What we’re drinking: 2XO Oak Series (American Oak, French Oak, White Oak Rye)
Where they’re from: 2XO (“Two Times Oak”) is the work of American whiskey blender Dixon Dedman. The brand takes its name from the blending process, where every release has “additional oak exposure.”
Why we’re drinking these: This is the first 2XO rye release from Dedman, who is best known for his work with Kentucky Owl, a brand started by his great-great-grandfather and relaunched by Dixon in 2014. It’s also the third in a series that has done particularly well at the recent awards circuit, with American Oak Bourbon grabbing a Double Gold at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Plus, they hover around $50, making them affordable whiskeys that are cost-effective for cocktails but also elevated enough for sipping.
To give this new rye that additional oak exposure, Dixon inserts chains of charred American white oak into straight rye whiskey barrels with a 95% rye mash bill.
“The biggest way I found to be impactful and interesting on whiskey was double barreling,” he says. “I doubled down on the maturation component, using this big inventory of barrels with different profiles, and then created one-off blends with them.”
With 2XO, he uses a variation on staves in place of a second barrel. “It’s actually these stainless steel chains, and threaded on them are little cup pieces of the staves,” he adds. “It looks like an eight-foot-long string of charcoal briquettes.”
One advantage of that process is the eventual price of the bottle. The “chains” that go into the barrels for around a year offer a similar surface area as the interior of a new barrel, at about 20% of the cost.
14 Exceptional Barrel-Finished Rye Whiskeys
An additional barrel maturation can radically alter and improve some already stellar ryesThere are three whiskeys in the series so far, with the White Oak Rye being the most recent. Let’s check ‘em out.
How they taste: Each release in the Oak Series comes in at 46% ABV. Overall, these are ideal for rye fans who also love a barrel influence (that isn’t a cask that previously held another spirit).
- White Oak Rye: Featuring a 95% rye mash bill, the nose is full of toasted rye, dill and a little brown sugar. Some oak spice appears on the palate, along with eucalyptus, dark cherry, caramel and a peppery spice. It’s a fun blend of herbaceousness and sweetness.
- American Oak Bourbon: Featuring chains of charred American oak placed into barrels with a moderate rye bourbon mash bill of 18%, this is still surprisingly rye-forward on both the nose and the palate, offering hints of toffee, coffee beans, toasted rye and cinnamon.
- French Oak Bourbon: Here, chains of charred French oak are put into barrels with a rye bourbon mash bill of 18%. The rye notes are tempered here. There’s still a little peppery spice but also hints of cedar, vanilla, butterscotch and baking spices.
Fun fact: My favorite of the more limited (and expensive) 2XO releases is Vinyl Blend, a 104-proof bourbon that has a surprising tropical fruit/grilled pineapple note (I had it paired with sushi, and it was an unexpectedly cool combination).
Where to buy: 2XO White Oak Rye has limited availability at launch (FL, IL, IN, KY, MN, NC, NE, WI) and will expand to more states in 2026. You can also buy it online at ReserveBar.com for $50. The other Oak Series bottles are available there as well.
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