BACKGROUND: Old Bardstown is produced by the Willet Distillery, which originally opened in 1935 - two years after the end of Prohibition - and continued operating through the mid-1970s, when it converted to the production of ethanol fuel. Norwegian Even Kulsveen acquired the distillery in 1984, changed its name to Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, and served as a bottling plant for other brands. The facility turned its focus to bourbon production and marketing in 2012, first by acquiring product from contract distillers and, eventually, making its own whiskey. In addition to the 90 proof Old Bardstown that I sampled, the distillery produces a 101 proof Old Bardstown Estate Bottled and a 100 Proof Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond. The bourbon retails for around $24, and is aged at least four years as determined by its lack of age statement. NOSE: The nose offers an odd combination of cherries - not cherry cough syrup like some bourbons but like you stuck your nose in a jar of maraschino cherries - and hay. PALATE: Like the nose, the palate is very cherry-forward. Some butterscotch - not caramel but butterscotch - is also present, but it is buried in the jar of maraschino cherries. FINISH: Old Bardstown offers a short finish with a most unpleasant grassy note that hangs in the back of the throat. The grassy note becomes more obvious with each subsequent sip. FINAL ASSESSMENT: Old Bardstown is a very one-dimensional bourbon, and even that one dimension ain’t a great one. This bourbon is obviously more at home in a rocks glass mixed with something else rather than standing alone in a glencairn.