Bardstown Bourbon Co. Founders KBS Stout Finish

I guess this is the name? Nose - Super soured dickel notes with some hints of chocolate to start. As it develops I get orange citrus elements, almost an orange vitamin chew. It's now transitioning into more complex citrus with some coca powder. At the 170 I paid, lets just say this is a massive fail on the nose, but it's interesting. Taste - So I'm influenced but lets go with my first thoughts and then all I can taste. At first you get this citrus bomb with odd oak and dickel vitamins. All this is on this crazy velvety mouth feel. And then it finishes in creamy milk chocolate. The second pour is more nutty almost hazelnut coffee comes through, then citrus and chocolate. Now...after influence, my god it's heavy orange citrus bitters. I should wait longer to review this but both times I've poured this, I've had different feelings. This time the citrus is way higher, last time it was way more chocolate. I'm honestly not sure how i feel about this, but I have to give this a score. So price - this SHOULD be about 130-140, but for some reason my store wanted 170 and I bought it....I'm dumb. Watch it be on sale in a week for retail....they did the same on ferrand. This is the most unique bourbon I've ever had. Coffee, weird bourbon, and chocolate. The blending here and work done with the finishing is really interesting. This is a must try, not even for the quality but how unique it is. Score? Oh lord....lets go with a 2.5. It's enjoyable, but confusing. I can't even start to tell you if you should or shouldn't buy it. I'm glad I got it because it's crazy weird. I think many will hate it. I think many will love it. I can't imagine this won't create a lot of extreme bias among vocal people, but I think a lot of us are going to be confused lol.

Nose: Dark chocolate, nutmeg cherry, berries, wet wood, slightly sour yeast. Taste: sweet hot berries, lingering warm cinnamon, orange peel, ending in a lasting and slightly bitter chocolate finish on the sides of the mouth. I wasn't too impressed when I quickly tried this after some other bourbons. However if you sit with it (especially as the only poor of the night on a fresh pallette, maybe the first pour of the week) it grows into a mature and complex dram. The chocolate notes on the nose show up as cocoa but on the palate the flavor hides until the end hitting the sides of the mouth as dark chocolate, and not the 50% stuff but 90% dark, the bitter lingering stuff. I'm really pleased I grabbed a bottle after my unimpressed initial impression because it's a joy to sit with and break apart. Just have it on its own or the subtle flavors might be missed.

Had this on my must try list. I’m very familiar with Founder’s brews, especially CBS and the KBS expressions. I love them all, so I was very excited to finally find this for under $200. After getting a cocoa note on the nose, I couldn’t wait to taste it. But other than that nose, and a slight chocolaty flavor during the finish, I don’t taste the KBS at all. Hoping maybe this will change over time, and the flavor I’d expected to find will show up. It’s not a bad bourbon at all, maybe a little thinner than I’d hoped, just not what I expected. 2/22/23 - Revisited this bottle this evening to see if the KBS finish was more apparent. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. I get some classic bourbon sweetness on the nose, but it doesn’t carry over to the palate. Still thin also, and finished this time around with a fair amount of ethanol burn. Still disappointing.

Nose is musty. There’s brine, honey, citrus. Sugar. Cedar. Caramel. Smells old. Body is bitter, with coffee beans and stout beer on the front end. Sugar and paper hit later (don’t act like you don’t know what paper tastes like.) Finish is heavy on chocolate and maple syrup. Sugar lingers. Mild baking spices. The nose is the champ here. Body is funky, and overall I can’t say I like it. This is another one of those rare misses for Bardstown. I can’t find a way to justify purchasing this bottle. While the stout finish is obvious, I can’t really see a way it adds depth to this whiskey.

Not on cognac level but very good with dark chocolate, nutty, Dark fruit, and coffee like tasting notes Nose: Dark Chocolate, Espresso, Peaches, Maple Syrup, Treacle, Molasses, Nutella, White Chocolate Palate: White Chocolate, Mocha, Dark Chocolate, Honey, Treacle, Bananas, Walnuts, Hazlenuts, Raisins, Cherries, Brown Sugar Finish: Grapefruit, Almonds, Treacle, Espresso, Mocha, Honey, Blood Oranges, Gingerbread, Raisins, Christmas Cakes

The nose has cooked meat (think beef jerky more than bbq) with hints of pepper and oak. The color on this is a deee chocolate walnut. The first sip highlights a surprisingly light mouth feel with hints of dark chocolate (unsweetened). The second sip hits with chocolate malt, black pepper, and a mouth drying tannic finish. It’s better than many stouted bourbons I’ve had. But not a hitter.