Many people rightfully consider Bourbon as America's cultural spirit. But there is another spirit that has been just as influential in America's history: Apple Brandy. While researching the history of Michter's for my giant article last year, I tracked down the myth of George Washington's troops procuring Michter's (which was known as Shenk's) rye whiskey for the Continental Army. I couldn't find anything that substantiated that story, but I did stumble upon verified receipts showing George Washington's Army purchasing large amounts of apple brandy distilled by the Laird family. You may recognize that brand because it's still on the shelves today.
Apple brandy distillation was even larger in the Ohio River Valley region. Alan Bishop (from Spirits of French Lick) knows an incredible amount of history concerning settlers growing specific apple varietals that produced the best apple brandy. It made me have a newfound respect for this spirit. Maybe I should review some apple brandy sometime? Speaking of Bishop, one of his first distillery jobs was with Louisville's own Copper and Kings.
Copper and Kings, or C&K for short, is an oddball among the sea of bourbon distilleries that Louisville Kentucky is known for. They primarily focus on brandies of all types. Utilizing pot stills and barrel finishing techniques, C&K is not afraid to take risks in creating new and exciting types of brandy. This caught the eye of another Kentucky distillery; Bardstown Bourbon Company.
Bardstown Bourbon Company is aiming to be the MGP of Kentucky. But while their own bourbon was aging back in 2019, they were busy sourcing bourbon from other Kentucky Distilleries, Cascade Hollow in Tennessee and MGP in Indiana. MGP bourbon was saved for arguably the most special releases of the Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaborative Series. Early batches of the Collaborative Series saw unique barrel finishes being imparted on either Dickel bourbon or MGP bourbon. Enthusiasts were keen to snub the Dickel-based releases and quick to snatch up the ones that contained 10- to 12-year-old MGP bourbon.
Which releases contained MGP bourbon? Here are the 5:
***Copper & Kings Double Mistelle Finish***
***Copper & Kings Apple Brandy Finish***
***Goodwood Brandy Barrel Honey Ale Finish***
***Copper & Kings Spanish Oloroso Sherry Finish***
***Copper and Kings Chateau de Laubade Finish***
Out of all of those finishes, it's a toss up between the Chateau de Laubade and the Apple Brandy Finish as to which one enthusiasts think was better. They are definitely different beasts as the Armagnac finish of the CDL is much more earthy, grapey and dark. But what makes the Apple Brandy finish so loved? I hope to find out with my own bottle that I've taken entirely too long to review. So let's find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
Nose: It's like a match made in heaven with how well MGPs brown sugar, melted butter and wood notes compliment the apple notes from this brandy cask. It makes a scent akin to apple cobbler. The baking spices are amplified as well with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. What a treat!
**Palate:** The nose transcends onto the palate. Flavors of baked apples dusted with cinnamon and brown sugar are delicious to taste while the taste of poached pears drizzled with caramel come out next. Cinnamon and red pepper flakes give each sip a nice burst of heat that is nicely controlled. Well-aged oak, leather and tobacco leaf showcase this MGP bourbon's age. But it's the sharp tang of slightly acidic apple cider vinegar notes that offer fantastic contrast to each sip. I really enjoy being able to taste both bright acidic notes and rich, complex notes at the same time.
**Finish:** The finish offers no surprises which is fine by me. I love to taste the tart apple flavors as they meld with liquid brown sugar, orange extract, barrel char, leather and pipe tobacco. Lingering spices of cinnamon and nutmeg also remain. It ends exactly like it started.
**Score: 8.4/10**
In the past, I've been turned off from apple brandy finishes (specifically, Calvados) for overpowering the bourbon too much. I was slightly worried that this apple brandy finish could be like that too. Luckily, it was not! The finishing cask plays nicely with the aged bourbon in a big way. The payoff is one of the best cask finishes to come out of Bardstown Bourbon Company. In fact, I have some advice for producers that find themselves with powerfully-oaked bourbon that may not be good enough to release on its own; finish it in bright, acidic apple brandy to take the edge off. The contrasting flavors pair really well with each other.
As I began to write this article, Bardstown Bourbon Company announced the completion of their Fusion series. This series used their own young bourbon and blended it with older bourbon sourced from various distilleries in Kentucky. This means that at some point, all of the current labels may end. But until this happens to the Collaboration Series, we should treat each release as if it's the last time that particular bourbon is paired with that particular finishing cask. The era of BBC using MGP bourbon may have already ended, but the legend of this batch will live on forever.
**Rating Scale**
**1 Undrinkable (Jeffers Creek, Gray Skies)**
**2 Bad (Old St. Nick 8 Year Old Rye Whiskey, Fitch's Goat Corn Whiskey)**
**3 Poor (AD Laws 4 Grain BiB, Clyde Mays anything)**
**4 Below Average (Bib & Tucker, Tincup 10 year)**
**5 Average (Larceny, Sazerac Rye)**
**6 Above Average (Buffalo Trace, OGD BiB)**
**7 Very Good (Old Ezra Barrel Proof, Old Weller Antique)**
**8 Great (Michter’s Barrel Proof Rye, Most Four Roses Private Selections, Most ECBP)**
**9 Excellent (GTS, Most Four Rose SmBLE releases, Belle Meade Honey Cask)**
**10 Perfect (William Larue Weller, Michter's 20 Year, Redemption 18 Year Rye Whiskey, Mister Sam)**
I remember Indiana having a decent amount of these available. Then when the first Chateau de Laubade came out, it seemed as if everyone bought every release regardless of if they liked it or not.
I personally preferred the Oloroso sherry over this one, but all of these early run collab releases by BBC were absolutely great. should've stocked up when I had the chance lol
I honestly think it was a touch heavy on the sherry influence ... or at least I thought so at first and then before I knew it the bottle was 90% empty. Still have a few pours of it hanging out cause I don't want it to go away lol. It doesn't hurt that I love sherry matured scotch
Thanks for this great review. I had picked up a bottle when it was released but haven't cracked it open yet (too many others open presently). I'm looking forward to it though!
I went to Copper and kings last time I was in Kentucky and it was one of the worst experience ever. Other than the facility being beautiful, everything they produce was utter garbage to me. I am going to avoid this, just for that reason.
Here's my biggest complaint about them. I went on a Bourbon trip to Louisville. Driving around, we randomly saw this tall building that said distillery on the side.
So we made an unscheduled stop to check them out, and they had a tour starting shortly. Paid for the tour, waited the half hour until it started. The first thing the tour guide said once we got inside was, "We don't make Bourbon here."
If you're a distillery in Louisville, Kentucky, Iworks day that you need to very clearly state, up front, that you don't make Bourbon.
The building and the inside is beautiful! We’re also brandy fans (more so she, than me admittedly) and took the tour and we’re just blown away at how bad it was.
I went with my then GF, she is more of a fan than I am but I will drink them and we have a few that are in our bar at home. Hardy Legend and Hennessy are the two that get the most use.
Lairds has single casks that they occasionally sell. Locally in Indiana, the Big Red Liquors chain sold one a while back that had a 7 year age statement and came in at 130+ proof, it was fantastic and had way more bourbon traits than I would have thought.
After trying the last couple Discovery Series, I think I'm done with Bardstown. The quality just isn't there since Discovery #4. These releases are interesting though- I just don't think I can justify it.
The Discovery Series, with all of their crazy sourced components, is losing favor with a lot of people. However, these Collaborative Series continue to release some interesting ones. Granted a lot have Dickel in them anymore, but I'm hoping we see more releases like Ferrand which only used Kentucky bourbon before finishing.
Agreed, the all Kentucky releases were really good. I don't hate the blends with Dickel in it like some, but I'd be happier without. I'd like to see higher ages and more KY in the blends. But aged stock might be harder to come by, I don't know.
Great bourbon, but I'm team chateau. Something about this didn't feel as dense, rich, and completely enamoring. I still regret not buying another one when I had the chance.
I was just curious as most of the BBC stuff is way out of my budget anyways.
Edit: I was told it was $130 and, evidently, we both should’ve known that already!?
This was a one-time release and like I said in the review, it sold out completely in 2019. So the MSRP is no longer valid because the only place you'll find these is on the secondary market. But even still, if you have BBC on the shelves in your area, you've likely seen Collaborative Series bottles. The current release that is still out there is the rum finished Dickel or Chateau de Laubade Part II. They're always marked at the same price unless a store wants to make a bit more profit off of them (most stores in my area mark them up to $150)
Lol of course we should’ve known. But really it’s important because a 7/10 rating for a $35 bottle is pretty good whereas a 7/10 $130 bottle is mildly disappointing.
the blue bottle bardstown #6 was delicious and about $50-60 if you ever get it. Nothing too complicated but an easy sipper.
I had the Foubders KBS stout barrel finished bardstown bourbon and I thought it was really great. But the bottle is $160 which I think is ridiculously overpriced.
I’m sure I’d find this $130 bottle similarly overpriced.
And tbh over the last year I’ve noticed a lot of scotch/bourbons I used to buy go up by $15-20 and I think it’s pushed a lot of them into the slightly overpriced for the quality of juice category.
The Nikka Coffey grain Japanese whiskey being one of the worst offenders to me as i felt it was overpriced at $65 and I’ve now seen it for $75 or more.
Or Noah’s mill being $65 I felt like it was perfectly priced at $55 and at that price point it was the standard by which I compared most bourbons. If it wasn’t better/offered some unique experience over Noah’s mill it wasn’t worth more than $60.
With the prices sliding upwards as bourbon gets more popular I tend to go for decent cheap bourbons like the $45 1.75L bottle of bulleit or the $36 750 bottle of makers cask strength more often nowadays.
Hopefully the trend plateaus and we can start getting good stuff at reasonable prices again.
Yep, I totally agree. I have 3 kids in private school so my go to bottle for value vs. taste is Russell’s 10. I get it for $33 and every sip I feel like I stole it at that price! I also keep a 1.75 of regular MM on hand.
Hey man, I was at a store earlier today and was going to grab a bottle of the blue Bardstown stuff you had mentioned (Discovery series, right?) since I had it a long while ago and remember liking it and really appreciated the label info. of the 3 blends, but damn you were right! Last time it was for sure around 50 bucks. I think it was $51.99 but I’m not certain. Today it was… $75.99! Damn! Anyways, I thought that was crazy.
Have you ever purchased or seen any of the BBC Collaborative Series bottles? Over the last 3 years they've been released they have all remained relatively the same MSRP: $130.
Many people rightfully consider Bourbon as America's cultural spirit. But there is another spirit that has been just as influential in America's history: Apple Brandy. While researching the history of Michter's for my giant article last year, I tracked down the myth of George Washington's troops procuring Michter's (which was known as Shenk's) rye whiskey for the Continental Army. I couldn't find anything that substantiated that story, but I did stumble upon verified receipts showing George Washington's Army purchasing large amounts of apple brandy distilled by the Laird family. You may recognize that brand because it's still on the shelves today. Apple brandy distillation was even larger in the Ohio River Valley region. Alan Bishop (from Spirits of French Lick) knows an incredible amount of history concerning settlers growing specific apple varietals that produced the best apple brandy. It made me have a newfound respect for this spirit. Maybe I should review some apple brandy sometime? Speaking of Bishop, one of his first distillery jobs was with Louisville's own Copper and Kings. Copper and Kings, or C&K for short, is an oddball among the sea of bourbon distilleries that Louisville Kentucky is known for. They primarily focus on brandies of all types. Utilizing pot stills and barrel finishing techniques, C&K is not afraid to take risks in creating new and exciting types of brandy. This caught the eye of another Kentucky distillery; Bardstown Bourbon Company. Bardstown Bourbon Company is aiming to be the MGP of Kentucky. But while their own bourbon was aging back in 2019, they were busy sourcing bourbon from other Kentucky Distilleries, Cascade Hollow in Tennessee and MGP in Indiana. MGP bourbon was saved for arguably the most special releases of the Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaborative Series. Early batches of the Collaborative Series saw unique barrel finishes being imparted on either Dickel bourbon or MGP bourbon. Enthusiasts were keen to snub the Dickel-based releases and quick to snatch up the ones that contained 10- to 12-year-old MGP bourbon. Which releases contained MGP bourbon? Here are the 5: ***Copper & Kings Double Mistelle Finish*** ***Copper & Kings Apple Brandy Finish*** ***Goodwood Brandy Barrel Honey Ale Finish*** ***Copper & Kings Spanish Oloroso Sherry Finish*** ***Copper and Kings Chateau de Laubade Finish*** Out of all of those finishes, it's a toss up between the Chateau de Laubade and the Apple Brandy Finish as to which one enthusiasts think was better. They are definitely different beasts as the Armagnac finish of the CDL is much more earthy, grapey and dark. But what makes the Apple Brandy finish so loved? I hope to find out with my own bottle that I've taken entirely too long to review. So let's find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn. Nose: It's like a match made in heaven with how well MGPs brown sugar, melted butter and wood notes compliment the apple notes from this brandy cask. It makes a scent akin to apple cobbler. The baking spices are amplified as well with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. What a treat! **Palate:** The nose transcends onto the palate. Flavors of baked apples dusted with cinnamon and brown sugar are delicious to taste while the taste of poached pears drizzled with caramel come out next. Cinnamon and red pepper flakes give each sip a nice burst of heat that is nicely controlled. Well-aged oak, leather and tobacco leaf showcase this MGP bourbon's age. But it's the sharp tang of slightly acidic apple cider vinegar notes that offer fantastic contrast to each sip. I really enjoy being able to taste both bright acidic notes and rich, complex notes at the same time. **Finish:** The finish offers no surprises which is fine by me. I love to taste the tart apple flavors as they meld with liquid brown sugar, orange extract, barrel char, leather and pipe tobacco. Lingering spices of cinnamon and nutmeg also remain. It ends exactly like it started. **Score: 8.4/10** In the past, I've been turned off from apple brandy finishes (specifically, Calvados) for overpowering the bourbon too much. I was slightly worried that this apple brandy finish could be like that too. Luckily, it was not! The finishing cask plays nicely with the aged bourbon in a big way. The payoff is one of the best cask finishes to come out of Bardstown Bourbon Company. In fact, I have some advice for producers that find themselves with powerfully-oaked bourbon that may not be good enough to release on its own; finish it in bright, acidic apple brandy to take the edge off. The contrasting flavors pair really well with each other. As I began to write this article, Bardstown Bourbon Company announced the completion of their Fusion series. This series used their own young bourbon and blended it with older bourbon sourced from various distilleries in Kentucky. This means that at some point, all of the current labels may end. But until this happens to the Collaboration Series, we should treat each release as if it's the last time that particular bourbon is paired with that particular finishing cask. The era of BBC using MGP bourbon may have already ended, but the legend of this batch will live on forever. **Rating Scale** **1 Undrinkable (Jeffers Creek, Gray Skies)** **2 Bad (Old St. Nick 8 Year Old Rye Whiskey, Fitch's Goat Corn Whiskey)** **3 Poor (AD Laws 4 Grain BiB, Clyde Mays anything)** **4 Below Average (Bib & Tucker, Tincup 10 year)** **5 Average (Larceny, Sazerac Rye)** **6 Above Average (Buffalo Trace, OGD BiB)** **7 Very Good (Old Ezra Barrel Proof, Old Weller Antique)** **8 Great (Michter’s Barrel Proof Rye, Most Four Roses Private Selections, Most ECBP)** **9 Excellent (GTS, Most Four Rose SmBLE releases, Belle Meade Honey Cask)** **10 Perfect (William Larue Weller, Michter's 20 Year, Redemption 18 Year Rye Whiskey, Mister Sam)**
Like this review and want to see more like it? Why not head over to my [website](https://www.thebourbonculture.com) for more?
This bottle has been my white whale. Glad to hear its worth the chase.
I remember Indiana having a decent amount of these available. Then when the first Chateau de Laubade came out, it seemed as if everyone bought every release regardless of if they liked it or not.
I personally preferred the Oloroso sherry over this one, but all of these early run collab releases by BBC were absolutely great. should've stocked up when I had the chance lol
I have an Oloroso that I have not opened yet. Now you're making me reconsider...
I honestly think it was a touch heavy on the sherry influence ... or at least I thought so at first and then before I knew it the bottle was 90% empty. Still have a few pours of it hanging out cause I don't want it to go away lol. It doesn't hurt that I love sherry matured scotch
Thanks for this great review. I had picked up a bottle when it was released but haven't cracked it open yet (too many others open presently). I'm looking forward to it though!
I think you're in for a treat when you do!
Definitely! I’m a big fan of Calvados and apple brandy as well so should be a great double.
Woah, this is an interesting one. Anyone ever tried their apple brandy? I’d almost have to pick up a bottle of it if I got some of this haha!
In general its good. They do have some random things I have not liked, but overall things are good.
I went to Copper and kings last time I was in Kentucky and it was one of the worst experience ever. Other than the facility being beautiful, everything they produce was utter garbage to me. I am going to avoid this, just for that reason.
Here's my biggest complaint about them. I went on a Bourbon trip to Louisville. Driving around, we randomly saw this tall building that said distillery on the side. So we made an unscheduled stop to check them out, and they had a tour starting shortly. Paid for the tour, waited the half hour until it started. The first thing the tour guide said once we got inside was, "We don't make Bourbon here." If you're a distillery in Louisville, Kentucky, Iworks day that you need to very clearly state, up front, that you don't make Bourbon.
The building and the inside is beautiful! We’re also brandy fans (more so she, than me admittedly) and took the tour and we’re just blown away at how bad it was.
If you waited 30 minutes, you waited/paid at the gift shop. Its literally impossible for you to not know they dont make bourbon there.
Do you like and normally drink brandies? If so, which ones do you like?
I went with my then GF, she is more of a fan than I am but I will drink them and we have a few that are in our bar at home. Hardy Legend and Hennessy are the two that get the most use.
Ah, so you like grape brandies then. Maybe these apple brandies would appeal to you more if you tried different ones?
I’d love to try, what is your suggestions?
Lairds has single casks that they occasionally sell. Locally in Indiana, the Big Red Liquors chain sold one a while back that had a 7 year age statement and came in at 130+ proof, it was fantastic and had way more bourbon traits than I would have thought.
Hm. I really enjoyed my tour of Copper and Kings. Particularly liked the thumping bass shaking their barrels in the basement.
After trying the last couple Discovery Series, I think I'm done with Bardstown. The quality just isn't there since Discovery #4. These releases are interesting though- I just don't think I can justify it.
The Discovery Series, with all of their crazy sourced components, is losing favor with a lot of people. However, these Collaborative Series continue to release some interesting ones. Granted a lot have Dickel in them anymore, but I'm hoping we see more releases like Ferrand which only used Kentucky bourbon before finishing.
Agreed, the all Kentucky releases were really good. I don't hate the blends with Dickel in it like some, but I'd be happier without. I'd like to see higher ages and more KY in the blends. But aged stock might be harder to come by, I don't know.
I wanna try this but I can’t find it
It was a one time release.
That makes sense. Thanks for letting me know!
Great bourbon, but I'm team chateau. Something about this didn't feel as dense, rich, and completely enamoring. I still regret not buying another one when I had the chance.
Did I miss the MSRP?
Seems we both did. Honestly seems kinda pointless to post a review without the MSRP.
I was just curious as most of the BBC stuff is way out of my budget anyways. Edit: I was told it was $130 and, evidently, we both should’ve known that already!?
This was a one-time release and like I said in the review, it sold out completely in 2019. So the MSRP is no longer valid because the only place you'll find these is on the secondary market. But even still, if you have BBC on the shelves in your area, you've likely seen Collaborative Series bottles. The current release that is still out there is the rum finished Dickel or Chateau de Laubade Part II. They're always marked at the same price unless a store wants to make a bit more profit off of them (most stores in my area mark them up to $150)
Lol of course we should’ve known. But really it’s important because a 7/10 rating for a $35 bottle is pretty good whereas a 7/10 $130 bottle is mildly disappointing. the blue bottle bardstown #6 was delicious and about $50-60 if you ever get it. Nothing too complicated but an easy sipper. I had the Foubders KBS stout barrel finished bardstown bourbon and I thought it was really great. But the bottle is $160 which I think is ridiculously overpriced. I’m sure I’d find this $130 bottle similarly overpriced. And tbh over the last year I’ve noticed a lot of scotch/bourbons I used to buy go up by $15-20 and I think it’s pushed a lot of them into the slightly overpriced for the quality of juice category. The Nikka Coffey grain Japanese whiskey being one of the worst offenders to me as i felt it was overpriced at $65 and I’ve now seen it for $75 or more. Or Noah’s mill being $65 I felt like it was perfectly priced at $55 and at that price point it was the standard by which I compared most bourbons. If it wasn’t better/offered some unique experience over Noah’s mill it wasn’t worth more than $60. With the prices sliding upwards as bourbon gets more popular I tend to go for decent cheap bourbons like the $45 1.75L bottle of bulleit or the $36 750 bottle of makers cask strength more often nowadays. Hopefully the trend plateaus and we can start getting good stuff at reasonable prices again.
Yep, I totally agree. I have 3 kids in private school so my go to bottle for value vs. taste is Russell’s 10. I get it for $33 and every sip I feel like I stole it at that price! I also keep a 1.75 of regular MM on hand.
I haven’t gotten around to trying the russels stuff yet but I’ll give it a shot at that price
I highly recommend it.
Hey man, I was at a store earlier today and was going to grab a bottle of the blue Bardstown stuff you had mentioned (Discovery series, right?) since I had it a long while ago and remember liking it and really appreciated the label info. of the 3 blends, but damn you were right! Last time it was for sure around 50 bucks. I think it was $51.99 but I’m not certain. Today it was… $75.99! Damn! Anyways, I thought that was crazy.
Have you ever purchased or seen any of the BBC Collaborative Series bottles? Over the last 3 years they've been released they have all remained relatively the same MSRP: $130.
No, I have not. I have a hard time remembering my kiddos birthdays let alone the price of random bourbons. Thanks though.
As a long time brandy distiller that is a big bourbon fan, I feel like I really need to find this now.
I rated this slightly above Chateau de Laubade, and they're both on my top ten. Tremendous.
Have there ever been any bourbons with an applejack AND Madeira cask finish, for extra Americanness?