pkingmartin
Bardstown Bourbon Co. Discovery Series #5
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
January 6, 2022 (edited January 26, 2022)
The nose starts with a nice cola note with a light oak spice and peanut brittle then fruits of cinnamon spiced caramel apples, watered down cherry juice and orange sports drink followed by chai spiced latte, leather and mild oak with medium ethanol burn.
The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting with a medium and drying oak spice that slowly but eventually fades to fruits of caramel apple fritters, cherry juice and orange sports drink followed by a blonde espresso mocha, leather and medium ashy oak with medium ethanol burn.
The finish is medium length with caramelized peaches, apple pie, maraschino cherries, vanilla gelato, Hershey’s chocolate syrup, leather and ashy oak spice.
This has a nice and rich nose with traditional bourbon flavors that seems promising, but the taste is an overly drying spice fest that lingers until finally fading to some enjoyable fruits, coffee and ashy oak that finishes fruity with chocolate and a medium ashy spice. At the $130+ price, I really expected a lot more and better balance of flavors.
I decided to put this in a side by side with a Russell’s Reserve single barrel and found that the Russell’s has a lighter nose and mouthfeel but manages to keep a better balance of flavors without the medium and drying oak of the Discovery #5. For me, I think the Russell’s provides a better experience and is nearly half the cost of the Bardstown Discovery #5.
A big thank you to @ctbeck11 for the generous sample of this to try.
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I’m with @soonershrink that most bourbons will have trouble standing out against a solid RR single barrel. My understanding is that glass is the issue and volume issues (too much bourbon = problem?) mean white label RR goes first and red label only when they have bottles. Same for RB - can’t get their glass. I’m hoping the upside is an expression of slightly higher age coming in 1-2y, which sadly is how long it might take for the supply chain to catch up.
@pkingmartin Yeah, that would be a real bummer. Seems like price continues to go up while quality of available products goes down.
@ContemplativeFox Dang they still seem to be readily available here but word might have gotten out and hopefully won’t become allocated like other staples used to be.
@ContemplativeFox That's unfortunate. JDSBBP seems to be getting a little harder to find, but WTRB and RRSB are both still readily available here.
@soonershrink @pkingmartin Yeah there are a few of those that are great staples, though sadly they all seem to be getting much harder to find. JD SiB BP and even WT RB are tragically not longer available near me and RR SiB has been gone for ages.
@ctbeck11 For a disappointing purchase at least this is still an enjoyable drink. I had some premium priced swill bottles last year. @soonershrink Definitely. It’s a great drink at an affordable price which seems hard to come by these days.
For my palate Russell's Reserve Single Barrel mops the floor with a lot of more expensive bourbons.
Yep. It’s pretty good but definitely not $130 good. One of my more disappointing purchases last year.