Lost Lantern Summer 2025 Collection: Why Estate Distilleries?

The Lost Lantern Summer 2025 Collection, launching June 25th, celebrates the emergence of a truly new phenomenon in American whiskey: the estate distillery, a distillery that makes whiskey from grain grown entirely on their own land. While estate wineries are revered in the wine world, estate distilleries were almost unheard of until recently, and there are still, out of the 3,000+ distilleries in the United States, just a handful of true estate distilleries. So… why exactly are we exploring estate distilleries, and devoting an entire collection to the concept?

Estate distilleries make whiskies that offer a true sense of place, shaped entirely by the land, the climate, and the people who tend both. We have been excited by estate distilleries for years, and in fact two of the four distilleries in the Collection are already regular Lost Lantern partners: Frey Ranch, an estate distillery and large grain farm in northern Nevada, and Corbin Cash, an estate distillery and sweet potato farm in California’s Central Valley. The Collection also features two new Lost Lantern distillery partners: Whiskey Acres Distilling Co. in Illinois (surprisingly close to Chicago for how large of a farm it is), and Far North Spirits in the far northern reaches of Minnesota. 

All four of these distilleries make whiskey entirely from grain they grew themselves on their own farms. There are very, very few distilleries that do this, and for good reason: first of all, it requires having a farm. And being good at growing high-quality grain on it. And growing enough of that grain to make a decent amount of whiskey. And being patient enough to let that whiskey age for years.

It’s not easy, and it’s not cheap. Estate distilleries are ambitious, long-term ventures. And no doubt that’s why all four of the distilleries we feature in the Estate Collection also have numerous similarities in their outlook and approach. 

This is not true for every American estate distillery, but all four that we feature in the Estate Collection were farms first. Indeed, all four farms have family roots dating back more than a century. That’s quite a long-term outlook!

Of course, craft distilling itself is much newer than that. Although the farms are old, the distilleries are all new additions in the 21st century, a way to branch out beyond the old paradigm of simply selling grain to the commodity markets and to produce something directly themselves. 

All of the estate distilleries in the Collection share a commitment to making whiskey that reflects their land and climate. They all have an earnest desire to make their whiskey better year after year while exploring what makes each of their climates unique. One of them, Far North, has been a champion in scientific research into the flavors of heirloom rye. Another, Whiskey Acres, uses the kind of state-of-the-art technology that only large-scale modern farms can access to track microclimates and growing conditions through every corner of their fields. And all four of them have learned to work their land, in their unique climate, in a way that has proved sustainable for over a century.

 

The Flavor of Estate Whiskies

All the whiskies in the Lost Lantern Summer 2025 Collection reflect the ethos behind estate distilling. In that sense, they have a great deal in common: all are made with very high-quality grain, many from named varietals or heirloom strains with particular flavor characteristics. That means all of them taste more like grain than many other whiskies do. 

It used to be said throughout the whiskey industry that 90% of a whiskey’s flavor came from the barrel. And that may sometimes be true – especially if you are using mass-market, cheap commodity grain that does not itself have much flavor. But it’s not true when you put as much care into growing the grain as you do into making the whiskey. Estate whiskies still all get flavor from the barrel, but they also get a lot from the grain, far more than 10%!

But at the same time, estate whiskies don’t just reflect the grain itself. They also reflect the climate where they’re aged (as almost all whiskies do). And that’s where, despite their philosophical similarities, the whiskies in the Estate Collection diverge wildly. 

The hot, dry Central Valley of California, one of the breadbaskets of the world. The high and dry desert of northern Nevada (although it is less hot and less dry than you would think). The heart of Midwestern corn country in Western Illinois. The intensely fertile black soil of the Red River Valley, contrasted with the short growing season and intense winter cold of far northern Minnesota. 

For well over a century, farms in places like this have been growing our food. Now they’re growing our whiskey too.

 

The Lost Lantern Estate Collection

The Lost Lantern Estate Collection, launching June 25th, contains two limited-edition multi-distillery blends and six single casks. 

The two blends–Farmers’ Fields Bourbon and Farmers’ Fields Rye – showcase what brings these estate distilleries together, and what they share in common. These are whiskies that are truly born of the land.   

 

Here are the single casks:

If the Blend Series releases emphasize continuity, the single casks showcase the differences that climate makes. Each of these whiskies individually captures a sense of place in the most pure way that a whiskey could. Each was made from grain grown on its distillery’s farm, was distilled there, and aged in that unique climate. 

Together, these whiskies show the dynamism of this new type of distillery.

We hope you will take a chance to explore the world of estate distilleries. The Lost Lantern Estate Collection launches June 25th!