Cathead Distillery has never shied away from wearing its Mississippi roots on its sleeve, but its latest trio of bourbons sounds like a love letter to the blues pressed straight into the glass.
The Jackson-based producer is introducing the latest chapter in its Old Soul Bourbon Tintype series: Tintype #3 “Kenny Brown,” an 11-year-old, cask-strength whiskey built around a rye-heavy mash bill and named for one of the North Mississippi Hill Country’s most distinctive guitar voices. Set with refreshed 2025 editions of Tintype #1 “Captain Luke” and Tintype #2 “Herman Hitson,” the release expands a series that features the bottles like liner notes to South’s musical back catalog.
Launched in 2021, the Tintype concept was simple but clear: pair carefully selected, limited-edition bourbons with the stories of under-sung blues artists, and funnel some of the proceeds back into the cultural ecosystem that nurtured them. Each year, the label highlights musicians associated with Mississippi and the broader Southern sound, while supporting organizations like Cathead Music Makers and Hill Country Picnic that document, stage, and maintain those traditions.
Tintype #3 stands out from the lineup in all the right ways. 11 years old and bottled unoaked at 103.5 proof, it relies on a mash bill of 60 percent corn, 36 percent rye, and 4 percent malted barley, introducing a spicy backbone that sets it apart from its predecessors. Long rests in the heat and humidity of Mississippi push the whiskey into cozy-sweet territory: think banana bread, buttery crust, toasted pecans and baking spices, with the rough-hewn swagger of the Hill Country humming beneath.
The returning bottles set the rest of the set apart. Tintype #1 “Captain Luke” – named for the late bluesman Captain Luke Mayer – returns for its fifth annual appearance, riding the momentum of a double platinum and Best Bourbon performance at the 2025 ASCOT Awards. 75/21/4 Built on a corn-to-rye-to-malted-barley recipe and released at a strong 121.8 proof, it leans into its campfire personality: charred oak, toasted marshmallow, caramel popcorn, and a lingering, smoky sweetness, wrapped in imagery taken from photographer Timothy Duffy’s eponymous paintings.
Tintype #2 “Herman Hitsen” has reached its third edition and remains an icon of the series, a living legend. Hitson’s heritage in Southern soul and R&B comes through in the glass as a kind of pastry-shop blues: a high-rye bourbon aged more than nine years and bottled at 110.1 proof, crafted with flavors of fig cookies, caramelized brown sugar, vanilla cream and a soft, grainy finish.
All three 2025 tintype expressions are small by design – less than 30 barrels each – and will be parceled through national online retailers and select brick-and-mortar stores in the Southeast and a few additional states. For Cathead, the series has become much more than a clever branding exercise. It’s an annual reminder that in Mississippi, the line between a bourbon rackhouse and a juke joint is thinner than it seems.
