By Richard Thomas
Score: A
King of Kentucky’s 2022, 18 12 months Outdated fifth Anniversary launch, which isn’t the one reviewed right here
(Credit score: Brown-Forman)
Summertime had been a reasonably sleepy season on the whiskey launch calendar. Autumn is the time of 12 months a lot of the thrilling one-shot releases and fan favourite annual editions come out, operating proper as much as Christmas. Springtime additionally has some buzz, particularly in Europe. Maybe as a result of summer season isn’t thought of “whiskey consuming season” in a lot of the world, it’s typically been the low level.
But in recent times, some annual editions have come to be pegged to summer season, in all probability as a result of Autumn is so crowded. One such is King of Kentucky, now in its fifth 12 months. This bourbon model fell into a really not-royal state after the Second World Conflict, turning into an inexpensive blended whiskey, and was discontinued within the late Nineteen Sixties. In its revived state, it’s a cask power, single barrel annual sequence.
King of Kentucky 2022 is coming in two completely different batches. The primary is the common King of Kentucky launch, a 15 12 months previous bourbon bottled at 130.6 proof. The barrels pulled for this launch yielded a mixed 3,500 bottles. A second batch, labeled with gold trim, marks the fifth anniversary of the revived model. This one is eighteen years previous, bottled at 130.3 proof, and had a manufacturing run of simply 250 or so. The pattern Brown-Forman despatched me was of the common, 15 12 months previous model.
The Bourbon
A pour of the 15 12 months previous King of Kentucky takes a deep, darkish purple solid of amber within the glass. This bourbon being over the 120 proof mark, I robotically added a splash of water, however dilution did little or nothing to the coloring.
This bourbon tells you instantly it’s richly endowed with each the candy and spicy, delivering two viscous currents of aroma. One is loaded with sorghum, honey and barn tobacco. The opposite delivers earthy cocoa and hoary oak. On the nostril, anyway, I wouldn’t name the twin nature of the bourbon “balanced.” It’s extra like having two separate glasses earlier than you. Every of these points is so hefty as to return upon you individually, not intertwined, or such was my expertise of it.
As soon as the bourbon is in your tongue, all of it comes collectively. It’s a dry bowel of oak, stuffed with sorghum and topped with a vanilla drizzle, with raisins plus a mixture of earthly Oreo cookie and cocoa powder stirred in. Each sip is only a belt of heavy bourbon sweetness, dry oak spiciness and an earthy grounding. The end isn’t particularly lengthy, however it’s distinguished in operating earthy fairly than spicy, as a result of spicy and woody is how this stuff often go.
The Value
The center aged, 15 12 months previous customary King of Kentucky 2022 is formally priced at $249.99, and I say in the event you see it on a shelf for that value, completely seize it. The market worth for a 2021 bottling is at the moment operating between $2,100 and $2,800. The older, anniversary model is priced at $349.99.
