Bardstown Bourbon Company is a newer distillery in the grand schemes of things, having opened in 2016. While they were getting established, they would focus on blending their young whiskey with sourced whiskey that has spent more time in the barrel. But now they’ve finally hit an age where they are moving past their blended Fusion Series (see our reviews of #5 or #8) to their Origin Series, made completely of their own whiskey. I happened to be in the mood for a rye the day I went to my liquor store, so I grabbed a bottle of Origin Series Double Barreled Rye.

History

Peter Loftin was a businessman who got his start in the telecommunications business, founding his first company in 1983 at the age of just 25 and growing it into a multi million dollar success. In the following years, he became a serial entrepreneur, stepping into the spirits industry in 2016 when he decided to found the Bardstown Bourbon Company to capitalize on bourbon’s explosion in popularity and provide a high-end source of spirits for brands who might not want to go to the trouble of building their own distillery.

The company was a huge success, and provides the spirit for brands such as Jefferson’s, High West, Belle Meade, and others. They’ve recently bottled their first six-year whiskey made entirely under their own brand, which is the Origin Series.

Bardstown is very transparent that most of their current product was distilled by someone else, and place a lot of emphasis on their blending, as a differentiator that sets them apart.  They have various “series” of bourbons.  These blends make up their Fusion, Discovery, and Collaboration series.  They believe that their blending process can make product that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Recently, they released their Origin Series comprised entirely of whiskey distilled at Bardstown for at least six years.

Located in Bardstown, KY, the distillery is a shining glass beacon to all bourbon lovers. I’ve heard a Bardstown employee describe it as “the Apple store of distilleries” — if you have the chance, I would highly recommend that you visit for a tour or for lunch.

Peter Loftin sadly died in 2019 and the Bardstown Bourbon Company was sold to a private equity firm Pritzker Private Capital in March 2022.

Product

• Learn More: What's the Difference Between Whiskey, Bourbon, Scotch, and Rye?

There are four lines of spirits that the Bardstown Bourbon Company produces on its own label: the Fusion series, the Discovery series, the Origin series, and the Collaboration series. We are reviewing an Origin series today, which is a bourbon that is completed distilled by Bardstown.

Because of the growth they achieved by blending soured whiskey, Bardstown remains transparent about where the product was distilled, but not necessarily who distilled it. So transparent, in fact, that every bottle (at least the ones I’ve seen) have a chart that describes not only the mashbill, but also the blend ratios and source of the distillate. This transparency might be one of my favorite things about Bardstown — I wish all distilleries were this forthright.

Below is the blend information about this bottle. The bad news is that it’s a little more boring than their other blends, but the good news is that this is a 100% blend of barrels that they make and with a very specific grain bill.

Proportion	Origin	Age	Mash Bill
100%	Bardstown Bourbon Company	6 years	Rye 95% / Malted Barley 5%

Bardstown is busy distilling more of their own whiskey to continue to expand their Origin Series. When I toured the distillery, all eight of their fermentation tanks were full and active. Time is the most expensive part of any whiskey, and they continue to invest heavily and impressively in their own product.

To start, the listed grains in the mash bill are milled, cooked, and fermented to create a mildly alcoholic liquid. Once the fermentation is done, the product is moved to the multi-story still located in the very front of the distillery and distilled to selectively capture the desired flavors and concentrate the alcohol in the newly made whiskey. The finished distillate is added to a new American oak barrel and placed in one of their rickhouses for at least six years.

One element of the Bardstown’s process that I am very excited to watch over the years is the fact that they purposely do not rotate their barrels in their rickhouses. A barrel that is aged for six years spends the entire time in the same rickhouse in the same space. One of the most important elements of imbuing flavor into whiskey while its aging is temperature change — the extreme high and low temperature changes help to move the whiskey into and out of the porous wood. So, by leaving barrels alone during their aging, the barrels at the top of the rickhouse (7^th story) will experience higher highs and those at the bottom will stay cooler. This allows the blenders at Bardstown to have a large variety of flavors to work with. This rye is finished in a “zebra striped” barrel (alternating cheery and American oak staves) from West Virginia’s Great Barrel Company and is charred using an infrared process instead of the traditional open flame, giving the cooperage a higher level of control of the finished product. This finishing process takes at least one year in addition to the original six years spent in the original barrel.

Packaging

What we have here is a fairly modern take on a bourbon bottle. It’s got all the same parts, but there is some interesting geometry going on that makes it stand out.

Most prominent is the design of the body of the bottle, which has a square cross section with rounded sides and edges that almost looks like a slightly melted ice cube. The sides of the bottle aren’t exactly straight, though — they flare slightly from the base to the shoulder. At the top there’s a very short stubby neck, and at the bottom there’s a nice thick glass base that should help it light up nicely on an under-lit bar shelf.

The labeling here is clean, understated, and really lets the color of the bourbon inside shine through nicely. The primary label is made from this textured paper and has a very simple, clean logo on it with the minimum information required. It’s a well-executed, modern take on a bourbon label and I really appreciate the aesthetics of it.

Neat

The deep amber rye looks inviting after pouring myself a glass. At first, I get sweet and spicy aromas with neither component of the aroma specific enough to call out as something distinct — but what is very distinct is a bold tart cherry smell. Collectively, it comes across reminding me of a fresh cherry crumble pie. 

The first sip reveals a spicy rye whiskey — which is exactly the way I like it. Strong pepper notes and the lingering taste of clove are the most prominent elements here, as is common (and delicious) in this kind of a spirit. There are also notes of fresh baked rye bread, brown sugar, and that same tart cherry that played great role in its aroma. Supporting those highlights are some great earthy and mildly oaky undertones that are imbued from the time in the original barrel.

Surprisingly, this is one of the smoothest rye whiskies that I’ve ever had — there is nearly zero burn. All of these flavors work together very well, creating a very complex and enjoyable whiskey. It’s a great sipping rye, and I am excited to see how it performs in a cocktail.

On Ice

We often see ice diluting flavors and smoothing out some of the rougher parts of a whiskey. Given that this rye is already smooth, I really hoped that we did not see a lot of change here and I was not disappointed. 

In this case, we do not lose any of the strong traditional rye flavors. Even on the rocks, the bold black pepper and clove lead the flavors. You still get the fresh bread, brown sugar, and cherry elements coming through and making themselves known, but they all come together more on the rocks and blend nicely as a chorus instead of individual elements. Now you get the flavor of a cherry crumble, but maybe not quite as sweet as a pie. 

The oak flavor is also still there, but more complex than it was before. Now, it’s almost like you can taste the different levels of char from the original barrel and the “zebra stripe” barrel that was toasted using infrared. The whiskey is still very smooth, but now the complex oak flavors leave a heat that lingers on your palate for a few seconds. 

This is very good, but not quite as good as it is neat in my opinion.

Cocktail (Old Fashioned)

This has been a fantastic rye so far, but this is the point where it gets tripped up. I love a spicy old fashioned and I was hoping that I would get it here… but unfortunately, the addition of the angostura bitters seems to wreak havoc with the flavor profile. 

Whatever is going on, all of the previous rich bold flavors of the rye all completely fold when the bitters are added. The flavors just seem to clash. You can pick out some very minor oak flavors, like the smallest hint of cherry and a little bit of brown sugar (but that could be the sugar from the cocktail). 

This is a very disappointing cocktail. Just to experiment, I tried to make another old fashioned using walnut bitters. This second cocktail was slightly improved, but not significantly so — the bitters still are completely overwhelming the whiskey.

For such a great neat whiskey, this makes a very disappointing cocktail.

Fizz (Mule)

Much like the old fashioned, the rye falls completely flat in the mule.

It tastes like drinking a glass of only ginger beer. Similar to the old fashioned, you can taste mild hints of oak, but that is the only bourbon flavor I can pick out. 

Honestly… I would say more about this cocktail, but at this point I would just be describing ginger beer because that’s basically all you can taste.

Overall Rating

I am excited that Bardstown has launched their Origin Series, made 100% of their own product. In the previous bottles we’ve tasted, the only thing we were actually tasting was their blending expertise. In this bottle, we are finally tasting their craftsmanship from start to finish. 

That craftsmanship has created a wonderful sipping whiskey, but this rye is not the bottle you want to grab when you are making a cocktail.

I expect that as they mature more of their own product, and thus having a higher level of control of the flavors that have spent more time in the barrel, that Bardstown Bourbon Company will evolve and become more well-rounded. For now, we will have to enjoy a bourbon that does only one thing really well… and it needs to be said that for $60, I expect a more versatile whiskey.

All reviews are evaluated within the context of their specific spirit classification as specified above. Click here to check out similar spirits we have reviewed.

Overall Rating: 3/5
A one-trick pony that’s perfect for sipping but skips the cocktail race.