Bardstown Bourbon Co. Discovery Series #2

I will be adding the next bottle I see in store of this series to my collection. Fantastic pour I waited too long to try

Warm soft fruit nose, caramel, toasted warm sugar cover mixed nuts, plum/stone fruit

Sweet, high alcohol. A little bit of Rye and sweet at the same time. Maybe a citrus note. Brown sugar or Caramel on the finish. A bit of wood. Very good but discovery 3 is better.

This is great bourbon. Rich, thick, dark cherries, oak, vanilla, caramel, dark chocolate. Finish goes on and on. Reminds me a lot of a very rare barrel proof whiskey that is very tough to find but I’m not going to name drop it, because then I won’t be able to find any Bardstown. This is great juice.

I have my own ideas about bourbon, and this is what a premium straight bourbon should taste like. At $130 per bottle, this is money well spent on a well aged and well blended bourbon. The whiskeymakers at Bardstown are reminiscent of those at Compass Box, creating blends with a sense of purpose, delivering challenging and tasty delights. Discovery series #2 is a boulangerie in Paris. The rich and complicated sweet and baking spice aromas are overwhelming and intoxicating on the nose alone. And then you take a sip, and it is surprisingly gentle for 61.1% ABV. The dark chocolate and raisins are well balanced with confectionary sugar, cinnamon, and pastry dough. Soft rye spices, oak, and pistachios emerge in a lengthy and satisfying finish. There are no bad notes. So many bourbons are being released immature and with bad notes. I’m talking about fusel alcohols, corn syrup, corn oil, nut oils, pumpkin, and raw peanuts. Some of these are well hidden in barrel strength ABV, and it seems a lot of NAS barrel strength bourbons from famous brands these days are being bought up and flipped in an unhealthy current bourbon market. I have recently tried barrel strength E.H. Taylor, Elijah Craig, Weller, and Stagg Jr., and these are bakeries in Cleveland. As I said, I have my own ideas about bourbon, and I’m not saying boulangeries in Paris are better than bakeries in Cleveland. But, bakeries in Cleveland should not cost as much. The first investment in oak maturation is not to add flavor to the whiskey, but to subtract bad notes. When you go above $100, you should get a properly matured bourbon without bad notes. If you find your barrel strength NAS of choice at retail price, go ahead and enjoy. But you should not pay secondary market pricing, which are as much as this Discovery series costs or even more, for bakeries in Cleveland. Just spend the money instead on retail prices for Barrell, Bardstown, Kentucky Owl, Old Carter, etc. Score: ** (unimaginably good) How much does a bottle cost?: $120-140 How much do I think a bottle is worth?: $160