Bardstown Bourbon Company Fusion Series #8
I'm going to jump right into the review, and then if you want to hear my story and experience at BBC, then read on.
Appearance: Auburn color, fast, thick legs
Nose: Light caramel (almost more brown sugar like) and sourdough bread. Slight cherry or sweet fruit aroma as well.
Palate: There's a definite astringentness to it that is a little hard to get past and get other flavors. I think this comes from the 70% of the makeup being from 4 year old juice. But getting past that, it's thin and not a lot of mouthfeel - a little coating on the tip of the tongue and the front of the roof of the mouth, but that's about it. Honey and a sweet cherry pop out at me first. There's a light, sweet oak flavor. Some spice in there - not really like a baking spice to me, but just more of the spice you get from a rye whiskey.
Finish: There's a toasty/smokiness that lingers a little (To be fair, I had smoked brisket about an hour and half previous to this sip, and I can't decide if that is either enhancing that profile in the bourbon, or if it's actually just lingering from earlier. I hadn't noticed it the previous few times I've sipped from this bottle though.) A sweet oak lingers as well. A very mild hug going down, if not at all.
Rating: 4.7/10
Overall: I like the fact they're really experimenting with blending. It makes it fun and it's a art on it's own that isn't practiced a lot. But I'm not giving credit for that. The flavor and whole experience is just a little disappointing. I think my expectations going into it were probably unreasonably high for a bourbon that has a large majority of young, 4 yr old juice. But I also think that expectation is testament that BBC is making quite a splash in the industry while being so young.
The other stuff...
I picked this bottle up when we visited Bardstown Bourbon Company on New Years Eve. (It has Steve Nally's signature on the bottle which I'm not necessarily that into or anything, but still pretty cool and will probably be enough to make me want to save this bottle to collect dust long after it's empty.)
What a fantastic establishment! I completely loved their unapologetic modern flare, food was probably the best food we had over a 6 day visit to Louisville, and the staff we interacted with were all very friendly and knowledgeable. Highly recommend checking out BBC if you get a chance!
So this was my first time having this bourbon. I've heard about BBC, but haven't been able to get my hands on it in South Carolina. However, as fate would have it, just a two months before we took our Bourbon Trail trip, I finally spotted a couple bottles at my local Total Wine. Knowing that I was going to be visiting there in person though, I figured I'd hold off and get a bottle myself when visiting, just to make it feel a little more special. (During my Rickhouse Thieving tour, our tour guide informed me that it was actually just in 2022 they started distributing to SC, which explains why I hadn't seen it at home until recently.)
58% BBC 4 year mash bill 75/21/4 (corn/rye/malted barley)
12% BBC 4 year mash bill 70/18/12 (corn/rye/malted barley)
30% unnamed bourbon from Kentucky aged 12 years with a 78/10/12 mash bill (corn/rye/malted barley)
So, sure enough, plug in that unnamed bourbon mash bill in the ol' Googz and what do you find? Heaven Hill's bourbon mash bill (except for their wheaters) is 78/10/12 (Elijah Craig, Heaven Hill, Evan Williams, etc. all use the 78/10/12). Based on the age statement of 12 years, I'm going to assume we're dealing with something very close to Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (which has a 12 year age statement). So what I find the most interesting here is I happened to get a bottle of ECBP C922 when we were at Heaven Hill two days before! So I was really looking forward to comparing the two to see if I can pick out similarities (see next review).
Even though Fusion Series #8 didn't impress me as much as I would have liked, I'm still very much looking forward to what comes out of BBC going forward and I'm already on the hunt for bottles of their Origin series which are out now (100% BBC's own juice). What I really like about BBC is they're dedicated to whiskey through and through. A lot of new distilleries make other spirits that don't need to age long in their early years to make a little cash flow (vodka, gin, moonshine, etc.). But BBC said, "We're not doing that. We're about whiskey and whiskey only." So instead of selling out to making other spirits, they decided they would do custom blends and sell that while they wait for enough aging to launch 100% their own stuff. And THIS is why I like them and have no doubt there's great things to come from them!
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite
10 | Perfect | Perfect
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