Costco's Lunar New Year Whisky Is Already Back On Shelves (With A New Look)

It's mid-December and many of us aren't anywhere near ready for Christmas, much less New Year's. The truly prepared, however, may already be planning how they'll celebrate Lunar New Year, which is coming up on February 17. Symbolic foods in Chinese cuisine served on this occasion include tangerines, whole chicken and fish, nián-gāo rice cakes, and crescent-shaped dumplings known as jiaozi, while Koreans often celebrate Lunar New Year with a soup called teokguk. Turns out Costco has also adopted a Lunar New Year tradition — releasing a special bottle of Kirkland Signature whisky. According to r/Costco, the 2026 edition has already been spotted on store shelves.

Of course, the commemorative bottle for next year is different from the one that was available earlier this year. January 29 marked the beginning of the Year of the Snake, so this year's Lunar New Year packaging was snake-themed. Next year's whisky, however, has a horse motif since the Year of the Horse comes next in the cycle. Just like the snake whisky, the horse whisky is an eight-year-old Scotch. Unlike its predecessor, however, it's a single malt instead of a blend.

Costco shoppers have posted photos of the Kirkland Signature Year Of The Horse whisky, but not many seem to have tried it. (Or haven't reviewed it, if so.) It's selling for around $50 in stores, although one online reseller has it priced at around $140 Canadian dollars (a little over $100 in U.S. currency). Redditors have expressed doubts as to whether the whiskey is worth even the warehouse price, as those who purchased the Year of the Snake edition found it mediocre in quality. One commenter mentioned picking up a bottle for about 50% off the purchase price when it went on clearance (presumably sometime after Lunar New Year, although they didn't say for sure). They used it as a mixer, which may admittedly be better with a blend than a single malt Scotch.

If you do score a bottle of this booze and don't care for sipping it straight, you could try it in an Old Fashioned (the plainer kind, not the fruity Wisconsin variant) or a Rob Roy (basically a Manhattan made with scotch). There's also the Penicillin, a modern tiki classic. Although it has a blended scotch base mixed with lemon juice and honey-ginger syrup, it's typically topped with a float of single malt. If you'd prefer something in keeping with the bottle's spirit animal, you could also mix it with triple sec, sweet vermouth, and lemon juice to make a scotch version of the bourbon-based Man o' War. (If you're not up on your horse history, the drink's eponym was one of the 20^th century's greatest racehorses.)