When I reach for a bottle of bourbon, I’m looking for a good time. I want to enjoy something delicious and interesting in my glass, preferably something unique that I haven’t seen before. And thankfully, this aptly labeled bottle of Good Times bourbon checks all of those boxes.
History
Jimmy and Nick are a pair of Kentucky locals who met in high school and formed a lifelong friendship. After high school Nick went off to college, earning his master’s degree in engineering and working as a quality engineer for manufacturing firms until in 2018 he decided that he wanted out of the rat race and moved back home to Kentucky.
Back home he reconnected with Jimmy, and the pair started tinkering with craft beer and craft distilling. One day Jimmy brought Nick to a barrel release party where fir the first time he was able to taste whiskey fresh from a barrel and he was instantly hooked on the experience. Together they pooled their money and purchased four barrels of bourbon from a distillery, intent on giving other people that exact same experience.
The pair teamed up with Three Boys Farm Distillery to house their barrels and bottle their spirits, and started offering barrel picking experiences where local groups would come into the facility, taste the barrels, pick one, and have it finished in different ways before bottling. One of their first barrel finishing experiments was with an apple brandy bourbon, inspired by a similar Bardstown bourbon, which was an instant hit and financed their next round of bourbon barrels. Since that initial success the team has continued to focus on providing barrel picking and finishing experiences, but any time they find a winning combination they try to create a barrel for themselves to bottle and distribute.
In 2023 the pair purchased a facility of their own and left the Three Boys Farm Distillery, instead incorporating as the Coxs Creek Distilling Co. While they do have a small still and make some experimental liquor themselves the company continues to source whiskey from other distilleries, taking advantage of surplus spirits on the market, and providing barrel picking experiences in addition to bottling their own line of Good Times finished whiskey.
Product
- Learn More: What Is Bourbon Whiskey?
As I mentioned, this whiskey is actually produced at the massive industrial whiskey distillery known as MGP. It arrives at the Three Boys Farm Distillery as a ready-made bourbon, meaning that the spirit was made from at least 51% corn (although the specific grain bill is not disclosed) and matured in charred new oak barrels for an undetermined period of time.
Once at the Three Boys Farm Distillery, the whiskey is then placed into barrels that previously used for blackberry brandy and aged in these before being bottled and shipped.
Packaging
It’s… fine?
The bottle design is pretty standard and boring: a cylindrical body, tapered shoulder, and a medium length neck with a slight bulge in the middle. The only really distinctive thing about the bottle is that the shoulder is fluted with some slightly indented sections. It’s all capped off with a wood and cork stopper.
Similarly, the label isn’t really anything to write home about. Black text on a white background with the brand information in big letters, it takes up a ton of real estate on the bottle without really providing any character in return.
What is noteworthy, though, is that the bottle is labeled with specific identifiers (bottle number, barrel number, etc) as if it was a single barrel expression. This would be cooler if they did their own distillation and such, but in this case (since it’s just re-barreled MGP distillate), that really isn’t useful information.
It’s the design equivalent of a Ford Focus. And not even a modern one — more like a late 1990’s Ford Focus.
Neat
The liquid is a little darker than the average amber color in the glass, but the aromas I get coming off it are pretty common bourbon notes. There’s some raw corn, vanilla, caramel, some baking spices, and maybe just a tiny hint of citrus or rye.
I didn’t get any of the blackberry in the aroma, but I absolutely see it in the taste. It’s the first thing that hits your senses, but in a somewhat subdued and more agreeable level of intensity than you would expect from something like a blackberry liqueur. I think that the brandy cask aging also added some good weight and viscosity to the whiskey, and as a result it almost tastes as off-dry as a cognac. Following that initial blackberry beat are some good baking spices, the caramel and vanilla, and then a black pepper kick at the end to bring it all together.
The black pepper spice is really what lingers long after the spirit is gone. That, along with the blackberry and a hint of caramel, are the extent of the complexity in the finish, and it’s actually quite nice.
On Ice
Usually, with the addition of a bit of ice, the first to drop out of the flavor profile are the finishing notes. Things that aren’t native to the spirit (esters and raw materials and such) don’t have much staying power. And unfortunately, that’s the case here as well.
I still get a lot of those great high-rye bourbon notes — the vanilla and caramel, the baking spices, and the rye grains and black peppery spice — but the blackberry finish is well in the background. It only really appears near the end, and while it’s still an important component of the finish, it’s no longer is the star of the show.
Cocktail (Old Fashioned)
This is a pretty good old fashioned. I appreciate how the added rye content really helps the complexity and the flavor profile of the cocktail, adding some depth and interesting components that you wouldn’t normally get from a 100% corn version.
The one thing it’s missing here, though, is the blackberry. I don’t feel like that blackberry really adds anything to the conversation. I think I can see it trying to poke its head out near the finish, as it did with the ice, but it gets easily lost in the other aromatic compounds added by the bitters.
Fizz (Mule)
Once again, this is good, but not because of anything the blackberry is bringing to the table.
I like a good high rye bourbon for my Kentucky Mule because it adds a bit of a kick at the end of the flavor profile. That black pepper spice is a great addition to the party and really helps elevate the cocktail. So while this is good, there really isn’t anything that the blackberry is contributing to the experience.
Overall Rating
What you’re getting here is a good high rye bourbon that has a couple added tricks when taken neat or on the rocks. I think once the cocktails start flowing, you really lose the uniqueness that the blackberry finishing gave to the spirit. Although, at that point — much like escalators that just become stairs when broken — it just reverts to being a good high rye bourbon.
I think that this is worth a try just for the blackberry flavors when taken neat. It’s an interesting flavor profile that I enjoyed, and is worth at least a couple glasses of contemplation. Probably not ideal for mixing… but then again, with a lighter set of ingredients, the blackberry might pop out again. It’s worth a shot.
| Good Times Barrel Strength Blackberry Finished Bourbon Production Location: Indiana, United States Classification: Bourbon Whiskey Aging: No Age Statement (NAS) Proof: 59% ABV Price: $99.99 / 750 ml   |
Overall Rating: 4/5
An interesting flavor that’s worth a look, as long as you look past the bottle it comes in.
I stopped at the Good Times barrel-house during my last weekend’s bourbon tour — it was the first turn-around when I passed Four Roses, and I went in for a tasting.
My choice was their “Cigar,” finished in sherry, armagnac, then cognac casks. The most expensive bottle I’ve ever purchased — I guess I am a confirmed cheapskate. But I liked enough to buy it, and “do my part” for Kentucky whiskey and Good Ole Boy innovation in the finishing list.