Sweetens Cove: Kennessee Review

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By now most enthusiasts know the Sweetens Cove story, but let me spell it out for you in one sentence. What do you get when you combine a golf course in Tennessee, a celebrity ownership group with Peyton Manning as the talking (fore)head and a debut release that wanted over $200 per bottle for sourced Dickel? The answer is Sweetens Cove bourbon. Many enthusiasts balked at the price for the inaugural release, so Sweetens Cove subsequently put out a blended version while dropping the price down to $130. But this review isn’t about either of those bottles. It’s about the one that came next which was supposed to be their foray into obtainable shelfers – Sweetens Cove Kennessee.

Kentucky + Tennessee = Kennessee

While the first two releases of Sweetens Cove were designed to be pricey by design to help grab some recognition for the brand, Kennessee was designed to be an everyday bourbon for the everyday enthusiast. The name is obviously a nod to the fact that both Kentucky and Tennessee straight bourbons were blended together with an additional step of being “finished with toasted sugar‑maple wood.”

That “finished” process could mean different things to different people – which was probably by design of Sweetens Cove marketing team – but the curtain has been pulled back to reveal that the blend was put into stainless steel tanks and some sugar-maple wood spirals were thrown in to impart their flavors to the liquid.

Similar processes have been used by other producers for about a decade now. Notably, Maker’s Mark inserts flat wood planks (they call “staves”) into their “46” series or their Wood Finished Series. Broken Barrel uses actual staves from various smashed barrels. Even 13th Colony has admitted to using maple wood staves in their bourbon and rye whiskey as a way to impart different flavors (and to temper over-oaked bitterness I’ve heard).

The one thing that Sweetens Cove has to stand out from that crowd is Master Blender Marianne Eaves. Her fame in the bourbon world took her from Brown-Forman to Castle & Key before being asked to help blend for Sweetens Cove. After doing some research about how exactly all of the components for Kennessee have come together, I can’t find many answers. Some information says that the barrels were sent to Kentucky to be further matured and blended. They also tie it into the bourbon broker “Brindiamo” who is a big partner with Bardstown Bourbon Company. Other sources point to the brand blending and bottling in Columbia, Tennessee which is codeword for the ultra-secretive Tennessee Distilling Group.

Both Brindiamo/Bardstown Bourbon Company and Tennessee Distilling Group have operated under the same kinds of methods since 2016. Both have distilled their own spirits while simultaneously sourcing bulk barrels from other distilleries. This gives them a wider portfolio for customers looking to purchase more than one kind of whiskey if, say, they want to create a unique blend.

I’m laying all of this out as a way of telling you I’m not exactly sure of the components for this blend. The Tennessee component could be Dickel, but since it’s probably around 4 or 5 years old, there’s a good chance it was made at TDG using whatever mash bill they wanted. There’s also a good chance the Kentucky component was made at Bardstown Bourbon Company rather than the usual suspects like Barton or Heaven Hill.

Whatever the blend is made up of, maybe tasting it will give me more of a clue. Sweetens Cove thankfully bottles this blend at an impressive 110.7 proof (and continues to do so with each batch). It has been priced at a very reasonable ~$55 for the few years its been out which has been impressive. So how is it and should you buy a bottle? Or save your money for their new 5 and 6 year old releases? Let’s find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: A slightly nutty element (pecan) can be found side by side with notes of vanilla pudding. There are caramel and maple candy scents throughout and they attach themselves to everything. I can get some spice notes like cinnamon and black pepper, but they’re faint for the proof. I am also picking up on a little antacid note which I’m assuming could be coming from the Tennessee component. Fruit notes and oak notes are few and far between with the occasional cherry and barrel char scent showing up from time to time, but they’re not really impactful enough.

Palate: Caramel, maple and toasted oak vanilla notes make up the majority of the palate. These are joined by a bit of syrup, coffee cake and brown sugar which emphasize the sweet elements in this bourbon even more. I also find a little bit of peanut brittle throughout. Once again, I can’t find too many stand-out fruit notes to tell you about, but it seems like there are some generic kinds of jams/jellies within. The mouthfeel is pleasantly viscous which is good, but the heat has a way of sneaking up on you throughout. It’s nothing an experienced enthusiast can’t overcome, but I can see new drinkers recoiling a bit, haha.

Finish: A fairly average finish length (probably because of the sugar-maple finish) that doesn’t get bitter but will gradually build with heat. Baking spices like cinnamon and pepper are more prominent, but still play second fiddle to maple candies, vanilla pudding and brown sugar. It’s pleasant, but not terribly complex.

Score: 6.4/10

I can see the allure of the sugar-maple spirals being used in this blend – it imparts additional candy sweetness to a blend of younger bourbons. This has helped reduce any youthful off-notes at the expense of the final product tasting perhaps too sweet. I imagine that the sweetness level was only amplified at a lower proof which is probably why the decision was made to have it bottled at 110+ proof. That, or their marketing team thought that newer whiskey drinkers would prefer to drink their Kennessee with ice in it which would dilute it a bit. Both could be true.

Overall, I find it hard not recommending this whiskey where it’s at. It’s affordable, available and has just enough flavor and character to satisfy most people. I was thinking it would be good before I even took my first sip, but now I can be sure.

Final Thoughts

As an ongoing expression, Kennessee demonstrates how Sweetens Cove chose to evolve beyond its initial luxury positioning. That’s a good thing because I don’t think it was working for anyone. What’s in this bottle doesn’t push boundaries in terms of aging or complexity, but it was never marketed as such. It’s simply a bourbon that delivers a repeatable profile with enough similarities to other Tennessee Whiskies (which I think is the marketing demographic they were hoping to hit) while also being somewhat unique and distinct enough to hold its own on any liquor store shelf. It’s a shame I didn’t review it sooner.