Bardstown Bourbon Company Drops 3 New Collaborative Whiskeys

Bardstown Bourbon Company, located in its namesake city of Bardstown, Kentucky, is one of a growing number of craft whiskey distilleries trying to move the needle on what we consider Kentucky bourbon traditionally to be. One way they do is is through their Collaboration line up, an ongoing series of bottlings partnering them with other liquor makers and the barrels they make use of. Three new collaborations in this regard are now out for your consideration.

The first in what’s new in the Bardstown Collaboration series is a tie up between the distillery and Copper & Kings, a Kentucky brandy maker. What one has here is Bardstown Bourbon Company Copper & Kings American Apple Brandy bourbon, an American apple brandy finish featuring an 11-year-old Indiana bourbon polished in select apple brandy barrels for 20 months. It is bottled at 120.4 proof and prices around $125 per 750 ml bottle.

“Apple brandy barrel aging creates a perfect pairing of fruit and vanilla,” said Bardstown Bourbon Company Master Distiller, Steve Nally in a prepared statement. “You really get this indulgent array of apple, caramel and baking spice in a rich, lightly dry, crisply complex pour.”

Adding on top of this between this two Kentucky distilleries is Bardstown Bourbon Company Copper & Kings Double Muscat Mistelle bourbon, an “an extremely limited release of a 10-year-old bourbon finished first for 18 months in Copper & Kings Muscat Mistelle barrels, and then re-barreled for an additional finish in new, freshly charred American oak casks for 19 months.” It is bottled at 91.9 proof, costs around $350 per 750 ml bottle and is available at Bardstown Bourbon Company’s onsite gift shop only.

Alongside these two Bardstown/Copper King collaborations is also debuting a partnership release with Louisville’s Goodwood Brewing Company. What’s known as Bardstown Bourbon Company Goodwood Brewing Company Honey Ale bourbon is bottled at 110.1 proof as an “11-year-old bourbon is finished in Goodwood Brewing Brandy Barrel Honey Ale casks for 18 months resulting in a rich bourbon accentuated by layers of honey, caramel, fig, malt and dried fruit. A nuanced finish of finely crafted ale enhances this unique pour.” It prices around $125 per 750 ml bottle.

Bardstown and Goodwood, come 2020, will be at it again with a planned release of a bourbon “finished in Walnut Brown Ale casks.”