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The Bourbon Fox & Hound
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September 21, 2026 · The Hound

The Hyperion, and the Bottle That Went Too Fast

Smooth for 110 proofSweet but not too sweetToasted maltLingering oakWent fast
The Hyperion, and the Bottle That Went Too Fast
Field photo · The Hound

Steve texted the photo first. Two bottles on the counter at The Brothers in Ballwin, corks bundled like little stacks of redwood kindling, and one line under it: first in the area to get delivered, not much to go around, ninety-one dollars. That is how allocation season starts around here. A text from the counter before the shelf ever sees the bottle.

The bottle is Redwood Empire’s Hyperion, the 2026 Release. A blend of straight whiskeys, and the label does the rare and honest thing of printing the recipe instead of hiding it: 32 percent bourbon, 30 percent rye, 25 percent wheat, 13 percent single malt. Column still. Unfiltered. Bottled at 110 proof, 55 percent, by Redwood Empire Distilling in Vallejo, California, with distillate drawn from California, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. The name belongs to a tree - the Hyperion coast redwood, the tallest known tree on the planet per the neck label, standing somewhere in Redwood National Park.

The pour

No bar this time. This one got poured at a Missouri kitchen table, and it did not stay a full bottle for long.

The read was simple and the read was honest. Smooth for 110 proof, first of all - the number on the label never quite lands on the tongue the way the number warns it will. Sweet, but held in check, which for a blend carrying a quarter wheat is the small surprise, since that much wheat could have tipped the whole thing toward dessert and did not. Toasted malt settles into the middle of the pour, and the oak lingers on the way out.

The Hound is still learning this category and is not about to claim a flight of notes the palate never actually found. Toasted malt, a sweetness with the brakes on, oak on the finish, and a proof that drinks well under its weight. That is the honest read, and it was enough. A second bottle, if the allocation allows, earns a longer sit-down.

Why it lands

Blended American whiskey spent years as the bin most drinkers skipped, the word “blend” reading as filler. Bottles like this one are the argument against that reflex: print the recipe, bottle it at proof, leave it unfiltered, and let four straight whiskeys make a fifth thing. The Hyperion is not cheap at ninety-one dollars and it is not easy to find, but it earns the counter text that announced it.

For anyone in the St. Louis metro who wants to chase one down, ask Steve at The Brothers whether any of the allocation is left. It moved fast in one Missouri kitchen. It is moving fast everywhere.

  • The Hound

Disclosure: Purchased at retail from The Brothers, Ballwin. No promotional consideration from Redwood Empire or The Brothers.

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Continue Hunting

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