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.
What would happen if you tried making a blend of some of the most collectible bottles you can find—think Pappy 15, Michter’s 20, and Boss Hog? On second thought, that seems like an expensive experiment to undertake with uncertain results, but the folks at Brown-Forman decided to try something similar with their own legendary stocks. The new Kentucky Boy bourbon combines three of the company’s most revered and sought-after whiskeys—Birthday Bourbon, King of Kentucky, and Woodford Reserve Double Oaked—and the final blend is truly excellent.
Kentucky Boy arrived fairly quietly a few weeks ago, at least as far as the general public was concerned, but according to master distiller emeritus Chris Morris, it made a big splash at the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival. I spoke to him recently, and he told me that he spent several hours signing bottles for eager fans waiting in a line that wrapped around the block. Kentucky Boy was conceived by Old Forester assistant master distiller Caleb Trigo and Woodford Reserve master distiller Elizabeth McCall as a heartfelt tribute to Morris to celebrate his remarkable 50th anniversary working with Brown-Forman. The name itself came from an old, historical brand that they discovered tucked away in the company’s archives, which originally represented a young bourbon released regionally in the years immediately following the end of Prohibition. This modern revival version, however, is something radically different and far more elevated.
According to Morris, this release is literally a unique blend of the aforementioned high-end bourbons. To understand the liquid, it helps to look at its component parts: Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is that distillery’s classic bourbon given a secondary maturation period in a fresh set of heavily charred oak barrels; King of Kentucky is Brown-Forman’s highly coveted annual single-barrel, barrel-proof release that has transformed into a major collector’s item over the past few years; and Birthday Bourbon is Old Forester’s signature annual expression released to celebrate founder George Garvin Brown’s birthday, with the most recent editions earning widespread critical acclaim. So what does it actually mean to combine all of these distinct whiskeys into a single bottle? It turns out that it involves far more than simply slapping various famous names onto different barrels. The Double Oaked portion follows a straightforward secondary maturation process, while according to Morris, the other two foundational bourbons are intentionally set aside after barreling specifically for their respective flagship labels. In other words, there are significant, highly regulated ways in which these liquids are carefully allocated and monitored as they age across the company’s rackhouses.
When I asked Morris if he knew the exact percentages of each whiskey used in the final blend, he admitted that he did not, though he did note that it is definitely not an equal-parts mixture. Whatever the precise formulation might be, Kentucky Boy is a genuinely superb bourbon. The concept of combining such legendary brand names into a single release could easily be dismissed as a marketing gimmick, but you simply cannot argue with the results in the glass—or if you try, you are bound to lose that argument. The bourbon is clearly well-aged, offering a rich profile of oak, dark chocolate, tobacco, and leather where the influence of the Double Oaked component clearly makes itself known, yet it never goes overboard or loses its balance. It firmly reads as a classic Brown-Forman product, with signature ripe fruit and banana notes peeking through as you sip, while the palate is chock-full of rich flavors like butterscotch, vanilla, cinnamon, cherry cola, and just a subtle hint of black pepper and nutmeg. There is also a welcome flash of heat at 100 proof, and honestly, I am quite glad this was not released as a raw barrel-proof expression, as the proof point hits the sweet spot for complexity and drinkability.
Of course, good luck actually finding a bottle on standard shelves, because Kentucky Boy was produced in a very limited run and has already proven to be immensely popular among collectors and enthusiasts. The whiskey has seen distribution at select retailers across Kentucky as well as through Old Forester’s online store, which ships to a limited number of states, but secondary market bottles are already commanding triple the original $100 asking price online. Because, of course, they are. Still, that secondary price tag is often cheaper than many of the other ultra-collectible bourbons currently dominating the secondary market, and I firmly believe that this is one special release where you will not regret dropping some cash if you manage to track down a bottle.
Score: 95
