Twenty-four days to Christmas, and there's still snow on the peaks out west, while in the rickhouses around Bardstown and Lawrenceburg the oak has been doing its quiet work all year. Twenty-four doors, twenty-four stories – from bourbon houses with roots back to nineteenth-century Kentucky to rye whiskeys with a bit more bite and pepper. This calendar is a journey through the American whiskey landscape, one dram at a time, all through December.
Expert's Description
Bourbon & Rye Whiskey Advent Calendar filled with 24 x 2cl is a bourbon and rye whiskey advent calendar with 24 different American whiskeys from the Danish spirits house Mac Y, in miniature bottles at 2cl each and bottled at an average of 51.38%.
Behind the doors sits a wide cross-section of the American whiskey landscape. Blanton's Original and Blanton's Gold Edition come from the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky – a house Mac Y has imported from since 2004. David Nicholson 1843 and David Nicholson Reserve trace back to a recipe said to have been created in the back room of a St. Louis grocery store in 1843. Ezra Brooks appears in no fewer than five expressions, including a port-cask-finished 99 Bourbon Port Finish and an Old 7 Year Straight Rye that Mac Y has had bottled as their own Signature edition. Minor Case contributes a sherry-cask-finished rye, and Penelope – founded in 2018 by Mike Paladini and Danny Polise and named after Paladini's daughter – appears in four expressions, all four bottled as exclusive Julekalender 2026 editions found nowhere else. Rebel brings both classic Kentucky style and wine-cask finishes in cabernet sauvignon and sherry oloroso, while the Rossville family spans a bottled-in-bond Straight Rye at six years and 100 proof up to a 7-year Union expression that tops the whole calendar at 117 proof. Yellowstone, a name dating back to 1872 and produced today at Limestone Branch Distillery in Lebanon, Kentucky – founded by brothers Paul and Steve Beam, descendants of the old Dant whiskey family – rounds things off with a rum-cask-finished expression at 100 proof, a Select and a Single Malt. Ezra Brooks, Rebel, David Nicholson, Yellowstone, Rossville and, since 2023, Penelope too all sit under the same roof, MGP/Luxco, so without it ever appearing on a label, a large part of the calendar's 24 doors are related to each other.
Mac Y itself started as a hobby in 1995/96 in Frederiks near Viborg, when brothers Søren and Jens Nørgaard, together with Kjeld Bitch, founded the company. Their first warehouse was an approved, tax-monitored space fitted out in an old bathroom, and the first two pallets of Deerstalker blended whisky were driven out to local retailers by hand on a startup budget of 30,000 kroner. Today the warehouse covers 3,000 square metres, and Mac Y is also behind the Danish Rum & Whisky Festival, held every November.
Tasting Notes
Nose
The calendar's 24 bottles make very different first impressions. Some open soft, with caramel, vanilla and ripe grain, while others – especially the Rossville family's rye expressions and Ezra Brooks' Straight Rye – send up a dry, peppery spice, and the higher the proof, the more oak comes through in the nose. The wine-cask finishes from Rebel and Ezra Brooks add a layer of dark fruit and gentle sweetness on top.
Palate
On the palate the spread continues: soft, wheat-forward expressions like Penelope Wheated and David Nicholson 1843 sit in contrast to the more powerful bottles, where Rossville Union 7YO at 117 proof and Penelope Barrel Strength bring more oak spice, tobacco and dark caramel.
Finish
Short and light on the milder bourbons, longer and more peppery on the rye expressions from Rossville and Ezra Brooks – and on the wine-cask finishes, a last hint of red wine or sherry often lingers.
Specifications
Name: Bourbon & Rye Whiskey Advent Calendar filled with 24 x 2cl
Bottler: Mac Y
Region/Country: USA
Type: Bourbon & Rye Whiskey Advent Calendar
ABV: 51.38%
Size: 48 CL (24 x 2cl)
Flavour Profile
Versatile · American · Spiced · Sweet · Oak-driven
Did You Know?
The name Mac Y came about when the founders were sitting out on the Jutland heath playing with words from a well-known song – they combined a Scottish-sounding syllable with the letter Y, and that's how one of Denmark's major whisky and rum houses got its name.
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