Lost Lantern 2022 End-of-Year Stats!
Happy New Year! We’ve finally closed the door on 2022, a wild and exciting year that also happened to be our second full year in business. We celebrated the 2nd anniversary of our launch in October, a capstone to a year that saw us finally being able to travel again, visit distilleries again, and start to do in-person whiskey festivals for the first time… but also brought its share of Covid-related challenges. Including getting Covid ourselves after two years of dodging it! But, in the tradition of the kinds of stats we used to share when we were on our 8-month road trip, we wanted to put together some stats from the year that’s gone. Take a look!
Lost Lantern 2022 Whiskey Stats
Number of single cask whiskies we released in 2022: 16, plus our first 2 private casks
Number of blends we released in 2022: 0
Number of blends we expected to release: more than zero (thanks, Covid)
Distilleries we released whiskies from in 2022: 13 (Smooth Ambler, Westward, Frey Ranch, Spirit Works; Clear Creek (McCarthy’s), Starlight, Dad’s Hat, St. George, Balcones; Boulder, Cedar Ridge, Copperworks, Breuckelen)
Distilleries we released our first single casks from in 2022: 5 (Westward, Frey Ranch, Dad’s Hat, Copperworks, Breuckelen)
States we released whiskey from in 2022: West Virginia, Oregon, Nevada, California, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, Colorado, Iowa, Washington, New York
States we released our first single casks from in 2022: Nevada, Pennsylvania, Washington
State we released the most whiskies from in 2022: Oregon (2 single casks + 1 private cask)
States we thought we’d release more whiskey from in 2022 than we did: Texas, Washington, Arizona, California, New Mexico
State we have released the most single casks from since launch: three-way tie between Texas, California, and Oregon, with four single casks each
States where we’ve released whiskey from more than one distillery: Oregon, California, Texas, New York
Distillery we have released the most from since launch: tie between Balcones (two single casks and our American Vatted Malt) and Westward (one single cask, one private cask, and our American Vatted Malt)
Distilleries we have released the most single casks from since launch: tie between Boulder (Colorado), Cedar Ridge (Iowa), and Whiskey Del Bac (Arizona), with three single casks each
Distilleries we’re just dying to work with but haven’t yet: Wouldn’t you like to know!
State we’re surprised we haven’t released more whiskey from yet: Colorado, Texas
Most obvious states we haven’t worked with yet: Kentucky, Tennessee, Vermont
Oldest whiskey we released in 2022: Breuckelen Malted Wheat, 8 years old
Youngest whiskey we released in 2022: three year olds from Spirit Works, St. George, and Copperworks
Average age of whiskies we released in 2022: 4.6 years
Average age of whiskies we released in 2021: 3.6 years
Lost Lantern 2022 Sales Stats
Fastest-selling single cask: Balcones Texas Single Malt Aged In A Tequila Cask (sold out in an hour and a half)
Runner-up: St. George Spirits California Single Malt #2 (sold out in 5.5 hours)
Top-selling whiskey: our flagship, Lost Lantern American Vatted Malt
Top-selling single cask: Cedar Ridge Iowa Single Malt Finished In A Sherry Cask (still available!)
Top-selling single cask released in 2022: Frey Ranch Four-Grain Nevada Straight Bourbon (sold out)
Runner-up: Breuckelen 8-Year-Old Malted Wheat (sold out)
Highest-Rated Whiskey: Boulder Spirits Colorado Straight Bourbon (98 points, Wine Enthusiast)
Most Award-Winningest Single Cask: Cedar Ridge Iowa Single Malt Finished In A Sherry Cask (Double Gold and Best of Class, San Francisco World Spirits Competition; Double Platinum, Ascot Awards
Most Award-Winningest Whiskey: Lost Lantern American Vatted Malt (Best American Blended Malt, World Whiskies Awards; Best Blended Malt, Ascot Awards)
Best-Reviewed Whiskey: Balcones Texas Single Malt Aged In a Tequila Cask (Breaking Bourbon, 4/5 and one of the Best Finished Whiskies of 2022)
Lost Lantern 2022 Travel Stats
Total # of Distilleries Visited In 2022: 32+
Estate Distilleries Visited (growing 100% of their own grain): 3
Miles Driven: We don’t even want to know
American Airlines AAdvantage miles accrued: more than a quarter million
American Airlines status earned: Platinum Pro (Adam is embarrassed about it)
States where we visited a distillery in 2022: Arizona, Texas, New York, California; Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia; Washington, Louisiana, California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Vermont
States we visited on multiple separate trips in 2022 (not counting just driving through): Florida, Texas, New York, California (four times!), Washington, West Virginia
States where we visited multiple distilleries in 2022: Texas, New York, California, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Washington, Nevada
State we’re most surprised we didn’t visit in 2022: Iowa
Shortest Trip: April, 3 days to California for a whiskey festival and a distillery visit
Longest Trip: mid-April to mid-May, 3.5 week Southern distillery tour
Biggest disappointment: No comment.
Most pleasant surprise: Wouldn’t you like to know!
Whiskey Festivals In 2020 and 2021: 0
Whiskey Festivals In 2022: 7!
States Where We Did Whiskey Festivals: New York, California (four times – three in the Bay Area and one in L.A.), Texas (Austin), Washington
Whiskey Festival Favorite Bottlings (that aren’t already sold out): American Vatted Malt, McCarthy’s 6-year-old Oregon Peated Single Malt, Spirit Works Rye Finished In A Sloe Gin Cask
States Where We Wanted To Do Whiskey Festivals But Couldn’t Pull It Off: Iowa, Illinois, Texas (Houston or Dallas), Arizona (Phoenix)
Lost Lantern 2023 Secret Predictions
If you’ve read this far, we’ve got some predictions about what we ourselves will do in 2023 that we want to share. These may be a little spoiler-y, but we do want to give you all a few clues as to what’s to come!
Odds that we release only single casks this year: 0% (rounded down)
Odds that we release another blend of whiskey from multiple distilleries this year: 75%
Odds that we release multiple blends this year: 50%
# of Distilleries We’ll Release Whiskey From For The First Time: at least 4, probably 7+
# of States We’ll Source From For The First Time: hopefully 3-5, but no promises!
# of Single Cask Cohorts We’ll Release Next Year: probably 3 or 4, barring Covid issues
First 2023 Release: mid-February or March
It’s going to be a really exciting year for us, and we can’t wait to see what new adventures this year brings. We’re so grateful to everyone who supports us, whether you’ve been following along since our road trip or just discovered us recently. Either way, cheers to a Happy New Year and a great year ahead!
-Nora and Adam