Hell Diver 2026

I walked into a saloon in New Orleans at 2am and sat down in a cracked maroon pleather booth. As I listened to the rugged, weathered voice of a woman singing a dark melancholy, I contemplated the space between the notes of my life and the blues.

Hell Diver 2026 is about that space between the notes, the transitions that move from one flavor to the next, leaving behind a lingering crystalized orange peel, burnt and discarded, but still sizzling blood red citrus. This whisky is like Big Bill Broonzy and the Glory of Love. There is no autotune. The twang of a broken toffee chord and the honey of his voice, mingling with the aged and cracked wood of an old guitar give the whisky the grit of Hell Diver and the humming blackberry clove of Found North.

Hell Diver Composition

By far the most important evolution of the 2026 Hell Diver was the introduction of Oloroso casks. Hell Diver has always focused on sherry casks and the predominant cask type of the 2026 release remains Pedro Ximénez sherry. However, the secondary cask maturation for Hell Diver First Flight and Hell Diver 2025 was Cognac casks, which provide a soft cushion of white fruit and a creamy foundation that helped to hold together those first two editions of Hell Diver.

In Hell Diver 2026, we replaced the affable Cognac casks with the far more domineering Oloroso.

We created a straightforward blend of 6 whiskies aged between 16 and 25 years. Alongside the Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso we used two different ISC, heavily toasted, new American oak types - Char #1 and Char #2.

Candidly, we avoided the temptation to overblend this whisky. We did not sand away every rough edge or dampen the intense flavors. Instead, we accentuated the densest notes, only slightly reining in the rowdiest flavors and letting the intensity of Pedro Ximénez sherry match the intensity of Oloroso sherry.

Component Composition

• 40% 16 year corn in Used American Oak
• 15% 20 year corn in Used American Oak
• 5% 25 year corn in Used American Oak
• 24% 16 year corn in New American Oak
• 12% 16 year rye in Used French Oak
• 4% 22 year corn in New American Oak

Cask Usage

• 71.84% First-fill Pedro Ximénez Sherry
• 11.05% First-fill Oloroso Sherry
• 12.83% ISC Cooper's Reserve, 24-month, Air-seasoned, Heavy Toast Char 2
• 4.27% ISC Cooper's Reserve, 24-month, Air-seasoned, Heavy Toast Char 1

Profile

Initial sip

‍The first taste catches you off guard. There is so much going on, it takes a moment to process what you are tasting. The combination of peach fruit, citrus, thick baking spices and chocolate form the landing. The most noticeable aspect of the first sip, is how the finish lingers in three distinct places. There is a maple, candied sweetness that burns the lips and the tip of your tongue, a heavy wood spice, with nutmeg on the roof of the palate and a woody warmth that holds dark red fruits deep in your chest.

Second Pass

‍The second sip may be the best. More prepared, it is much easier to pick out the dark blackberry jam on the landing. The wood notes are savory and nutty, bringing out the sour candy of Oloroso and the struck match quality that roasts your cashews and gives the mid-palate a distinct chewy quality. There is a sweet raspberry and sour cherry cameo that precedes dark chocolate and the maple candy on your lips moves to your chest on the finish.

Third Pass

‍The third pass is when you really start to notice the Spanish oak and the different styles of new American oak. The mid-palate shows macerated, candied plums, sandalwood, leather and dried nutmeg. The sweet PX and the savory Oloroso give you a green tea bitterness and a dried apricot through the later portion of the mid-palate, before the finish finds notes of caramel and clove.

End of the Night

‍If you spend the night with this whisky, you will discover the toffee bitter side of maple, the taste of chewing a caramelized mandarin wedge and the mouth puckering tannins of 25 year old whisky. The red fruits have retired for the evening and in their place is a breath of vanilla and the sweetness of grapefruit on the finish.

Why we made this whisky

When we made Hell Diver First Flight we were overly dependent on the wood to fill some of the flavor gaps we left in the initial blend. The core blend used a rye that in hindsight was way too rough, earthy and bitter. As a result we left the blend in the Pedro Ximénez, new American oak and Cognac casks for far too long, hoping the wood would cover up our sins. Upon reblending, we were left with a hodgepodge of jagged-tasting whisky. None of the pieces fit neatly together, and in the end we could only use about half of the casks.

It took an enormous amount of coaxing at the reblend stage to create a coherent whisky. Now, when our team retastes it, we love the whisky, but we also notice the unsanded nature of the flavor profile, the rough edges masked in shadow.

Naturally, our approach to the second Hell Diver was to make a more complete and older core blend and source more consistent casks. Armed with a better understanding of how to source the best quality wood, we created an incredibly clean and harmonious whisky that was almost comically easy to reblend and equally easy to drink. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with that, but again, upon revisiting the second Hell Diver, we felt it was too polished for the Hell Diver profile. While it was cleaner than Hell Diver First Flight, we weren’t certain the whisky was actually any better than its predecessor. In reality, navigating intense flavors is very much a part of making distinct and delicious whisky.

So, when we made Hell Diver 2026, we replaced the Cognac casks with Oloroso sherry. We still used the highest quality wood, but the Oloroso sherry casks produce whisky with exactly the challenging incongruous flavors that we had too much of in Hell Diver First Flight and too little of in Hell Diver 2025. After further maturation these Oloroso casks were delivering dense nuttiness with struck match and heavy earth tones. On their own, the flavors are too much, but the whole point of blending is to shape the whisky around those notes and fill the cracks with gold.

Why is this the final Hell Diver?

After we made Hell Diver 2025 we felt the Hell Diver profile still had more to give. Frankly, we were itching to make it again. With Hell Diver 2026 we created the whisky that matched our intentions for the bird and its profile, bringing it to its natural conclusion.