Bardstown Bourbon Co. Discovery Series #2

Smooth but crisp flavors. Love this pour!

Well balanced and great proof! The age blend is awesome

Immediately sweet and rich. Long burn finish. Very good with a cube of ice.

Ok barton, heaven hill, and turkey 10, 12, and 14 years old. Not in that order. Anyway great stuff on paper. Nose - Pretty traditional bourbon notes here. So can you pickup the blended distilleries? Well actually, yeah you can. Barton rye notes are generally a touch off putting...sourced ok whatever, but I get them here. I then get that turkey funky note, and there's a hint of nutty elements but not peanuts that I get on heaven hill. For me it's a lot of 1792 barrel proof and rare bread with a touch of something else. Sweet, rich, complex, weird...and that classic bourbon vanilla, oak and caramel. One nice note to add is some apple cinnamon cider served in a hay barn. Taste - Once again just a swirling mix of flavors but so much just traditional bourbon. OK so this is more oak driven with some funky notes. I don't say this often with bourbon but it's almost starting to get into savory elements as the oak and bourbon are playing this perfect balance where neither the bitter oak nor the sweet bourbon are able to get too far out in front, though the net whisky is still caramel with a touch of vanilla forward. There's a nutty note. Some fancy french pastry like bready and chocolatey notes. Totally creme brulee. And just this tootsie roll, candy falling apart, aged stout, but yet vanilla forward thing. Then the oak gives you impressions of being in a barn and just in some funky turkey rick houses. I'm super impressed with this one. SO much of the sourced bourbon lately has been really just MGP, barton, or dickle. This brings in well aged versions of turkey and heaven hill and then by blending them you get a whole new and frankly better experience. It's a bit tough at first to jump into this one, it's a whirlwind of what is that, but at the end of the day, it's one of the most complex straight bourbons I've seen in some time. I'll go 3.75. The only real issue here is there's no wow element or moment of DAMN. It's all about the complexity and challenges of pulling apart these notes. I'm not sure however that a lot of people who aren't here want to do that. If I were just drinking this on the rocks....I'd like it but I wouldn't buy again. As a geek, I might get another if they're around in a year.