Bardstown Bourbon Company is a whiskey triple threat: It contracts to distill for other brands, produces whiskey for its own in-house label, and gets barrels from distilleries around the country for blending. The latest release from the distillery falls into the latter category – the first whiskey in the always exciting Collaborative Series to be brewed in Indian single malt barrels, and we got an early taste.
According to the distillery, the BBC’s collaborative series aims to highlight the art of cask finishing by working with two-source barrel makers of beer, wine and spirits. Previous releases have been unique and fairly consistently excellent, including barrel-aged blends previously used to age Amaro Nonino, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, Foursquare Rum, Maison Ferrand Cognac, and Phifer Pavitt Cabernet. The latest release, said to be a first for an American whiskey, is a blend of rye and bourbon produced in casks previously used to mature Indian single malt whiskey from Amrit Distillery. “Elixir is making some beautiful liquids right now,” Dan Calloway, BBC’s vice president of product development, said in a statement. There is such an interesting bridge between bourbon. It’s interesting to see how our rye blend absorbed the characteristics of both peated and unpeated nectar barrels… Then we created a custom bourbon blend to join the finished rye and bring out the red fruit and rich caramel. .
The final blend of the new Amrit Collaborative Series has five ingredients, all whiskeys obtained with different mash bills: 43 percent nine-year Indiana rye (51 percent rye in Mashable) finished for 18 months in Amrit barrels; 20 percent eight-year-old Indiana rye (95 percent rye in Mashable) finished in nectar barrels for 18 months; 17 percent 14-year-old Kentucky bourbon; 15 percent 10-year Kentucky bourbon; and 5 percent 11-year-old Kentucky bourbon. The whiskey was bottled at 110 proof, which gives it a little heat on the palate, but nothing you can’t handle. Overall, this is a very good whiskey, with rye leading the way as might be expected since it makes up over 60 percent of the blend (making it legitimately a rye whiskey). There are big floral and spicy notes on the palate, with flavors of cherry, lemon, dark chocolate and caramel. It’s a great sipping whiskey, but it also works quite well in a Manhattan.
Callaway provided a preview of what else we can expect from Bardstown Bourbon Company’s collaborative series throughout the rest of the year. This summer, the distillery will release a barrel-aged whiskey from California’s Silver Oak Cellars, a winery focused on aging Cabernet Sauvignon in American oak. And in the fall, the BBC will collaborate with respected Tennessee brewery Blackberry Farm. Details about these whiskeys are yet to be revealed, but we’ll let you know when we have more to share.
The Bardstown Bourbon Company Amrut Collaborative Series is just launching, and will be available nationally in limited quantities (SRP $160). You can find other expressions like the Fusion Series, which are now available to buy from websites like ReserveBar.
Credit : robbreport.com