The Archive Collection

Five mythic whiskies, built with some of the most respected names in American whiskey and spirits. A single unrepeatable collection, shared with the world for the very first time.

Claim Your Set Explore the Collection

  • 5 Rare Blends
  • One Complete Set

“If you really enjoy something, it’s meant to be shared. We’re opening our founder’s vault to true whiskey lovers so you can do the same.”

Roy Milner Head Blender Art of Alchemy
the Collection

Rare enough to collect. Crafted to share.

In the Fall of 2018, Roy Milner was part of a small team of visionaries creating a batch of exceptional rye whiskey barrels at a revived icon of Kentucky distilling. Those barrels were destined for a new brand celebrating a rich tradition of quality and innovation — and when circumstances changed, those barrels would go on to be acquired by global companies, and their origins lost.

Before that happened, Roy and a Hall of Fame Master Distiller selected the best barrel lots from the most prized locations in the historic rickhouses. Those barrels became the foundation and working stock for Art of Alchemy Spirits. So for the first time ever, we’re sharing all five exceptional bottles as a single set, including three that the world has never seen.

Great whiskey deserves a great story, and great stories deserve to be shared.

Claim Your Set What’s Included

the Five Blends

No. 1 Blend

  • 110 Proof
  • 14 Barrels

Origin Kentucky / J.W. Rutledge & Bardstown Bourbon Company

Reserve

In 2018, an unnamed legendary distiller made the very first rye of his career, using a family yeast strain he had been holding onto for decades. We were lucky enough to get our hands on them, and our head blender combined them with a 6-year rye and an 8-year bourbon at Bardstown Bourbon Company alongside Steve Nally, who spent 45 years at Maker’s Mark. Released at 110 proof after a blind session where seven of eight tasters agreed. Platinum award-winning, Double Gold, and Best in Show.

Aroma
Dried cherry, cracked black pepper, toasted oak, faint vanilla cream on the back end.
Palate
Bold rye spice up front, yielding to caramel and dark fruit mid-palate. Long and warming.
Finish
Long, spiced, with lingering oak tannins and a whisper of dark chocolate.
Pairing
Aged gouda, charcuterie, dark chocolate with sea salt.
Meet the Maker

Roy Milner Head Blender

Roy Milner grew up in the shadow of Lynchburg and spent over a decade at Blackberry Farm, where he launched one of the most celebrated farm breweries in the country. For 30+ years, he’s been producing some of the world’s most celebrated (and decorated) spirits, and showing the world that the best things we make are meant to be shared, not turned into museums.

Art of Alchemy was built on relationships and collaborations with the most legendary makers in whiskey, spirits, wine, and beer. These aren’t endorsements, they’re stories to discover and share. That’s how the whiskey got made: with curiosity and craftsmanship.

Meet Roy Milner

Where The Collection Comes From

Georgia

Tucked into North Georgia, Ivy Mountain Distillery made a rare four-grain bourbon in Georgia: corn, rye, wheat, and barley. The founder passed away before anyone knew what they had. Dan Calloway at Bardstown tracked the barrels down, and we rescued them from obscurity.

Tennessee

Tennessee bourbon is often underestimated, but it brings a warmth and sweetness that softens the rye’s edge without dulling it. It’s the note in the glass you can’t quite name but wouldn’t want to lose.

Kentucky

One of whiskey's most legendary master distillers went his whole career without ever making a rye. When he finally did, he used a family yeast strain he’d held onto for decades. That rye is the backbone of this collection.

California (Paso Robles)

Desperada & Herman Story vineyards are making some of the finest, boldest, most opulent wines in the U.S. Blends No. 4 and No. 5 exist because two winemakers, Vailia From and Russell From, said yes to an alchemy they’d never created before: age whiskey for 18 months in seasoned wine casks and see what it produces.

Cocktail Recipes

The Backdrop

Spirit-forward, silky and layered. Coffee and baking spice arrive first, followed by earthy herbal bitterness, with the high-rye whiskey providing spice, structure, and a long finish.

Featured Blend Blend No. 3Coupe Glass

Ingredients

  • 1½ oz Art of Alchemy 5-Year Straight Kentucky Rye
  • ½ oz Amargo Vallet Amaro
  • ½ oz coffee liqueur
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • Cocktail cherry

Method

Chill a coupe glass. Add the rye, Amargo Vallet, coffee liqueur, and Angostura to a mixing glass. Fill with ice. Stir smoothly until properly chilled and lightly diluted. Strain into the chilled coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.

Bird Rights

Bright, funky and tropical while still retaining the rye character. Lime brings acidity, coconut rounds the edges, chocolate adds depth, and the overproof Jamaican rum adds a wild aromatic quality alongside the spice of the rye.

Featured Blend Blend No. 3Tom Collins Glass

Ingredients

  • 1¼ oz Art of Alchemy 5-Year Straight Kentucky Rye
  • ¾ oz Smith & Cross Jamaican Rum
  • ¾ oz fresh lime juice
  • ½ oz coconut syrup
  • 2 dashes chocolate bitters
  • Pebble ice

Method

Add the rye, Jamaican rum, lime juice, coconut syrup, and chocolate bitters to a shaker. Add a generous scoop of pebble ice. Shake briefly to chill and integrate. Open-pour the entire drink, including the ice, into a Tom Collins glass. Top generously with fresh pebble ice. Serve with a straw.

New York Sour

Bright and refreshing at its foundation, with rye spice, citrus, and sweetness giving way to dark fruit and richness from the Malbec. The wine float creates both visual drama and a flavor that evolves as the layers begin to integrate.

Featured Blend Blend No. 3Rocks Glass

Ingredients

  • 1½ oz Art of Alchemy 5-Year Straight Kentucky Rye
  • ¾ oz fresh lemon juice
  • ½ oz rich simple syrup (2:1)
  • ½ oz Argentinian Malbec (float)
  • Large ice cube

Method

Add the rye, lemon juice, and rich simple syrup to a shaker. Fill with ice. Shake until thoroughly chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over one large cube. Slowly pour the red wine over the back of a spoon so it floats across the surface. Serve with the wine layer intact.

The Backdrop served up in a coupe, deep red and garnished with a cocktail cherry, beside a bottle of Art of Alchemy 5-Year Straight Kentucky Rye. Bird Rights being finished in a Tom Collins glass packed with pebble ice, a broad green leaf set into the top, beside a bottle of Art of Alchemy 5-Year Straight Kentucky Rye. A New York Sour in a rocks glass, red Malbec being poured from a jigger to float in a band across the pale citrus base.
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