🥃 A whiskey for bourbon lovers—with single malt soul: Altar + Bloom wins silver

Common Ritual’s latest blend, Altar + Bloom, just snagged silver at the 2025 U.S. Open Whiskey Championship—and it’s easy to see why. This isn’t just a whiskey. It’s a journey in a bottle.

Crafted in St. Louis, Altar + Bloom earned its silver in the Blended Whiskey category thanks to its bold vision and collaborative spirit. This is a pour shaped by intention—an American whiskey that draws flavor and inspiration from coast to coast, with its heart right here in the Midwest.

At 115.8 proof, this is a bold bottle. But behind that heat is a thoughtful, layered blend marrying three distinct regions and whiskey philosophies—Midwest rye, West Coast malt, and East Coast single malt—with a heart planted firmly in Missouri soil.

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🍂 What’s in the bottle?

Altar + Bloom blends:

• Virginia Distilling Co. (Lovingston, VA): Two single malts, aged 5+ years in PX sherry and STR wine casks

• Kennay Farms (Rochelle, IL): A 2.5-year-old rye with a 51/44/5 mash bill aged in Level 3 char oak

• Westland Distillery (Seattle, WA): A complex 5-malt American single malt aged nearly 8 years in PX cask

Then it’s all blended and bottled by Nobleton’s Distilling House in Union, MO—giving it that final Show-Me State stamp of approval.

👃 What does it taste like?

Think plum, dark chocolate, black pepper, and maple syrup. It’s sweet and spicy. Rich and layered. The kind of whiskey you sip neat on a quiet night and then revisit with a drop of water to unlock even more nuance. Long finish. Opens up over time. A great pour with a cigar, a dark chocolate dessert, or (according to the team) Proper Cannabis’ Astronaut Status #24. Hey, we don’t judge pairings.

💡 The blender’s confession

Here’s what the team behind Common Ritual had to say:

“I wanted to make something that would hit for bourbon fans, but still honor the complexity I love in single malts. If I could check both boxes—and make it repeatable even with changing barrels—then I’d really have something special.”

Spoiler: they nailed it.

📍Where to get it

You can still find bottles of Altar + Bloom at Perennial Artisan Ales (8125 Michigan Ave), as well as select retail shops including The Wine and Cheese Place (Forsyth location) and Parker’s Table. But with only 204 bottles in the wild, they won’t last long.

🔥 Why it matters

With Altar + Bloom, St. Louis just staked its claim in the national whiskey conversation. This isn’t just a silver medal—it’s a big, boozy billboard for the future of collaborative, small-batch American whiskey.