It just seems like yesterday that people were lined around a distillery on 10th Street in Louisville to buy the first whiskey released under the name Kentucky Peerless in 100 years. It was a two-year rye that carried a $125 price tag, but no one seemed to mind that too much.
It wasn’t yesterday, however. It was a little over 7 years ago. And in the last seven years, Kentucky Peerless has released a wide variety of whiskeys: ryes and bourbons, small batches and single barrels, special finishes and secondary agings.
When they released batch 1 of their Toasted Barrel Bourbon, I loved it from the first sip. I rated it as one of my top whiskeys from the first half of 2024. Recently, Kentucky Peerless release batch 2. So, of course, a comparison is mandatory.
Batch 1:
Nose: Smokey maple syrup and naughty dark cherries
Taste: roasted nuts, dark caramel and slightly buzzed silky cream
Finish: dancing pepper on your tongue, echoes of caramel drizzled cherries and enough oak to make you reach for another pour
Batch 2:
Nose: Bit O’ Honey, delicately toasted marshmallow, cherries jubilee and Orange Julius
Taste: Orange Cream Savers, Cherry Coke, slightly over cooked peanut butter cookie, honey graham crackers and vanilla
Finish: Slight oaky, singed orange peel, honey, dark caramel and a hint of funk
As you can see (and I could taste) there are some similarities between the two batches, but that’s to be expected. Batch 2 is a drawn from a larger barrel population than Batch 1, for whatever influence that may have. Overall, Batch 2 is a bit more complex, but a bit more oaky (though certainly not near to being tannic). Batch 1 is slightly sweeter than Batch 2. Both are fantastic and worth your time, attention and whiskey budget.
Finally, congratulations to Kentucky Peerless founder, Corky Taylor, on his admission into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame!
The Bourbon Fellowship / Bourbon Turntable 