Every year, bourbon and whiskey collectors start paying closer attention to what’s coming out of Michter’s. And every year, the Louisville-based distillery finds a way to make things interesting. The 2026 editions of Shenk’s Homestead Kentucky Sour Mash Whiskey and Bomberger’s Declaration Kentucky Straight Bourbon are now hitting shelves in limited quantities, and if history is any indicator, they won’t stick around long.
These aren’t just annual releases dressed up with new labels. They’re part of what Michter’s calls its Legacy Series — a line that carries more historical weight than most people realize when they pick up a bottle.
A Story That Goes Back to 1753
To understand why the Legacy Series matters, you have to go back to colonial Pennsylvania. In 1753, a Swiss Mennonite farmer named John Shenk founded Shenk’s Distillery in Pennsylvania, making it one of the oldest documented distillery operations in American history. Over the following century, the operation changed hands and was eventually renamed Bomberger’s Distillery in the 1800s. It wouldn’t carry the Michter’s name until the mid-20th century.
The distillery ultimately closed its doors in 1990. What happened next is one of the more unusual comeback stories in American whiskey history. Joe Magliocco, who was running his family’s import business called Chatham Imports, purchased the Michter’s brand name in 1997 — for just $245. He began contract distilling for the brand in the early 2000s, and by 2014 had launched the third chapter of the brand’s story, opening a distillery in Shively, just outside of Louisville, where Michter’s now produces its own whiskey…