanted to create a whiskey that honors the distillery's beginnings while also representing what it has evolved into. The release unites two cornerstones of Cedar Ridge's history — Iowa bourbon and wine — with the craft they've mastered in recent years: blending cask-finished whiskeys. That first edition landed with impact. "The 2025 edition was our most popular release ever — I'm proud of how this one builds on that and excited for people to experience the 2026 version," Quint said. Most popular release ever, from a distillery that is also the top-selling bourbon in its home state, is a meaningful benchmark.
Last year's inaugural release brought together Iowa bourbon finished in Tokaji, Ruby Port, Amontillado Sherry, and second-use new American oak barrels. The result was a bourbon designed to tell the story of Cedar Ridge's past — that of winemaking — while showcasing the cask finishing techniques that have helped define its place in the whiskey industry. The 2025 edition was bottled at 100 proof; the 2026 steps that up considerably.
The 2026 Release: Anatomy of a Five-Cask Blend
The Mash Bill Foundation
Before examining what five wine casks do to this whiskey, it's worth understanding what they're working with. Quint took Cedar Ridge's Iowa Bourbon as the foundation for the expression. The bourbon is made from a mash bill of 74% corn, 14% rye and 12% malted barley. That's a relatively high-rye formula for an Iowa product — more than enough backbone to absorb and contrast multiple layers of wine cask influence without losing its grain identity. The corn percentage ensures sweetness and body, while the rye at 14% provides enough spice to keep the wine notes from going saccharine. The malted barley rounds out the mash with enzymatic efficiency and a hint of biscuit character.
Using Iowa-grown corn and aging in non-climate-controlled rickhouses, Cedar Ridge manages every stage of production on-site. Those non-climate-controlled rickhouses matter more than most casual bourbon drinkers realize. Iowa's dramatic seasonal temperature swings — brutal winters, hot and humid summers — force aggressive interaction between the spirit and the charred oak during the warm months, drawing whiskey deep into the wood and pulling it back as temperatures drop. It's a natural accelerant for flavor development that the industry sometimes underestimates in non-Kentucky climates.
Five Casks, One Vision
Quint finished the whiskey in five distinct cask types: Madeira, Napa Cabernet, Pedro Ximénez Sherry, Tawny Port and Tokaji casks. Each one brings something fundamentally different to the table, and the choices Quint made in 2026 reveal a deliberate evolution from the 2025 blueprint.
The most discussed change is the sherry cask substitution. "This year's Anniversary Edition features some truly incredible cask-finished bourbons, including a few I'm working with for the first time," said Quint. "I wanted to keep a similar foundation to last year's release with sherry and Tokaji finishes, but I chose PX sherry to work with instead of my usual Amontillado," he added. The difference between Pedro Ximénez and Amontillado is not trivial. Amontillado is dry, nutty, and oxidative — it adds structure and complexity without much residual sweetness. PX, by contrast, is intensely sweet, thick with raisins, dark fruit, and molasses. Swapping in PX sherry shifts the center of gravity of the blend toward richness and dried-fruit density.
Then there are the two newcomers. The Madeira and Napa Cabernet casks are what really push this blend in a new direction, according to Quint. Madeira is one of the world's most enduring fortified wines — a product that, by its nature, has already been heat-aged and oxidized before it ever touches a bourbon barrel. Wood that previously held Madeira imparts a unique nutty-caramel quality with underlying acidity, a profile that can add remarkable finesse to a whiskey. Napa Cabernet casks bring something entirely different: deep extracted tannins, dark berry structure, and the particular character of California's warmest growing regions. The contrast between these two casks alone — one Old World and oxidative, one New World and tannic — creates tension that a skilled blender can exploit for complexity.
Tawny Port rounds out the lineup. Lighter and more delicate than Ruby Port (which appeared in the 2025 edition), Tawny Port casks tend to contribute amber-toned dried fruit flavors — apricot, peach, dried cherry — with a nutty edge from their own extended oxidative aging. Combined with the PX sherry and Tokaji (Hungary's legendary sweet wine), the full picture is of a whiskey designed to explore every corner of the fruit and sweetness spectrum without any single note dominating.
How It Drinks
At 112 proof, this is a serious sipper — up a full 12 proof points from the 2025 edition. That strength isn't gratuitous. Higher bottling proof preserves more of the volatile aroma compounds that carry the cask-finishing character, and it gives the whiskey structure to stand up to ice or a modest splash of water without collapsing. The nose opens with cinnamon Red Hots and black pepper before melting into warm bread pudding topped with plump golden raisins, followed by a whiff of cooling peach cobbler. A few swirls release a delicate yet distinct essence of fig jam and sparkling rosé. That tasting profile speaks directly to the PX sherry and Tokaji influence — dried fruit, baking spice, and a floral lift that a standard American oak bourbon rarely produces on its own.
A Series Built to Last: The Annual Release Strategy
This limited-edition bourbon is the second in what is now an annual series. That framing matters enormously for how collectors and enthusiasts should think about this release. Cedar Ridge is building something horizontal here — a year-over-year library of expressions that documents how Murphy Quint's blending philosophy evolves, how different cask combinations interact with the same Iowa Bourbon base, and how the distillery's 21-year investment in wine cask inventory pays dividends in the glass.
The parallel to Kentucky's most celebrated annual releases — Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, Four Roses Limited Small Batch, Parker's Heritage — is worth drawing. Those releases have become cultural institutions as much as whiskey products, valued as much for their place in a series as for the liquid inside. Cedar Ridge's Anniversary Edition series is deliberately positioned to follow that same arc, with Quint using each edition to push into new cask territory while maintaining enough continuity to reward returning collectors. The 2025 edition kept sherry and Tokaji as anchors; the 2026 edition keeps Tokaji while rotating sherry styles and adding Madeira and Napa Cabernet for the first time. It's a blending philosophy with a long game embedded in it.
Iowa's Moment on the National Stage
The anniversary release doesn't exist in isolation — it lands at a moment when Cedar Ridge's national profile is rising faster than at any point in its 21-year history. Cedar Ridge provides premium Midwest Whiskey from America's grain belt, managing every step of production while allowing nature to be the ultimate guide. Their signature portfolio is anchored by the Original 86 Iowa Bourbon, the number one selling 750ml bourbon in Iowa. Influenced by its winemaking heritage and agricultural roots, Cedar Ridge Distillery consistently produces high-quality, award-winning products — proving that exceptional whiskey can be, and is, made in Iowa.
That last point is still quietly radical in the broader American whiskey conversation. Kentucky rightfully dominates the bourbon narrative — the limestone water, the regulatory history, the generations of institutional knowledge all matter. But the raw materials conversation increasingly favors the upper Midwest. The Cedar Ridge distillery takes its name from its location in eastern Iowa, a region characterized by its numerous cedar trees. The distillery is located near the Cedar River, one of the most famous rivers in the area, and the town of Cedar Rapids. This is genuine heartland terroir — the same grain belt that feeds the nation's largest distilleries also feeds Cedar Ridge, but here the corn stays home.
The distillery's reach is expanding beyond state lines in other ways, too. Iowa Athletics and Cedar Ridge Distillery recently announced a collaboration that marks the first official bourbon and vodka partnership in Iowa Athletics history. Named in recognition of the establishment of the University of Iowa in 1847, the collection pays tribute to the university's rich history and legacy. That kind of institutional partnership accelerates brand recognition in a way that no number of medals or favorable reviews can fully replicate. Cedar Ridge is becoming, in the most literal sense, part of the Iowa identity.
The Wine-Whiskey Crossover and What It Means for American Bourbon
Cedar Ridge's cask-finishing program is worth examining in the broader context of American whiskey's evolving relationship with wine. For most of bourbon's history, the post-distillation story was straightforward: new charred oak, time, bottle. The Scotch whisky industry pioneered the modern cask-finishing era, with Glenmorangie and Balvenie popularizing port and sherry finishes in the 1990s. American bourbon producers were largely restricted from following suit by their own production regulations — straight bourbon must be aged in new charred oak, which means wine cask finishing can only occur as an additional, post-maturation step.
That constraint, paradoxically, creates opportunity. Because the new charred oak does so much of the heavy lifting on flavor, a well-made Iowa bourbon arriving at the wine cask with good structure, sweetness, and spice becomes an ideal candidate for finishing. The wood has already done its primary work. The wine cask then functions as a final flourish — a seasoning layer rather than the primary flavor vehicle. This release explores Cedar Ridge's diverse array of finishing casks and showcases how they can be used together to create an exceptional whiskey — one that celebrates and highlights the tradition of Cedar Ridge whiskey rooted in wine.
"We would not be here today if it weren't for our winery distillery combination working together," Quint has said. That statement carries more strategic weight than it might first appear. Most American distilleries either source their casks from cooperages or purchase used barrels from wine and spirits producers at arm's length. Cedar Ridge's winery background gives them relationships, knowledge, and access to wine cask inventory that a distillery-only operation simply cannot replicate. They understand what's in those barrels because they put wine in barrels themselves. That institutional knowledge translates directly to more precise and intentional finishing decisions.
Availability, Pricing, and How to Get a Bottle
This limited release expression is available at the Cedar Ridge Distillery in Iowa, online, and at select whiskey retailers for the suggested retail price of $64.99 for a 750ml bottle. At that price point, the 2026 Anniversary Edition occupies an interesting position in the market — well above Cedar Ridge's core lineup but significantly below the secondary market prices that comparable limited releases from Kentucky command. For a 112-proof, five-cask-finished, craft-distilled limited release, $64.99 is a legitimate value proposition.
The Anniversary Edition Bourbon is bottled at 112 proof and has an MSRP of $64.99 per 750 mL bottle. The online presale option is particularly relevant for anyone outside of Iowa who wants to secure a bottle — to say that the 2026 Cedar Ridge Anniversary Bourbon is a limited release is an understatement, and anyone who wants a bottle should act fast. The 2025 edition sold out quickly given its status as the distillery's most popular release ever, and the 2026 version is positioned to move at least as fast given the expanded cask complexity and the series' growing reputation.
The Bigger Picture: What Cedar Ridge's Anniversary Series Tells Us About American Whiskey's Future
The 2026 Cedar Ridge Anniversary Edition Bourbon is many things at once: a birthday celebration, a masterclass in cask-finishing strategy, a statement about Iowa's place in the national whiskey conversation, and a deliberate entry in what promises to be a multi-decade collector series. Murphy Quint is playing a long game here — each year's release simultaneously stands alone as a distinct expression and accumulates meaning as part of a growing library.
The decision to step up from four finishing casks to five, to swap in PX sherry for Amontillado, to debut Madeira and Napa Cabernet for the first time, to increase proof by 12 points — none of these are arbitrary moves. They reflect a blender who is pushing harder with each iteration, using the anniversary series as both a creative outlet and a technical proving ground. As Cedar Ridge Distillery celebrates its 21st birthday, the 2026 Anniversary Edition offers another glimpse into how this Midwest craft distillery is shaping its identity as an Iowa whiskey producer.
For American whiskey drinkers whose mental map of bourbon still begins and ends in Kentucky, Cedar Ridge's anniversary series is an invitation to recalibrate. The corn grows here. The grain is local. The winemaking tradition is generational. And the blender behind this bottle has spent his entire career immersed in both worlds. The result is a limited release that doesn't need to borrow credibility from anyone — it earns it, one cask at a time.
