Rising Tide Spirits Bundle #1: Old Stubborn Single Barrel Wheated Potstill Straight Bourbon + Old Swagger 13 Year Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon

Ed Bley doesn't rush anything. The founder of Rising Tide Spirits spent years handpicking more than 250 private barrels for one of Northern Kentucky's most respected retail shops before ever putting his own name on a bottle — and that patience shows up in everything he releases. This bundle pairs two of his most critically acclaimed expressions: a single-barrel, pot still cask strength wheated bourbon from an undisclosed West Virginia distillery, and a 13-year-old Bottled-in-Bond low rye bourbon from MGP in Indiana. Opposite ends of the flavor spectrum. Both exceptional.

Old Stubborn is West Virginia's best-kept secret turned whiskey community obsession. Distilled on a traditional pot still — a method that amplifies texture and oil content in ways column distillation simply can't replicate — and aged over a decade before Bley ever put eyes on it, each single barrel comes in hot: anywhere from 117 to 142 proof, barely filtered, character fully intact. The wheated mashbill swaps rye for soft winter wheat, which softens the edges without blunting the bold, concentrated flavors that pot still production coaxes out. You get something dense and almost chewy — the kind of pour that rewards patience in the glass.

Old Swagger 13 Year BiB runs in a completely different lane. Bottled-in-Bond means it met a rigorous legal standard: distilled in a single season, aged a minimum of four years at a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at exactly 100 proof. This isn't just a compliance checkbox — it's Bley's way of saying every decision was documented and deliberate. At 13 years from MGP's Indiana distillery, you're pulling from some of the longest-aged, most refined stock that storied producer has in house. That low rye mashbill (roughly 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley) gives it an elegant, polished structure that feels almost European in its composure. Each bottle arrives in a handblown glass decanter etched with Rising Tide's cardinal — functional art as much as packaging.

Together, these two bottles showcase exactly what an independent bottler can accomplish when they don't settle. Bley built his reputation on knowing which barrels to pick. This bundle is the proof.