Bardstown Bourbon Company Discovery #13 Review

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The success of Bardstown Bourbon Company’s Discovery Series seems to come in waves. If you were one of the lucky few to experience their first four releases, you were in for a treat of well-aged Kentucky (and sometimes Indiana) bourbon that seemed like it was made from a long-lost heritage distillery. Then they began to use Dickel, Canadian Whiskey and bourbon from a defunct distillery in Georgia for releases #5 thru #10 and everyone kind of lost interest.

Discovery #11 brought the series back into the limelight when it was leaked that the 13-year-old component was sourced from Wild Turkey. It became a legend overnight. Discovery #12 was similarly well-liked but was such a small release (about 1/4 the size of Discovery #11) that it didn’t make as big of a splash as the previous series.

Now that Discovery #13 is out, the question on most people’s minds is how it compares to some of their better releases. It does have the all-important sourced Wild Turkey component in it (albeit just 20% of the overall blend) which is now 15-years-old, but what else?

Based on the label, we see that there is a 9-year-old 74/18/8 component (Barton), another 9-year-old component with the familiar Heaven Hill 78/10/12 mash bill and an 8-year-old 70/21/9 component that is surely from Green River Distillery (which BBCo owns). Once the blend all came together, the folks at BBCo took 60% of the blend and finished it for 4 months in Hungarian Oak casks (this seems to be a very trendy wood) and the other 40% went into new American charred oak casks

Enthusiasts love to see when the Discovery blend is all Kentucky bourbon, but will the specs make the sum greater than the parts? Let’s find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: This smells like a bourbon drinker’s bourbon. Lots of caramel, vanilla pudding and brown sugar sweetness right off the bat. They are joined by a decent helping of baking spices like cinnamon, allspice, ground peppercorn and rye spice. I can smell some nut butter in the background which reminds me of Beam and Heaven Hill, but it’s not as impactful as those brands typically are. Fruit comes by way of simple cherry, raisin and orange peel scents. The oak notes are well done and permeate everywhere. There’s even a little bit of leather glove in the background.

Palate: It feels like the oak and barrel char on the tongue is starting to cover up some of the sweeter notes in this bourbon. There are still caramel and toffee, but they’re not as impactful. Leather and a hint of chocolate give some heft to each sip while baking spices like pepper, cinnamon and a bit of ground ginger root provide some contrast – almost like a high-rye bourbon would. The fruit notes become a bit darker with more cherries, some grapes and even fig jam. Occasionally, I notice a soft flavor that’s almost like marshmallow fluff. I don’t think these barrels were toasted, but a toasted effect seems to come through.

Finish: Oak (both dry and seasoned), cherries, barrel char and baking spices seem to be the frontrunners for leftover flavors after the sip is complete. Other flavors are there (chocolate, vanilla, tobacco), but in smaller amounts that make you quickly forget about them. The finish is fine, but a bit on the simple side.

Score: 8.1/10

Bardstown Bourbon Company Discovery #13 is a fine bourbon that reminds me of some of Barrell Bourbon’s batches from 14 to 29 – well blended and flavorful. But it’s missing something that makes it stand out from other bourbons that score in the mid-to-high 8’s. And for $140, I better find something that stands out a little bit.

Am I saying it’s bad? No. But I don’t feel as if the extra oak finishes did enough to enhance it. Personally, I wonder if the product development team at BBCo didn’t try to make up for the lack of age with the extra barrel finishing. It’s a good strategy, but I didn’t find it paid off.

Final Thoughts

With so much bourbon on the market today, blending and finishing is about the only way for producers to make something truly unique. Bardstown is in my top 3 producers for both of those categories, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to hit it out of the park every time. Unfortunately, Discovery #13 doesn’t have enough “wow” factor for me to recommend to buy it at its current cost. If you did buy one before you read this review, I have no doubt that you’ll enjoy it. But for me, my money is going to go towards something else that I’ll enjoy just a little bit more.