Bourbon

Whiskey Review: King of Kentucky

We review King of Kentucky, a new limited-edition 14-year-old single barrel bourbon from Brown-Forman.

OVERALL RATING

8
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Tasting Notes

About:

Straight Kentucky bourbon. Fourteen years old. Suggested retail price of $199. Bottlings are 62.5% and 72.5% ABV. My sample was unlabeled for barrel or proof.
Appearance:
Deep mahogany.
Nose:
It might be late summer out there, but in this glass I hear Yule bells chiming. I get powdered sugar, fruitcake, gingerbread, eggnog dusted with nutmeg, and the inside of an oak chest that doesn’t get opened very often. Festive!
Palate:
Hang on to your sinuses folks, because this is hot. Maybe I got a sample from the 72.5% ABV bottling? Drinking this neat feels a little like going on a roller coaster that you had to stand on your tip-toes to get into. It’s a little too scary to be fun, and you spend most of the time clinging to the sides murmuring to yourself, “It’ll be over soon, it’ll be over soon.” Anyway, water helps immensely. I get lots of sweetness and pronounced eggnog, plus dried cherries, blackberry jam thumbprint cookies, wet paint, loads of vanilla, cinnamon, and brittle toffee. The oak is very well integrated and the long finish, while not without sweetness, ends on a dry note.
Finish:
Comments:
The nose is fantastic, but at bottle proof the drinking experience is pretty rough. If you love high-proof bourbon you won’t be disappointed, and if you don’t? Well, there’s not much to go around, so my suggestion is to leave this for the fire breathers—you know who you are.

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.

Margarett Waterbury

Margarett Waterbury is the author of "Scotch: A Complete Introduction to Scotland's Whiskies" and a full-time freelance writer and editor specializing in the beverage industry. Her work has graced the pages of numerous publications, including Whisky Advocate, Food and Wine, Spirited Magazine, Artisan Spirit, Edible Seattle, Sip Northwest, Civil Eats, Travel Oregon, and many others. She also boasts editorial experience as the former managing editor of Edible Portland and as a co-founder and former managing editor of The Whiskey Wash. In recognition of her talent, Margarett received the Alan Lodge Young Drinks Writer of the Year award in 2017 and was awarded fellowships for the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers in 2017 and 2019.

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