Watershed Distillery in Columbus has put the first bottle of its 2026 Fall Finishing Series on Ohio shelves, and almost nobody has written about it yet.
The bottle is the Watershed Fall Finishing Series 2026, Port Wine Casks, Batch 003: a five-year-old, barrel strength bourbon finished in ruby Port wine barrels from Pedroncelli Winery. It comes off the bottle at 118.4 proof. The barrels traveled before the bourbon ever went in, with cooperage work from Tonnellerie Vernou in Cognac, France, and Canton in Kentucky.
It sells for $79.99 plus tax, and it is an Ohio release: available now at select OHLQ locations, per the distillery. Watershed calls it the first release in the 2026 Fall Finishing Series, which means more finishes are expected behind it this fall.
Watershed’s tasting notes run deep garnet in the glass, with spiced plum and mulled wine on the aroma, then bing cherry and toasted caramel, and a finish of caramel, charred oak and red wine tannin. The fuller notes add caramel covered pistachios, toasted rye bread, clove and mint up front, and sweet vanilla turning into dark cherry on the palate.
The bottle already has one credential: the Port Casks edition took a Gold medal at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The Fall Finishing Series is an annual Watershed run, and each finish is a limited batch. Batch 003 is this year’s Port, it follows a 2025 edition the distillery calls a sell-out, and once the select OHLQ stores sell through their allotment there is no second run of the same batch.
If you go looking, ask for it by the full name, Watershed Fall Finishing Series Port, Batch 003, because the series runs several finishes and the shelf can hold more than one Watershed bottle at a time.
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