Released to honor the 250th anniversary of the declaration of "Kentucky County" by Patrick Henry, this trio of differently proofed small batches is a departure from the traditional fall release of the vaunted single barrel expression. It is also a departure for the mashbill. In the past Brown-Forman used the Early Times recipe of 79/11/10, which became known as the King of Kentucky mashbill after the brand's sale to Sazerac. The small batch uses a ratio of 75/15/10. This has led to some discussion of the possibility that this is a blend of the ET/KoK mashbill and the Old Forester mashbill. In any event all three whiskeys were sourced from a lot of 100 barrels between 12 and 18 years. The barrels were selected, in part, due to their low volume after years of aging in Brown-Forman's heat cycled warehouses. According to the distillers some contained as little as 14% of the original contents. This was too little to justify bottling as a single barrel. It is in a sense similar to this year's ER17 which had a yield of 11% after 18 years. After blending, Master Distiller Chris Miller had a master batch resting between 60-65% ABV. He proofed down to what felt like the most balanced representation of the whiskey at 105°, but then proffered two slight proof variations to highlight different aspects of the bourbon. atch #2 at 107.5° is focused on deep luscious fruit, while the 110° Batch #3 tunes into the spicier aspects. If there are any Tyler Childer fans reading this it reminded me of the three separate versions of "Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven" album that took wildly divergent approaches to the same source material. I've never had real deal King of Kentucky so I can't rightly say how it stacks up against the original. Fingers crossed I can check this off the bucket list when I'm in Bardstown next week. I'm glad B-F extended the lineup this way though and I'm stoked we got it in Oregon. I'm going to collate the reviews to condense it a bit. Batches abbreviated as B1, B2, B3 Appearance: all three are visually indistinguishable except for the variation in leg structure as proof increased. All three are deep reddish mahogany. Nose: B1-Smoky barrel char, cola nut, cigar wrapper, vanilla bean, orange blossom or something floral and vegetal. B2-Date paste, dark jammy fruit, but there is an earthiness, too. The oak comes across in a leaner, more linear way that allows the fruit to take center stage. **B3-**Reminds me of my grampa's pipe tobacco jar, warm tobacco, an entire caravan of spice notes. I also get a bit of resinous tree sap in the upper register. Palate: B1-So poised. This whiskey knows what it's doing. Varnished oak, dark chocolate, like one of those See's Candies lollipops. Bit of clove and peppercorn on the edges. So rich and mouth coating. Just luxury. B2-Shortbread, maybe almond cookies, dark fruited cobbler. Oddly enough, it makes me think of mincemeat pie. B3-Tons of deep toasted spice-clove, cinnamon, roasted nuts, creamy oak. This tastes somehow older than the other two. Finish: B1-Tip of the tongue spiciness leaning more towards ginger, butterscotch, peanut brittle. Just a touch of tannic bitterness towards the end. **B2-**The fruit lightened in profile but remained the star of the show, supported by bright oak. B3-The longest of the three, a double helix of oak and spice latticed with a bit of savory herb. These are all really tremendous. The Batch #3 is my favorite and I guess you could always proof it down with water to approximate the other two batches, but this is an interesting experiment to experience. submitted by /u/FroznBones [link] [comments]
