Bardstown Origin Wheated

As I pointed out in my Bourbon Trail post, my biggest takeaway from our Kentucky trip is my newfound fandom of Bardstown Bourbon Company. Unfortunately, as I discovered on returning home, they don't distribute to Minnesota. But we were also recently in Florida for a quick weekend trip and I stumbled across a bottle of their Origin Series (their own spirit) on my first attempt. Win! That bottle's now home with us and probably won't last too long so it's already due for a writeup.

Bardstown Bourbon Company is a very new distillery but is already a powerhouse. They're based in Bardstown, KY (obvs), the self-proclaimed 'Bourbon capital of the world' that also houses Heaven Hill, Willett and a number of others as well. Bardstown Bourbon was founded there in 2014, started making spirit in 2016 and is already one of the top 10 biggest producers of whiskey by volume in the United States. This has been accomplished through near constant expansion and extensive contract distilling. To put it another way, they make whiskey for dozens of other companies, either because these other companies don't have their own production facilities or because demand has outstripped capacity and augmentation is needed. Bardstown, therefore, is remarkable purely for its ability to make so many different whiskeys. According to this year-old article, they use at least 50 different mash-bills. I can't remember if we heard a larger number last month. That's a ton to keep track of and get right, but they've excelled at this and it's impressive. If you're interested in ownership their original founder, Peter Loftin, died in 2019 and the company was acquired by a private equity group in 2022.

Bright and clear in here

Bardstown is the opposite of most big distilleries in many ways. These competitors (let's include Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam...) are all about tradition, from the prominent use of the names of the distillery managers and other key people in the business, to the way the whiskey has been made, to the expectancy of a consistent product over time. Bardstown, on the other hand, is all about technology, efficiency and transparency. Everything in their fancy schmancy distillery is stainless steel (no wood), plus it's nicely spread out, easy to see and accessible. I greatly appreciated seeing the screens (including in the bar area!) showing exactly what was being made and where everything was in the process, something I'd only ever seen once before on an unofficial tour at a distillery in Scotland that's not open to the public. I also couldn't help but appreciate how aesthetically pleasing it was to look at their evenly spaced rickhouses on the property, even if they kind of looked like prisons or Soviet living quarters.

We did two tours there and had lunch at their upscale restaurant as well. All of it was terrific. Their standard 'From Distillate to Barrel' tour was the best tour we did in Kentucky, as we got to see their entire production process, had a fun and very knowledgable guide and even got to try whiskey straight from a barrel in one of the warehouses. If you visit I would definitely make time to eat there too.

Of course they do have their own labels, it's not only contract work. They have four different types. Their Origin Series (like the one I'll review in a bit) is all their own spirit. These bottles are pretty new, an expectation considering the age of the distillery, and are supposed to be moderately priced at like $50. Besides the wheated Bourbon (black label), this series includes a high-rye Bourbon (white label) and a 95% Rye (green label). Their Fusion Series (like $60-70) are blends of their own spirit and sourced whiskey from other distilleries. Their Discovery Series (>$100) are wholly sourced high-end blends. Lastly they do some smaller scale collaborations like this one with Foursquare Rum. So, in addition to making whiskey for themselves and other companies, they also source and blend on site. Each batch of each series is different too. For the batch number and details of what exactly goes into the whiskey, the label includes a table (see an example here) with way more information than you typically see on a bottle. It's an almost extreme version of transparency and I love it. An interesting side effect of this is that no two batches of Bardstown Bourbon are the same, and neither are they supposed to be.

Onto the subject here, the Origin Series, bottled-in-bond, wheated Kentucky straight Bourbon.

Stats:

ABV - 50% (100 proof)

Mash - 68% corn, 20% wheat, 12% malted barley

Maturation - new charred oak

Age - 6 years

Location - Bardstown, KY

Price - $50

Tasting Notes:

Nose - charred oak and sugar, slight citrus, bit boozy

Color - solid caramel

Taste - (not super woody, no rye spices) burnt sugar and fruits, little bready maybe?

Finish - very easy to drink, liquid feels heavy/rich, nice long finish that doesn't burn

Final Thoughts -

I really struggled with this one, at least to pick out flavors. My super-taster (my definition) wife called it 'cinnamon licorice' when it hit a certain part of her tongue, then said it just tasted like a wheater (implying boring) otherwise. It's certainly muted to an extent and that's why I included some of what it lacks above.

The strength here is a well distilled and exceptionally easy to consume whiskey. Even if the flavor profile isn't one I'll generally seek out this is a quality dram that just about anyone can enjoy. For $50 it's a good buy. I'd take this over anything from Maker's, for example. I figured this would probably be my least favorite of the three Origins and yet they've managed to impress me. Finding more from Bardstown will continue to be a priority.