Bardstown Bourbon Co. Château de Laubade Armagnac Finish

Very good. High ABV, but not overwhelming. Has a really good red wine finish

I’m a big fan of the Joseph Magnus Cigar Blend so for the price point they both sell at was nervous this wouldn’t compare being they both use Armagnac barrels after maturation. The BBCo Chateau De Laubade delivers and then some. This is a special bourbon! I tried it first neat and then with a very small splash of water. There is a lot of complexity and a lot of flavors going on and they are all equally amazing and balanced. Nose Neat - I got a lot of warm flavors toffee, caramel, lot of honey, little bit of cinnamon. Nose Water - All of the above, but then it really started to bring out the fruit flavors apricot, cherries, apples, and grapes. If I could bottle the scent into a candle I’d buy a dozen. Even my wife who isn’t big on bourbon said it smelled amazing. Palate Neat - has almost like a buttery syrup texture that makes it so smooth. A very balanced sweetness with honey, caramel, toffee, citrus, do get a little bit of a dark dried fruit flavor, not an overpowering spice but just enough to balance the sweetness. Palate Water - That little splash, just wow! It really opened up. I got honey, toffee, caramel, chocolate, apricots, apples, cinnamon, oak, tobacco, etc. it has a ton going on. Finish - Get ready to go on a ride because it just hangs there (the case for both neat and water). I could still taste it probably 20 -30 minutes after I had finished. I got a lot of oak, leather, grape, and even hints of tobacco. The Armangac barrels really bring this bourbon to another level every time I went back I’d get another scent and flavor to jump out. If you can find this I would highly highly recommend buying. It has all the qualities you’d want of a regular bourbon, and I don’t know much about Armagnac barrels, but I would certainly argue that it’s a perfect compilation between the two. I didn’t want to put the glass down. There was nothing about it I didn’t like. I even ended up buying three more bottles (one as a gift). With as many high quality bourbons are being produced these days it’s hard to give a top 5 as it’s always changing, but this Labaude would easily be in my top 5 right now. Well done BBCo.

So 2020 bourbon of the year? I already know one person calling this a contender...and I might have been the one who brought him the bottle and then said if he reviewed it before I had 3 bottles, he was cut off. :) Nose - cinnamon, fall leaves, clove, baked pie crust, and then this MGP rye note that you can't mistake. This is one of the least sweet and more just complex and yet not dry or bitter or anything like that of traditional bourbons (so complex that sentence is likely a run on). It's a level of balance I can't describe or compare it to. Taste - 12 years in oak barrels followed by 18 months in these Armagnac casks provides a level of depth and complexity in this bourbon that really has few rivals. This is simply WOW whisky. Spicy, complex, tobacco, oak, cinnamon, apples cider, rye spice, touches of vanilla and caramel. There's so much more to this than I can describe. Water brings out more sweetness up front but doesn't turn it. The spices and flurry of flavors doesn't subside. Fall orchard fruits and spices while in a tobacco barn is all I can really use to explain the nuance of this one. For me, I do tend to want a bit more vanilla and caramel sweetness and I want an oak sweetness that I don't find here in my bourbons. But this is a finish bourbon, and with that comes an acceptance of nuance and just differences. This isn't as sweet as the 30 year old armagnac I have in my closet, but it does bring out some of those notes. I'm left with just a big old smile on my face and a big old WOW. 4.5 on this one. I did this side by side with the four gate batch 6 and it make the batch 6 seem like a cheap boring bourbon (it isn't). It's close but I'd take this over a cigar blend. I liked this so much I bought 4 bottles for myself. I have been screaming at the roof tops for people to get this one. I've very well may have turned this locally into a special allocated bottling that it wasn't before I started telling people about it. So now I share it with you guys. This is a top 25 all time bourbon imo. This isn't special, it's a masterpiece in the bourbon space and worth paying secondary prices while they're still reasonable. MSRP is about 130 on this one. The secondary is still only about 250 shipped. BUY THEM ALL! I can't recommend a bottle more strongly given that even secondary prices are still so reasonable.

Neat. Neck pour. Being an MGP nut, I was quite excited to hear about this release. The nose is recognizable MGP with some interesting differences. The finish really mellows out the bright notes (like vanilla or butterscotch) but keeps the sweetness in tact. You get this nice layer of raspberries and blackberries. Heavily charred, rich caramel. Flaky buttery pie crust. Hint of milk chocolate. Just really inviting and comfy. Texture is super think and syrupy. Lights up the tongue with intense fruit sweetness. It’s so oily it costs everything. The raspberries and blackberries are so intense up front, they dominate everything else. Once they subside, the oils bring another round of flavors matching the nose. Caramel, buttery pie crust. Berries and chocolate on the long long legs. Just devastatingly delicious. The longer I sit with it the bright notes are shining through more and now I am getting a delicious MGP butterscotch. This is an amazing pour. I haven’t gotten into Bardstown yet but couldn’t resist this one. It does not disappoint. I need to try Cigar Blend still but the finished MGP I have had, I think this is the best.

Very deep flavor. A lot of spice from the Armagnac barrels. Expensive but definitely worth the money if you’ve got it