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Bardstown Bourbon Company is no stranger to blending and finishing whiskey. For more than 7 years we’ve been treated to lineups like their Discovery Series (blends of sourced whiskey) and Collaboration Series (whiskey finished in various beer, wine and spirits casks). I suppose it was only a matter of time before they would get into double barrel experiments like their new Distillery Reserve series.
Bardstown Bourbon Company Distillery Reserve
The concept behind Bardstown Bourbon Company’s Distillery Reserve seems to involve using unique wood casks to finish blends of bourbon in. If this sounds familiar to you, it’s because other producers are starting to create similar expressions focusing solely on the wood – most notably Buffalo Trace’s Charter Oak series, Four Gate’s Split Stave Series and Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series.
Shortly after Cathedral French Oak dropped, an upcoming label was sighted on the TTB’s website showing Mizunara Oak as the next finishing barrel (read more on what makes Mizunara Oak so unique here). This makes me think Distillery Reserve will be a label solely for secondary wood barrel finishes instead wine or spirits cask finishes – otherwise it would be infringing on their Collaboration Series lineup. Time will tell if I’m right on this assumption.
Cathedral French Oak
When I first had the concept of Cathedral French Oak explained to me, I was told it was bourbon finished in French Oak that was actually salvaged from the Notre Dame fire in 2019. I was shocked. But a few Google searches later revealed that its name was chosen because the barrels were built from the same batch of oak trees from the same forest that were used in repairs on the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Those oak trees were harvested from the national forest of Bercé in France shortly after the fire in 2019. This forest was apparently planted back when Louis XIV was king in the early 1700s. It’s not clear if the oak used to make the barrels came from excess (scrap?) wood collected during the lumber hewing process or if these trees were already destined to become barrels and just so happened to be harvested at the same time as the oak used to repair the Notre Dame Cathedral. This is never fully explained.
However the staves came to be, they were made into barrels by the French cooperage Tonnellerie Baron. The odd thing is that I scoured both Tonnelleirie’s and Bardstown Bourbon Company’s social media and didn’t see a single picture of what they looked like. You might think that a barrel is a barrel is a barrel, but for something with a name that links itself to such a well-recognized icon in the world of organized religion, I’d expect to see at least one picture. If you want my opinion on why they didn’t, I think they didn’t want enthusiasts to see how it looked like just another ordinary set of barrels. That might take away some of the magic. Just the story would suffice.
A word about those barrels
Bardstown Bourbon Company only took delivery of six of these French Oak barrels. I’m not sure of their size, but Tonnellerie Baron’s social media page shows a picture of a barrel sizing gauge (to measure the staves against) that I assume is found in their workshop. Based on the numbers I see, it doesn’t look like they make any of the larger 300L or 400L barrels that I’ve seen some wine producers use.
I mention barrel size because if there were only 3,000 375ml bottles produced, that would be an outturn of 1,125 liters. That means the barrels could technically be any of those sizes listed above (my guess is they were 225L). But since pictures of the barrels don’t exist, I guess we won’t really know.
Dan Callaway, BBCo’s VP of Hospitality and Product Development, has said these barrels have already been refilled with more bourbon and tucked away in a warehouse. So I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a second Cathedral Oak release in another year. That’s the glory of French Oak – they can be reused many times over without losing as much of their potency. Speaking of Dan Callaway, his point of contact to get these barrels was Tonnellerie Baron’s East Coast Sales representative Rocky Deterts. Rocky was originally excited to sell Dan barrels made from oak harvested in the Poupon forest of France rather than these ones. But Dan recognized the tie-in to the cathedral and figured it would make for better marketing.
Two more things about the barrels that we don’t know are how long the staves were air dried for and if the barrels were toasted, charred or both. Regarding the air-dried time, the math works out to be somewhere between 24 and 36 months. That’s more than a typical American White Oak bourbon barrel which averages 6 months. These trees were probably cut down in late 2019 or early 2020 and BBCo would have taken delivery of them no later than December 2023. After the staves were dried and the the barrel was assembled, it likely received a toast and possibly a char. I say “possibly” because I’m skeptical about the char part only because wine and cognac typically don’t use charred barrels for aging. If I find out the answer, I’ll update this section.
Breaking down the blend
Taking a look at the blend, we see a very mature batch of distillate that was blended together for this release. This might account more for the high cost of the final product (remember, this would be a $200 bottle if it was sold in 750ml form) than the French Oak barrels. it was finished in.
The blend averages out to 15.02 years old – impressive by any standard. I also want to comment on the 9-year-old component that I listed as “likely distilled at Wild Turkey.” The only reason I’m throwing that out there is because I’ve seen and heard of a few NDPs gaining access to 8 and 9-year-old barrels of Wild Turkey over the last year. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what this is.
Now without further ado, let’s get on with the tasting notes. A special thanks to my friend James who gave me this opportunity after I missed an early morning drop at the downtown Louisville location by 20 minutes. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
Tasting Notes
Nose: The nose comes off as impressively sweet with rich caramel that pairs well with the depth of the oak that’s seemingly everywhere. Looking past these two dominant notes I can find a slight banana custard scent that is paired with Nilla Wafers. I even find a little bit of maple (wood + syrup) which is strange because you’d think the heavier oak scent would cover it up. Finally, I can find a bit of ash that I wasn’t expecting. Am I just imagining that?
Palate: A nice tapestry of oak flavors wraps around every other flavor in my glass. It’s not overwhelming, but it gives a much more mature sensation. I can taste banana cream pudding, pie dough and vanilla custard. For fruit notes, I find some light cherry and a bit of lemon zest. There is a flavor similar to graham crackers which I wonder if it’s coming from the distillate or the wood. Baking spices also add more layers to the palate with allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg rounding out the remaining flavors.
Finish: What is up with the banana notes? This isn’t Jack Daniel’s, haha. The banana on the finish reminds me more of a banana cream pie. The custard turns into coconut milk. The graham cracker remains. There’s a nice blend of vanilla, buttery oak, light leather and ground cinnamon.
Score: 7.9/10
Bardstown Bourbon Company Cathedral French Oak is delicious and impressive with its layered, sweet and rich oak notes that draw in your nose and make you never want to take it out of the glass. For that fact alone, I’d recommend it to anyone. I did notice it kind of lacks in complexity after you get past all of that oak. If it did have more to offer, that would easily bump it into a much higher rating. As it stands, this is still a fantastic French Oak finished bourbon.
Final Thoughts
For as much as I enjoyed my time with this bottle, I have to remind myself that this is just another limited time offering designed to draw attention to the brand and keep enthusiasts engaged during this downturn across the industry. In other words, it’s kind of a gimmick – albeit a gimmick that has some swagger and a seriously good blend of bourbon behind it. The fact that BBCo also released this in 375ml bottles feels like the right move because it allows more people to have access to it.
In the end, I don’t want you to feel like you missed out if you didn’t get a chance to buy one. I already mentioned this doesn’t look like the last time we’ll be seeing these barrels used. The takeaway from this review is that it’s nothing more than a very good French Oak finished bourbon. If you typically never liked that kind of finish in the past, then don’t stress about finding this one. Skip the high secondary prices or expensive bar pours and find peace in saving your money for something even better.