The Year Behind: Lost Lantern 2025 Stats
Welcome to the Lost Lantern 2025 year in review! In 2024, I started our review by saying that it was a year of growth for Lost Lantern amidst a challenging year for the spirits industry. For 2025, I’d update with a similar sentiment: this was a year of growth for Lost Lantern amidst a very challenging year for the spirits industry. We have faced some of these challenges too, but still have thrived, thanks to all of you and your belief in our vision for an American independent bottler.
2025 for us featured three key themes:
- The launch of the Lost Lantern Discovery Club, long in the works
- The continued release of tightly themed Collections
- The further expansion of our multi-distillery Blend Series
All of these were extremely important to our year. And the first two, in fact, are closely related to each other. We love releasing collections with themes – it really lets us emphasize what we’re seeing and finding interesting in the world of American whiskey, and we are extremely proud of all three full Collections we released this year, which included innovative finishing techniques, estate distilleries, and a spotlight on American single malt. The downside has been that we didn’t have a way to show off some of the great other whiskies we’ve discovered that don’t fit neatly into one of those themes.
The Discovery Club is our solution for that: a way for us to shine a light on great individual distilleries and whiskies entirely on their own, rather than as part of a larger theme. It has allowed us to highlight some amazing distilleries we’ve wanted to feature for a long time, and we’ve been thrilled by the response.
On the Blend side, this year saw the launch of Far-Flung Bourbon III, and (spoiler alert!) Far-Flung Rye II is right around the corner–we haven’t announced it yet, but you can actually already find it if you know where to look. We also released three limited-edition blends: Farmers’ Fields bourbon and rye, one-off blends of estate-grown whiskies, as well as Shadow & Light, a very smoky blend of peated and mesquite-smoked American single malts.
And most of all, 2025 saw the return of American Vatted Malt, with the long-awaited release of American Vatted Malt Remix. Our largest blend ever, it features 11 distilleries from 8 states and truly captures the world of American single malt in one bottle (we also launched a limited re-release of the original, called Reissue).
It has been a very busy year–a lot of travel, a lot of sourcing, and a lot of blending, much of it for whiskies that haven’t even been released yet. We also grew our team this year, and it’s wonderful to have a growing organization of like-minded whiskey lovers helping us build Lost Lantern.
2026 is going to be an even bigger year for Lost Lantern, and we are so excited for what’s to come. But that’s a story for another day!
Now, onto the stats! See our 2024 Stats post and our five year anniversary stats post for comparison and a broader look!
Lost Lantern Whiskey 2025 End-Of-Year Stats
Number of Collections we released in 2025: 3 tightly themed collections + a five year anniversary drop
Number of single casks we released in 2025: 20 in official Collections + 9 in the Discovery Club + a slew of private casks. This year was definitely a record!
Number of blends we released in 2025: 6, also a record! (Far-Flung Bourbon III, Farmers’ Fields Bourbon, Farmers’ Fields Rye, Shadow & Light, American Vatted Malt Remix, American Vatted Malt Reissue)
Number of Single Distillery Series whiskies we released in 2025: Just 1 as part of a Collection (Opulent Orchard), four as partnerships with individual retailers: Mississippi Mud, Haunted Hazmat, and Mississippi Masterpiece, all from Rich Grain Distilling in Mississippi, and Saratoga Summer II, a bourbon from SanTan in Arizona.
New Distillery Partners in 2025: 12 (vs 10 in 2024)
In Collections: Finger Lakes Distilling in New York; Whiskey Acres in Illinois; Far North Spirits in Minnesota; Warfield in Idaho.
In the Discovery Club: Baltimore Spirits in Maryland; Backwards Distilling in Wyoming; New Holland Distilling in Michigan; Oak & Grist in North Carolina; SanTan in Arizona; Painted Stave in Delaware; St. Augustine in Florida.
Plus: Stonecutter Spirits in Vermont, as a tasting room exclusive.
Distilleries we released whiskies from in 2025 (excluding multi-distillery blends): 25!!!!! (up from 10 last year)
American Finishing Traditions Collection: New York Distilling Co., Watershed, Santa Fe, Starlight, Andalusia, Finger Lakes
Estate Collection: Frey Ranch, Whiskey Acres, Far North, Corbin Cash
Five Year Anniversary Drop: Cedar Ridge, Ironroot, plus NYDC and Santa Fe, already listed above
Scotch Lovers’ Collection: Triple Eight, McCarthy’s, Warfield
Discovery Club: Rich Grain, J. Rieger, Baltimore, Backwards, New Holland, Oak & Grist, SanTan, Painted Stave, St. Augustine
Others: Stonecutter Spirits, Leiper’s Fork (private cask with t8ke), Boulder (private cask with a California retailer)
States we released our first whiskey from in 2025: 9 (up from 8 in 2024, and just 1 in 2023): Minnesota, Idaho, Vermont, Maryland, Wyoming, Michigan, North Carolina, Delaware, and Florida. Many of those are through the Discovery Club.
States Where We’ve Worked With The Most Distilleries: Last year, Texas was the only state with four distillery partners. New York has now caught up! Arizona and Illinois have also joined the “two distillery partners” club, and a whole slew of states have made it onto the map now that we’ve worked with them.
Most notable states we didn’t release whiskey from in 2025: Kentucky and Colorado.
States we’re surprised we haven’t released more whiskey from yet: Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee
States we’re surprised we haven’t released any whiskey from yet: Now that we’ve finally released a Vermont whiskey, this list is much shorter! Montana is probably the most surprising one left.
Oldest whiskey we released in 2025: Triple Eight 11-Year-Old Massachusetts Single Malt Sauternes Aged (oldest whiskey we’ve ever released!)
Youngest whiskey we released in 2025: Andalusia Tequila-Finished Texas Single Malt (3 years old)
Average age of whiskies we released in 2025 (excluding private casks and the Discovery Club): 6.2 years (vs 6.2 in 2024, 4.4 in 2023 and 4.6 in 2022) –
2025 Sales Stats
Fastest-selling single cask: Frey Ranch Wheat Whiskey
Runners-up: Andalusia Tequila-aged Single Malt; Corbin Cash California Rye; Triple Eight 10-Year-Old, Watershed Nocino
Fastest-selling Blend Series: Farmers’ Fields Rye, our fastest Blend Series sell-out by a huge margin!
Biggest Surprise Hits: Farmers’ Fields Rye (thanks to our friends at Breaking Bourbon, who loved it!)
Best Reviewed Whiskies of the Year: Farmers’ Fields Rye, Frey Ranch Wheat Whiskey, Opulent Orchard, McCarthy’s 10 Year Old
Best-Selling Whiskey Not Released in 2025: Gentle Giant (as usual)
Sleeper Single Casks of the Year (aka my favorite single casks that are still available): Warfield Idaho Single Malt and Santa Fe 6 Year Old for single malt lovers, Cedar Ridge Iowa Bourbon and Frey Ranch Rye for everyone else
Whiskies People Are Most Likely To Fall in Love With After Trying Them: Warfield Idaho Single Malt, Shadow & Light, Far North Rye, Starlight Honey
2025 Travel Stats
# of States Where Adam Visited Distilleries In 2025: 17 (including many repeats)
Most Fun Trip: Hawaii (yes, it was a work trip; yes, we both went and also added a week for vacation)
Worst-Timed Trip: Oklahoma and Alabama in mid-July. I think I’m still dehydrated.
# of National Parks and National Monuments Visited: 4-ish
(Hawai’i Volcanoes, Saguaro National Park, Ouachita National Forest, and bonus points for Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh)
# of International Trips: 1, to Scotland for the premiere of Independent Spirits: A Whiskey Series (see header image!)
Lost Lantern 2025 Secret Predictions Revisited
Last year, we made a bunch of predictions for Lost Lantern in 2025. Now, we’re going to revisit them and see what we got right and what we got wrong.
What We Said: Odds that we release more single casks in 2025 than 2024: low in our official Collections, high counting private casks and… other things
Reality: We actually beat out last year just with Collections, not even counting the Discovery Club, which was the “other things” mentioned above.
What We Said: Odds that we release another blend of whiskey from multiple distilleries this year: 100%
Reality: Farmers’ Fields Rye and Bourbon, as well as AVM Remix, were already in the works, so we knew these were coming.
What We Said: Odds that we release multiple blends this year: 95%
Reality: Yes! 2025 was our biggest year for blends ever.
What We Said: Odds that we release more Single Distillery Series releases than last year (1): 90%+
Reality: We actually only did one in an official collection (Opulent Orchard), which is a genuine surprise. We had planned on one for both the Estate and Scotch Lovers’ Collections, and even started blending one of them, but ended up focusing on the Blend Series more instead!
What We Said: # of Distilleries We’ll Release Whiskey From For The First Time in 2025: probably similar to or slightly higher than 2024 (which was 10).
Reality: 12, so it was in fact slightly higher – mostly due to the Discovery Club.
What We Said: # of States We’ll Source From For The First Time: 5-10
Reality: It was 9, again thanks to the Discovery Club. I think the most surprising ‘gets’ were Wyoming, Idaho, and Delaware!
What We Said: State We’ll Release The Most Whiskey From in 2025: Probably New York or Mississippi
Reality: New York (Opulent Orchard, NYDC Apple Brandy Finish single cask, Finger Lakes Distilling Pommeau Finish), unless you count private casks/blends, in which case it’s tied with Mississippi (all Rich Grain Distilling)
# of Cohorts We’ll Release This Year: Three! But those are not the only whiskies we’ll be releasing.
Reality: Accurate, since the 5 year anniversary release didn’t count as a full collection.
# of Private Casks We’ll Release This Year: A bunch! Email [email protected] if you’re interested.
Reality: We indeed did do a bunch! Several retailers and clubs around the country did private casks with us this year, ranging from custom blends to single casks of Backwards, Boulder, New Holland, and more. The email address still works too :)
Odds That We Do A Tasting Room Exclusive Release This Year: 37.5%
Reality: This did end up happening, with our first-ever Vermont release!
First 2025 Collection Release: March!
Reality: Well, I already knew this, so this was more of a clue than a prediction.
Lost Lantern 2026 Secret Predictions
And now onto the secret predictions for this year, which, as with the ones above, are sometimes more “teases” than actual predictions. Scour these for clues, and perhaps clues you shall find.
Odds that we release more single casks in 2026 than 2025: basically 0%. We did a lot of single casks this year.
Odds that we release another blend of whiskey from multiple distilleries this year: 100% (rounded down)
Odds that we release multiple blends this year: 100%
Odds that we release more Single Distillery Series releases than last year (1): 90%+ (but maybe I’ll be wrong again)
# of Distilleries We’ll Release Whiskey From For The First Time in 2026: probably similar to this year (12), thanks to the Discovery Club, although that won’t always be from new distilleries
# of States We’ll Source From For The First Time: At least 3 or 4, which is less than this year
State We’ll Release The Most Whiskey From in 2025: I know the answer to this, but can’t say.
# of Cohorts We’ll Release This Year: Three, although one of them will be a little different.
# of Private Casks We’ll Release This Year: A bunch! Email [email protected] if you’re interested.
Odds That We Do Another Tasting Room Exclusive Release This Year: 70%
First 2026 Collection Release: March!
Biggest 2026 Release: The Summer Collection. Just you wait.