Blade & Bow
Appearance: a brilliant gold color. Trying to describe the legs is difficult. There’s very little in regards to “legs.” After giving it a good swirl, it mostly just all runs down the glencairn leaving a ring of beads, but not really showing much in terms of “legs” like you would traditionally see. Occasionally you’ll see a leg or two that is very thick. I consider this a pretty unique appearance; it would make this easy to distinguish in a blind.
Nose: Apricot, honey, and subtle oak. There is a pronounced ethanol profile. It’s not a regular ethanol, though. It’s got the burn that an aerosol fragrance would have, but also a pleasant scent (think Lysol, hairspray, etc. Not awful, but just a strange ethanol profile). There’s not a lot going on here, but it smells inviting.
Palate: That apricot profile from the nose shows up in the pallet with a light fruity sweetness. There’s a pronounced mint flavor (I think this is the flavor manifestation of that unique ethanol profile in the nose that I described as an aerosol fragrance). There’s a faint woodiness. The mouthfeel is very thin. Overall, this is pleasant on the pallet, not complex at all, but nice.
Finish: There’s very little to this finish. It lasts for maybe 10 seconds. It starts off with a florally ethanol thing going on and then a very subtle hug shows up around 6 seconds after the swallow and is gone before you know it.
Rating: 5.0/10
Overall: I strongly considered giving this something in the 4/10 range because there are certainly other more complex pours that I’d much rather have. However, there was nothing really offensive about this. It’s nice, just nothing special.
Behind the Bottle: After Diageo acquired the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, Blade & Bow was introduced, likely as a way for them to be able to quickly start taking advantage of the Stitzel-Weller name. Afterall, while they got the distillery, a lot of the whiskey that used to be distilled here at Stitzel-Weller has been acquired by other distilleries over the years (Weller – Buffalo Trace, Van Winkle – Buffalo Trace, Rebel Yell – Lux Row, Old Fitzgerald – Heaven Hill, etc.). So, Blade & Bow was created, and by using the “solera process,” Diageo is able to make a product and claim that it contains some of the oldest juice available at the Stitzel-Weller distillery. Gimmick? Something actually there? IDK. The bottle I had was nice, but again, didn’t blow me away by any means.
Blade & Bow gets it’s name from the two parts of a skeleton key: the blade being the shaft of the key, and the bow being the ornate part that turns the tumblers in the lock. The name was derived from the 5 keys that used to hang on the front door of the Stitzel-Weller distillery, representing the 5 steps to making bourbon: grains, yeast, fermentation, distillation, and aging. On each bottle of Blade & Bow, there is attached a skeleton key with a number 1 – 5. If you collect all 5 numbers, you can join the 5 Keys Club at Stitzel-Weller distillery in which you’ll get your name engraved on a Blade & Bow mint julep cup that you can pick up from the distillery and keep (think of this similar to the 8 different Blanton’s toppers…it’s a chase designed to keep you coming back and buying their product. In the Blade & Bow case, at least you get something once you get them all…)
The last thing I’ll share is that I’ve now sampled multiple bottles of Blade & Bow and there appears to definitely be a consistency issue. My bottle seems to be a good bottle comparatively. Some of the other bottles I tried would be a 4 or maybe even 3 on the t8ke scale. I’m kinda surprised consistency is an issue considering I assumed Blade & Bow is probably lower age (it has no age statement) and probably larger batches. Perhaps they’re smaller batches than I think though which is creating the consistency issue.
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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