Nine Kentucky bourbon professionals selected the inaugural blend from 30 barrels, with a $49.99 release that puts collaboration and conversation at the center of the bottle.
New Era Whiskey is taking a different approach to its next bourbon venture. The Lexington, Kentucky-based company has announced Marquee Exclusive, a new small-batch bourbon brand built around a rotating cast of whiskey professionals and enthusiasts who will work together to select and compose each release.
The inaugural Marquee Exclusive Small Batch Bourbon brings together nine Kentucky bourbon personalities who tasted 30 barrels ranging from five to nine years old. The final blend combines 11 barrels, seven different mash bills, and a suggested retail price of $49.99 for a 750ml bottle.
The idea is straightforward: bring different palates, perspectives, and professional experiences into the blending process, then let the group build something together.
A Different Kind of Guest Blender Program
Guest blending isn’t new to American whiskey. Brands have increasingly invited bartenders, industry professionals, whiskey media, and enthusiasts to help shape individual releases. What makes Marquee Exclusive worth watching is the plan to turn that approach into a recurring brand identity.
For its inaugural release, New Era assembled nine participants and divided them into three teams. Each team tasted through the available samples and developed its preferred blend. The teams then voted on the three finalists to determine which would become the first Marquee Bourbon release.
The selection committee included Edward Callico of Bourbon Brotherhood; Felicia Chism of the Kentucky Black Bourbon Guild; Maggie Kimberl, content editor at American Whiskey Magazine and a spirits judge; Himanshu Mallick, general manager and bourbon barrel pick specialist at The Pour House; Kenny Mills of The Mash Up Bourbon Podcast; Chris Rose of Lexington Bourbon Society; Mark Rucker of The Bourbon Life Podcast; Tom Wilburn, creative bar lead at Watch Hill Proper; and Brad Williams, senior category manager at Liquor Barn.
That mix matters. Retail buyers, bartenders, media personalities, whiskey society members, and other industry voices approach bourbon from different angles. Putting those perspectives in the same room creates an opportunity for a blend that might not emerge from a single blender working alone.
According to Maggie Kimberl, the group worked in a roundtable-style session, splitting into teams to create blends before voting on the final selection. She described the experience as an enjoyable new chapter for New Era.
Future Marquee Exclusive releases are expected to feature new participants, with New Era planning to bring in bourbon tastemakers from across the country.
“Putting those perspectives in the same room creates an opportunity for a blend that might not emerge from a single blender working alone.”
What We Know About the First Marquee Bourbon
The inaugural release draws from 11 Kentucky bourbon barrels aged between five and nine years. Those barrels represent seven mash bills, giving the selection team a broad range of whiskey to work with when composing the final blend.
The result is positioned as a more approachable alternative to New Era’s existing cask-strength single-barrel offerings. Founder Zane Brammell said he recognizes that not every drinker or occasion calls for a high-proof, higher-priced bottle. Marquee is intended to offer another option for cocktails, social gatherings, and everyday pours.
The suggested retail price is $49.99, and the release is available through the New Era Whiskey Distillery in Lexington and online, with distribution to select Kentucky retailers planned.
Marquee also takes a different visual direction. Rather than relying on traditional heritage cues, the brand uses colorful, varied label artwork intended to give each bottle its own character and spark conversation.
The concept extends beyond the whiskey itself: every release is supposed to reflect the people who helped create it, from the arguments over barrel selection to the final group decision.
Why This Matters
The most interesting part of Marquee Exclusive isn’t simply that nine people helped blend a bourbon. It’s that New Era appears to be building a brand around the process of bringing different people together to do it.
We’ve seen guest blenders bring fresh perspectives to individual releases, giving whiskey drinkers a chance to explore a familiar producer through someone else’s palate. Marquee has the potential to make that process more regular, with a changing cast of contributors helping define the character of each batch.
That creates an opportunity for more than variety in the glass. Each release can introduce new voices to consumers, create a reason to follow the brand from one batch to the next, and give the people involved a personal connection to the finished bottle.
It also offers a compelling way to build a brand without leaning entirely on centuries of history or a single recognizable personality. The story becomes the collaboration itself.
There are still questions worth watching. Will the changing panels produce genuinely distinctive blends? Will consumers care who participated in each release? And can the group approach deliver consistency in quality while allowing every batch to have its own identity?
Those answers will depend on the whiskey and the execution over time. A compelling concept can earn attention, but the liquid still has to deliver.
Bourbon Bishop Bottom Line:
I’m genuinely interested in what New Era is building with Marquee Exclusive. The rotating-panel approach takes the guest-blender idea and gives it room to become something more consistent, with different voices and palates helping shape a continuing series of releases rather than a one-off collaboration.
There are some interesting parallels with other collaborative blending projects, including guest-blender releases from Onyx & Amber and recent blending events from Dream Spirits. The distinction here is the intention to make a changing group of contributors a regular part of the brand’s identity. That could give Marquee a reason to keep people engaged beyond the novelty of its first bottle.
The $49.99 price point also puts the concept within reach of more drinkers than many premium, limited-production collaborations. And with 11 barrels, seven mash bills, and nine contributors behind the inaugural release, there’s plenty of room for an interesting story. Whether that translates into an equally interesting bourbon is something a press release can’t tell us.
I haven’t tasted the inaugural Marquee Bourbon, so I’m not ready to weigh in on the blend itself. But I’m rooting for the idea. Whiskey benefits when more people get a seat at the table, especially when the goal is to bring different perspectives together in pursuit of a better bottle.
If New Era can make that process repeatable without letting the story overshadow the whiskey, Marquee Exclusive could become a brand worth following.
For more information: Visit Marquee Bourbon.
About New Era
“Make your own headlines…”
– New Era
Founded in 2024 by barrel pickers Zane Brammell and Matt Hobbs, New Era grew out of grassroots enthusiasm — built by the same community it now serves. Starting as an NDP with a sharp eye for standout barrels, the brand quickly gained traction for high-impact releases and a cask strength single barrel program focused on individuality and balance.
The ethos is simple: honor tradition, push forward. There’s a clear reverence for classic Kentucky bourbon-making, paired with a willingness to experiment, iterate, and build something modern. That extends beyond the whiskey itself — New Era leans heavily into storytelling and connection, positioning each release as part of a larger, evolving narrative.
Their Social Club reinforces that idea, offering members deeper access to bottles, picks, and a growing community — but at its core, the brand is about shared experience as much as the liquid.
Related Articles
Pursuit Spirits wins North America’s Leading Bourbon Distillery Tour 2026 for The Whole Shebang, a hands-on whiskey experience on Louisville’s Whiskey Row.
Lofted Spirits names Nick Smith Master Distiller, succeeding Steve Nally as Bardstown Bourbon Company celebrates its millionth barrel.
Virginia Distillery Co. expands The Brewer’s Coalition with two limited American Single Malts finished in Black Tuesday stout and Straight Jacket barleywine casks.
Pursuit Spirits launches XS Double Oak Rye, a 126.2-proof, 720-bottle release finished for 20 months in custom Seguin Moreau oak barrels.
Copper & Cask launches “X,” a 10-year barrel proof Bourbon and its first permanent release, alongside two new 9-year Small Batch expressions.
Shortbarrel Cigar Batch #4 blends mature American whiskey finished in 50+ casks, including Armagnac, Cognac, rum, Port and Sherry.