Background

Happy Bottled-in-Bond Day! Fundamental to our modern whiskey industry, the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 established a baseline quality expectation for American whiskey. Let’s do a quick recap of what qualifies a spirit to be considered Bottled-in-Bond:

• It must be the product of one distillation season (Jan to Jun, or July to Dec) by one distiller at one distillery.

• It must be aged in a federally bonded warehouse for at least 4 years.

• It must be bottled at 100 proof.

• The label must identify the source distillery and, if different, where it was bottled.

Let’s celebrate by drinking some bottled-in-bond Rittenhouse Rye. Heaven Hill added Rittenhouse to their barrel program last year, leading to the legendary Jack Rose in DC to do a pick. Because of its 51% rye, 37% corn, 12% malted barley mashbill, I’ve always believed Rittenhouse to be a great “gateway rye” for bourbon drinkers who arent the biggest rye fans, and I’m curious to see how these compare.

Background

First off, I need to shout out the immortal Wild Turkey historian, David Jennings of rarebreed101.com, for the indispensable Wild Turkey Timeline. I have poor impulse control I’ll admit, and when faced with the mystery box that was this ceramic decanter I needed to know what was inside. While decanting it was a bit of an adventure, now we can do a direct side by side by side comparison of some different Wild Turkey 101 offerings. We have the modern iteration (from 2021), a 2010 Austin Nichols bottling, and the 8 year 101 juice from this decanter. Let’s take a look at a few of the differences between these:

• 1984 8 Year 101: First and foremost, the age statement. In 1992, Wild Turkey dropped the 8 year age statement from the US 101 bottling. There also isnt a ton of product stratification at this time. There’s the 12 Year Beyond Duplication offering and (as far as I could find) that’s about it. Meaning there’s ALOT of good juice in this blend. The barrel entry proof for Wild Turkey at this time is also 107, which brings us to…

• 2010 101: Ok, at this point we’re approaching the modern product. Gone is the 8 year age, and you have a bunch of different offerings on the market including Rare Breed, Kentucky Spirit, and Russell’s Reserve (presumably pulling some decent juice from 101). Now, barrel entry proof changed from 107 to 110 in 2004, and 110 to 115 in 2006. Wild Turkey claims 101 is 6-8 years on average even without the age statement… so it seems safe to assume this is 110 barrel entry proof juice and likely some of the 107 stuff as well.

• 2021 101: The modern product! Too many (awesome) Wild Turkey products to count, Russell’s Reserve is firmly established as a pretty obtainable premium line. Barrel entry proof of 115 and NAS (though Wild Turkey’s website still notes the product is 6-8 years)

Now let’s compare them! We’re going to start modern and work our way back in time.

Background

In May 2022 I took a look at some Peerless Rye offerings, a 3 year pick and a Double Oak Rye pick from Caleb Kilburn (Peerless’ Master Distiller). Since I covered a bunch of Peerless fun facts there, I’ll keep the intro short and sweet on this one. This time, we’re checking out the bourbons. The two whiskey’s on hand are a single barrel pick from DC’s Cinder BBQ, and another single barrel, double oak bourbon pick from Caleb Kilburn/Peerless’ gift shop. Let’s see how they stack up!

Background

Let’s start with some Peerless fun facts! Most of these are courtesy of Clay Risen’s book Bourbon: The Story of Kentucky Whiskey, which has quickly become an essential field guide for me as I taste and write reviews.

• Peerless uses a sweet mash, rather than a sour mash. Sour mash involves adding some portion of the last distilling run to the current one. This helps prevent bacteria growth during fermentation. By forgoing this process Peerless claims a more neutral PH off the still leading to a less acidic result into the barrels.

• Peerless also barrels their whiskey at a fairly low, 107 proof. This leads to both of these offerings coming in at a very drinkable, 107 & 110 barrel proof. They also seem intent at staying a fairly small distillery, producing roughly 12 barrels a day.

• Less specific to the distillery and more to these two offerings, this review will cover a 3 year Single Barrel Rye selection, and a NAS Single Barrel, Double Oak Master Distiller's selection (hot damn that's a lot of qualifiers). Don’t let the non-age statement fool you though, as I am sure many of you know, label rules dictate that anything under 4 years must have an age statement. This means the Double Oak must have been aged at least 4 years.

And with that, let’s taste!

Background

Courtesy of Show of Hands in DC. Which, if you haven't been, is an awesome spot with great people and prices. Blend of Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky bourbons finished in Mizunara, French, and toasted American oak casks.

Barrell Vantage (NAS, 114 Proof)

Nose: Toasted marshmallow, orange peels, oak

Palate: Oranges, white peach, vanilla and definitely wood forward

Finish: Kind of dry, vanilla, black pepper, peach

6/10

Overall: Tasty! And I generally do love Barrells willingness to experiment. Loses me on the finish a bit, which I find a little too dry.

Background

Hidden Barn, best known as Jackie Zykan’s new venture with the Neeley family. You know you try to write a super short review and then you learn they are releasing different series, and there are batches within those series, and the series come from different distilleries. Anyways, details on each series is here. This is batch 2 from series one.

Hidden Barn Series One Batch 2 Bourbon(NAS, 110 Proof)

Nose: Caramel apple, corn flakes, straw

Palate: Mulled cider, maple, oak, tastes a touch on the younger side.

Finish: Cinnamon sticks, cider, vanilla…mostly cider/apples

5/10

Overall: Maybe it’s the 10% malt, but it does drink like a pot still whiskey. It’s ok, and I’m curious to see what Hidden Barn does in the future. Just not a ton to write home about for now.

Eagle Rare 17 Year 2022 (17 Year, 101 Proof)

Nose: Holy cherries Batman. Ripe, natural, dark juicy cherry.

Palate: Drinks like sherry, brown sugar, again big cherry, butterscotch, orange peels, gentle oak

Finish: You guessed it, cherry. Note of butterscotch, cloves, orange peels

8.5/10

Overall: 🍒💣. Compared to Eagle Rare it’s much darker, oak and brown sugar forward. That said the prevailing note is an extra ripe, juicy cherry.

Four Roses Single Barrel Barrel Strength OBSF (10 Year, 125.2 Proof)

Pick from @bourbonwomen

Nose: Florals, caramel, honey, herbs and spices.

Palate: Honey forward and oily, caramel, oak and cinnamon red hots.

Finish: Nutmeg, cocoa, black pepper, caramel

8/10

Overall: Powerful flavor but not overwhelmingly hot. Honey forward with dollops of caramel. Great stuff!

Background

2022 was undoubtedly a banner year for Bardstown Bourbon Company. In March of 2022, they were purchased by Pritzker Capital for an undisclosed sum. In July, they put that newfound capital to use, acquiring Green River Spirits. The growth did not stop there, as they announced a downtown Lousiville “brand experience” opening late this summer. Finally, in December they announced their Origin Series, which is a new flagship series of whiskeys of their own juice distilled, aged and bottled at their Bardstown location.

These releases are a big step for Bardstown, a massive contract distilling enterprise which produces over 50 different mashbills for over 30 different brands. They had long been sourcing whiskey for its two main product series (Fusion and Discovery), and now we finally get to taste their own juice under their own label! VP of Product Development, Dan Calloway, rolled through Jack Rose in DC to showcase 5 different Bardstown products to taste. Details of each in the review below!

Before we get into the review, let’s quick hit some Colonel E. H. Taylor fun facts:

• This will shock absolutely no one, but he was a Kentucky Colonel. He held no military rank.

• He was close friends with the Pepper family, and was guardian to young James E. Pepper after the death of James' father.

• He moved from banking into the whiskey business by funding distilleries before establishing the Old Fire Copper (O.F.C.) distillery.

• He then basically spent a shit ton of money making OFC world class, which worked in terms of quality output but also drove him deep into debt. Enter George T Stagg who would bail him out.

• George T and Edmund ended up not going along so well. Colonel Taylor leaves OFC, buys J. Swigert Distillery, renames it Old Taylor and decides he didn’t go opulent enough with OFC… so he turns it into a FUCKING CASTLE (It’s now Castle & Key distillery).

• He was a massive supporter of the Bottled in Bond Act, it gets passed, Old Taylor distillery and makes awesome whiskey until prohibition shuts them down. Colonel Taylor dies not too long after in 1922.

And with that, let's taste!