Ohio whiskey hunters have a new chase bottle, or rather five of them. Columbus distillery High Bank Distillery Co. teamed up with Ohio Liquor (OHLQ) for the Whiskey War Mission Series, five single barrel picks sold only in Ohio, and they landed in select OHLQ stores the week of October 5.
The series celebrates Ohio as the birthplace of aviation, and every bottle wears it. Each barrel carries the name of a legendary figure, Chronos I, Odin II, Freya III, Ares IV, and Helios V, with custom space inspired label art and a rocket on every label. All five are bottled at cask strength, between 116 and 120 proof, and all five are single barrels. When a barrel sells through, that bottle is gone.
High Bank is not a random pick for a series like this. The Columbus distillery, founded in 2017, won Best Blended Whiskey in America at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition three years running, in 2021, 2022, and 2023, for the same Whiskey War line these barrels come from.
The five barrels
Chronos I, Whiskey War Double Double Oaked, 116.92 proof. The label calls it chocolate cherry vanilla cola. The distillery’s tasting notes lead with cherry, root beer, vanilla, nutmeg, and cola, with chocolate fudge and a peppercorn finish. The Double Double Oaked treatment means the barrel proof whiskey was aged a second and third time in new oak barrels.
Odin II, Whiskey War Double Double Oaked, 117.90 proof. The label shorthand is chocolate espresso chai. Expect clove, chai, cinnamon, and mint on the nose, then espresso, pepper, nutmeg, leather, and orange. The warmer, spicier of the two Double Double Oaked picks.
Freya III, Whiskey War Barrel Select, 119.30 proof. The most experimental finish of the five: a cask strength blend finished for four months in Pedro Ximenez, Oloroso, and Armagnac casks. The label promises grape, buttered croissant, and toasted almond, and the notes add puff pastry, cranberry, brown sugar, and sea salt.
Ares IV, Whiskey War Barrel Select, 120.22 proof. The strongest bottle in the series. High Bank’s signature Double Oaked whiskey spent 14 more months in an Oloroso sherry cask. The label calls it grape, leather, and caramel, with salted caramel, apple pastry, and blackcurrant in the distillery’s notes.
Helios V, Whiskey War Barrel Select, 118.26 proof. High Bank’s Cigar Cask whiskey aged five more months in a Cognac cask. The label reads apple, cinnamon, and mango, and the notes run to cedar, fig, shea butter, and a short tobacco finish.
Price and how to find one
OHLQ has not published a price list for the Mission Series. For a yardstick, last year’s High Bank single barrel series for OHLQ, the Traveler’s Series, priced its Double Oaked bottle at $74.99 and its Double Double Oaked at $104.99, plus tax. Expect the Mission Series to live in that same neighborhood rather than at the $38.99 shelf price of the standard Whiskey War bottle.
The practical advice is the same as with every OHLQ exclusive: check the inventory search on OHLQ.com for Whiskey War single barrels and call before you drive, because deliveries land store by store and stock is thin by design. These are Ohio only. No other state gets them, and there is no second run of a single barrel.
“The Mission Series represents everything we love about single barrel whiskey: discovery, individuality, and the excitement of finding something truly special,” High Bank co-founder and master distiller Adam Hines said at the release. “We carefully selected five barrels with the OHLQ team, then paired each with a story that captures its character.”
If limited Ohio bottles are your thing, we also broke down Costco’s Whiskey Tour of America box, the limited set that keeps selling out at Ohio warehouses. The Mission Series is the local distillery answer to the same hunt, and it is already three weeks into store shelves, so the hunt is very much on.
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