Name: Bardstown – The Prisoner #2
Color: Brown
Nose: Corn, vanilla, citrus, root beer, dry wood (amber wood)
Taste: Earthy, dirt, honey, vanilla
Bardstown Bourbon Company is from Bardstown, Kentucky and it is a relatively new company compared with others from the region. I learned they are “a new blend of bourbon makers pushing the boundaries through innovation” and “a modern Napa Valley styled facility with food paring…on the new 1,000-acre property…combo of distillery, visitor center, rickhouses, and active farm”. I visited the distillery in April 2021 and it is impressive. It makes some other visitor centers feel tiny in comparison. The company states $25 million was spent on the property, but it appears they spent much more. I hoped to sample some of the expensive expressions, but they were only available for purchase.
The Prisoner #2 has a dryer nose/taste than any other expression I have sampled from the distillery. It has a very flat and earthy dirt flavor that heavily masks the other flavors. I do not know if it is the Tennessee corn that I am not enjoying, but this was not that enjoyable for me.
As stated on the bottle label:
- Origin = Tennessee
- Age = 10 years
- Mash Bill = 84% Corn, 8% Rye, 8% Malted Barley
- 50%abv / 100 proof
I was overall unimpressed with this expression, especially at the price. The bartender at the distillery told me they were “selling out of this amazing whiskey”. I thought to myself, “This kinda smells like bullshit”. I would have loved to go into the back room or warehouse to see how many cases they had left. A tip for you on my experience on anything a seller is running out of, don’t believe them. You will know when someone is running out of something when the price goes up significantly or you can’t find it on the self.
Priced around $125+ and not enjoyable due to the flavor profile.
If you like it, drink it! – Christopher
If you like it, drink it!
