Lost Lantern releases first bourbon blend from all 50 states

Lost Lantern Whiskey has turned a yearslong search for casks into United States of Bourbon, a blend the company says is the first straight bourbon assembled from all 50 states and the widest-ranging American whiskey ever made. Each state is represented by a single distillery named on the back label, and the blend was built from casks hand-selected during five years of distillery visits and vetting.

The timing matters. Lost Lantern says some of the bourbon in the blend only recently reached the two-year aging mark required for straight whiskey, which means the bottle could not have existed earlier. That shift reflects how quickly craft distilling has spread across the country, giving the company enough mature stock to attempt a project that stretches from coast to coast. The company is based in Vergennes, Vermont.

Cofounders Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski said the project grew out of an eight-month road trip in 2018 and 2019 that took them to more than 100 distilleries across the United States. Their approach follows the Scottish independent bottling tradition, in which a bottler curates spirits from multiple distilleries rather than producing everything in-house. Lost Lantern is offering United States of Bourbon in both cask-strength and 100-proof versions. The 100-proof release is Batch 1, carries a two-year age statement, and was produced in 6,780 bottles.

The company has also made a limited 1776 Edition from bourbon drawn from just the first 13 states. That package places the whiskey squarely inside the broader rush to turn America’s 250th birthday into a consumer story as well as a civic one. July 4, 2026 will mark the semiquincentennial, 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and official and commercial campaigns are already shaping how that milestone is sold and remembered.

America250 and the U.S. Department of Transportation are promoting The Great American Road Trip, a nationwide effort to encourage travel across all 50 states, launched by Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. State and territory commissions are planning events nationwide in 2026, while bourbon brands are rolling out America250-themed releases tied to public events and charitable causes. In that crowded field, Lost Lantern’s bottle is more than a drink: it is part tribute, part branding exercise, and part bid to define what national identity looks like on a shelf.