Taste Test: King of Kentucky’s New Whiskey Is a High-Proof Bourbon Bomb That Doesn’t Overwhelm
Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.
The King has returned. I’m not talking about LeBron James putting up decent numbers to start off the NBA season, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands coming back to America, or even the resurrection of Elvis. I’m talking about the seventh edition of Brown-Forman’s King of Kentucky Bourbon, a high-proof, well-aged, extremely collectible bottle that delivers in flavor and quality, as one should expect from a whiskey this expensive.
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King of Kentucky isn’t a new whiskey brand, but it is very different from what it once was. It started out in 1881 as a straight bourbon, but after Brown-Forman acquired the brand in 1936 the company turned it into an inferior blended whiskey. In 1968, the king was dead and the brand was discontinued. Fast forward to 2018 when Brown-Forman revived King of Kentucky as a single barrel, barrel-strength straight bourbon. Regarding the term “barrel strength” or “barrel proof”—I had a chance to chat with Brown-Forman master distiller Chris Morris recently, who is also the master distiller emeritus for Woodford Reserve. He’s responsible for selecting the barrels that go into each King of Kentucky release, and firmly believes that the term “barrel proof” should only be used when referring to a single barrel whiskey like this. That’s why Woodford uses the term “batch proof” for its barrel-proof whiskey, because it’s a blend of many different barrels (which are actually rinsed after dumping). Most brands, like Booker’s for example, use the term barrel strength even though each release is a marriage of multiple barrels, and for consumers that makes sense. But it was an interesting take from an interesting man who is one of the most knowledgeable voices in Kentucky bourbon.
But I digress. King of Kentucky is not made from Brown-Forman’s Old Forester or Woodford mashbills; it’s made from the old Early Times mashbill of 79 percent corn, 11 percent rye, 10 percent malted barley (Early Times was sold to Sazerac a few years ago, so it’s not produced by Brown-Forman anymore). This year’s release was a batch of 63 barrels filled between July 19, 2007 and November 15, 2007, according to Morris, which were aged in warehouses G and J at the Brown-Forman Distillery. Each bottle is numbered and labeled to indicate the proof, warehouse, age, and barrel number. The sample I got to taste was from barrel 10, a 16-year-old bourbon bottled at 130.4 proof.
That’s normally a bit too high for my liking. I enjoy barrel-proof bourbon (apologies, Chris, I’m still using that term), but generally speaking I prefer it in the mid-120s range where it has significant flavor but isn’t overbearing with alcohol. That being said, this bourbon is fantastic, and though it sounds like a cliche (because it is), it drinks softer than its high proof. There are notes of sweet vanilla, cotton candy, crystallized brown sugar, Cherry Coke, banana pudding, and caramel coating the palate. The finish is hot, as you would expect, but from beginning to end this bourbon is layered and textured and complex despite its hefty ABV (or perhaps because of it), and it’s probably the best recent example of King of Kentucky I’ve tasted.
Yes, this is an expensive bottle at $350, but that’s nothing compared to the price it’ll go for once it hits the secondary market, which often ranges into the thousands. But if you’re a passionate collector with a dedicated whiskey fund, go for it—you will not be disappointed.
Score: 96
100 Worth trading your first born for
95 – 99 In the Pantheon: A trophy for the cabinet
90 – 94 Great: An excited nod from friends when you pour them a dram
85 – 89 Very Good: Delicious enough to buy, but not quite special enough to chase on the secondary market
80 – 84 Good: More of your everyday drinker, solid and reliable
Below 80 It’s alright: Honestly, we probably won’t waste your time and ours with this
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