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Bourbon Review: Bardstown Bourbon Company Cathedral French Oak Distillery Reserve

Drinking a great whiskey has been likened to a religious experience, but never has that rung as true as when you are sipping on Cathedral French Oak from Bardstown Bourbon Company.

OVERALL RATING

7
$99.99
  • Tzvi (Todd) Wiesel is the Co-Founder & CEO of BAXUS, a whisky investor and trader, focused on fine and rare bottles and casks.
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Tasting Notes

About:

Drinking a great whiskey has been likened to a religious experience, but never has that rung as true as when you are sipping on the inaugural Distillery Reserve from Bardstown Bourbon Company. As always in their unparalleled efforts in providing transparency the mashbills and ages are listed on the bottle’s rear label. The whiskey is a blend of 5 different Kentucky whiskies ranging from 9 – 18 years old, it spent its final 14 months being finished in French oak barrels made from trees that were over 300 years old. Its name, Cathedral French Oak, pays homage to the source of those trees, a special plot of forest in France where the trees were harvested from for the reconstruction of the destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral. Cathedral French oak answers one of modern bourbon’s biggest questions, what would modern whiskey taste like if it were aged in barrels made of ancient oak? Lets find out.


Appearance:
Polished Mahogany
Nose:
Dark cherries, freshly polished wood floors, truffles, dried orange peel. The whiskey constantly evolves in the glass from a dark fruity aroma into the rich old oak and leather smell of a well worn ancient university library, a hint of nutmeg and baking spices, with a lingering scent of sand covered floors.
Palate:
Cherry cola, overripe banana peels, nougat and rich Caramel- essentially if you barrel aged a Mars bar and bottled it that would be this whiskey. The oak is present but not aggressive, an impressive feat undoubtedly accomplished by melding together 5 different age statements and mashbills to craft this release. There is a particularly orange/fruit forward yeast that you capture in the nose that hangs around like a phantom flavor, mingling with the dark chocolate and caramel and providing the perfect balance to the richness of the wood.
Finish:
The finish lingers nicely thanks to the oils that reveal themselves with the long legs they leave streaking down the glass. Chocolate covered coffeee beans and cedar smoking planks hover give way to a sweet candy aftertaste that leaves me questioning whether this wasn’t a liquid candy bar all along.
Comments:
It’s easy to get swept away in gimmicks in an industry where the biggest fans might spend more time obsessing over the packaging than the whiskey inside. This is no gimmick with the whiskey inside being even better than the beautiful presentation. While I would have loved to try a whiskey that spent its entire life maturing in those 300 year old oak barrels its pretty clear the impact they had on shaping the flavor profile after only 14 months. While these bottles will only be available for purchase at the distillery’s gift shops in both Louisville and Bardstown, the distillery sought to increase their availability by having them bottled in 375ml, doubling the number of bottles that will be available for eager buyers to purchase, and at a price of $99.99 I’m going to have to make a few visits to the gift shop to stock up.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Tzvi (Todd) Wiesel

Tzvi (Todd) Wiesel is the Co-Founder and CEO of BAXUS, an on-chain whisky marketplace. With years of experience in the industry, Todd is passionate about whisky investmemt and trading, as well as trying new whiskies wherever possible. Todd is the head of our US reviews team and is based in New York.

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