Bardstown Bourbon Co. Plantation Rum Finish

The nose starts with a mix of light pineapple, toasted coconut and leather then dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts and mild pipe tobacco followed by chalky orange sports drink, sautéed apples and cherries that transitions to light baking spices and polished oak with medium ethanol burn. The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting with a mix of grilled pineapple rings, toasted coconut and leather before a mild peppery spice that quickly fades to dark chocolate covered espresso beans, macadamia nuts and mild pipe tobacco followed by chalky orange sports drink, sautéed mangoes and cherries that transitions to light baking spices and polished oak with medium ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with grilled pineapple rings, toasted coconut, dark chocolate mocha, chalky orange, light oak spices, leather and mildly ashy oak. For being finished for around 22 months in rum casks, the rum influence is rather subtle on the nose that I’d likely have missed if I was tasting this blind, but that rum influence becomes more dominant on the taste while not overpowering those typical bourbon flavors before finishing tropical with mild earthy spices, chalky orange and ashy oak. At a price of around $160, it’s a unique finished bourbon but just doesn’t seem worthy of that high of a premium for 10-year-old Tennessee whisky with a rum finish and I’d much rather spend that on plenty of other bottles half the cost that I prefer over this one. Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine for the generous sample.

Thankfully the rum finish is not heavy-handed, at least on the nose. I get a good bit of peanut shells, caramel, vanilla. The coconut and tropical fruit seem to be in the background, and honestly I have to work a bit to find them. The palate begins to show more of the rum. Sweet coconut candy and pineapple. Transitions to more of the bourbon flavors, before showing the rum again on the finish. It stays short of cloying, but the finish is quite sweet. Seems to be a tinge of the mineral Dickel note on the finish. Thank you to @PBMichiganWolverine for the sample.

N: nutty, vanilla, oaky P: oak forward, vanilla, little pepper kicks in F: spice, vanilla, char, hint of smoke Thin viscosity but decent finish. Maybe because it’s a blend seems a bit all over the place. Preferred the finish to the palate. Like their rye blend better.

Very interesting with notes of molasses, guava, caramel, maple syrup, toffee apples, figs, black cherries, vanilla, apricots, pineapples, pecans, and white chocolate.

I’m pouring out a few samples for our ( our as in @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington @pkingmartin @ctbeck11 and @Richard-ModernDrinking ) online tasting in a few weeks. This one is one of my contributions. So, while pouring out some samples, I poured myself a wee dram into a glencairn….middle of the week, and out of character. But YOLO. I was never a fan of Plantation rum. In fact, the few times I’ve had it ( usually at a friend’s), I felt as if I either need to pour it down the drain, or mix it into some colorful sugary cocktail. But I put my hesitation to the side, and gave the benefit of doubt to Bardstown’s blending skills. The only other blender I’d blindly buy would be Barrell. A $150, about 80% more than a blend by Barrell, is a steep price for a risk to take. But in this case, was well worth it . Generally I find rum finished bourbons unbalanced, where the rum is pushed to the forefront, leaving the bourbon notes as an afterthought. Bardstown did a damn good job of combining molasses, vanilla, oak, fig, and chocolates. Really well balanced, well blended. The finish lingers with notes of coffee and molasses. For those that aren’t a fan of sweet rum or rum finished bourbon, give this one a try. Deviates from the norm, for the better.