2023 Bardstown Collection: Lux Row
Purchased for $199 at Lux Row Distillery in Bardstown, KY.
NAS (rumored to be 6-8 years)
129 proof
Reviewed neat in a glencairn.
Appearance: A bright, red copper (I feel like Lux Row bourbons always have a redder tinge than other distillers, and I like it. It’s…pretty…). Thick, fast legs.
Nose: Cherry syrup, caramel, a light woody note. There’s also a faint nuttiness to this. Might be mixing that up with the light woody note, but there is something that makes me think of almonds.
Palate: I get a chocolate caramel chew profile. There’s a slight sweetness of a blend of vanilla and cherry, and a young oak that pops at tail end of the flavor profile. This has a very soft mouthfeel. I wasn’t expecting that, but it’s a nice surprise. And it coats the palate very well.
Finish: This has a fantastic finish! There’s a nice cherry vanilla that lingers accompanied by a charred oak and a slight leatheriness. The palate is left with a moderate tingling while the hug is prominent and long. The hug kinda reminds me of Booker’s: that big ol’ bear hug that just warms the entire chest cavity from the back of the throat all the way to the top of the stomach.
Rating: 7.8/10
Overall: This was a really nice expression! It definitely has something special going on that makes it very fitting for this special Bardstown Collection. It’s complex on the palate, and the finish is really high quality. It’s honestly a nice experience for progression through each sip with the nose being average, the palate being above average, and the finish being top notch. While I had some regrets initially paying $200 for this bottle, I have no regrets after a few pours of this at this point.
Behind the Bottle: I got lucky in how I stumbled into this bottle. My in-laws were travelling from Massachusetts to Texas recently, and on the way they were planning on staying a night in Louisville, so, naturally, planned on checking out a couple distilleries. Knowing that I like my bourbon, they gave me a call when they were at Lux Row first thing in the morning one Friday and said they apparently had some special release that morning and there was apparently a lot of people there for whatever it was. I asked them a few questions and figured out it was the release day for their Bardstown Collection bottle. They said they could get me one if I was interested. Having never paid $200 for a bottle before, I was very hesitant to say yes, but I said, “Fuck it,” and told them go ahead and get me one.
After doing a little more research on the 2023 Bardstown Collection, it sounds like Lux Row selected 3 barrels to use for this expression and each would be a single barrel. So technically, Lux Row has 3 different offerings for this is what I take that to mean. However, the bottles don’t identify what barrel they’re from, so no way to know you’re getting different barrels. That said, my in-laws went ahead and got a bottle for them as well. And trying them side by side, they were definitely a different (as determined by 4 different people sampling both side by side). We thought my bottle was a lot more flavorful and their bottle was a lot “hotter” in profile.
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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