Bardstown Bourbon Company Fercullen Collaborative Series Blended Whiskey
Never one to shy away from a challenge, the Bardstown Bourbon Company Fercullen Collaborative Series Blended Whiskey takes Bardstown to a new level of blending, a cross-oceanic one at that.
To create this distillery-only blend, Bardstown blended four whiskies together: two 12-year-old Kentucky bourbons, a 17-year-old Tennessee bourbon, and a 21-year-old madeira-finished Fercullen Irish Whiskey from the Powerscourt Distillery in Wicklow, Ireland.
Irish Whiskey is still a poorly-understood category beyond the likes of Jameson and, just maybe, Redbreast or Bushmills. Despite that, it’s the fastest-growing category of whiskey in the world, faster than bourbon, Scotch, or anything else on the market. Granted most of that growth is, indeed, from Jameson, but it’s still exceptional growth.
The history of Irish whiskey is better told elsewhere, but to summarize, there used to be dozens of distilleries across the country (including both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). As with most whiskey stories, that wide reach was devastated by American prohibition. By the time Irish whiskey could recover, the largest brands - minus Bushmills - consolidated under Irish Distilleries and brought all of their production under the Midleton Distillery plant.
Fortunately, there are some new distilleries popping up, and not everything is made at Midleton anymore (though, to be honest, their ability to produce both quantity and quality are impressive).
One of the distilleries located up north, closer to Dublin, is Powerscourt in County Wicklow. Powerscourt is new, having been launched in 2018 under the eye of Irish Whiskey legend Noel Sweeney. Their initial stills, built by Forsythe’s, are already primed to make nearly a million liters per year.
Blend components. Courtesy of bardstownbourbon.com.
Powerscourt’s flagship brand is Fercullen, meaning “men of the hills”. Anyone looking at the website can do the math quickly - their main offerings are 10-, 14-, and 18-year-old Irish Whiskey, so, of course that whiskey was not made at the Powerscourt location. It is, however, stock that Noel himself distilled starting in 2000 at Cooley, a distillery that came back online in the 80s. It has been under Noel’s watchful eye ever since, even though he left Powerscourt in January 2022.
The collaboration brings together two countries and three states, and no mild flavors among them. It’s the second marsala-inclusive product I’ve had recently (including the Yellowstone 2022 Limited Edition Bourbon), and I must say I’m getting to love it as a finishing wine. Like the Yellowstone, only a portion of the blend was finished, and with that both Bardstown and Fercullen could control the marsala’s influence quite well.
Overall, at $199.99, I know this will be steep for most, and there are only a few bottles left in the gift shop at time of writing. They should have it at the bar, though, and it’s 100% worth a try.
Bardstown Bourbon Company Fercullen Collaborative Series Blended Whiskey: Specs
Classification: Blended Whiskey
Origin: Powerscourt Distillery (Fercullen), Cascade Hollow (TN), Jim Beam (KY), and Heaven Hill (KY)
Mashbill: See Inset Above
Proof: 102.4 (51.2% ABV)
Age: Blend of 12-, 17-, and 21-Year-Old Whiskies
Location: Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ireland
Bardstown Bourbon Company Fercullen Collaborative Series Blended Whiskey Price: $199.99
Bardstown Bourbon Company Fercullen Collaborative Series Blended Whiskey Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Bronzed honey. Sloughing rims and medium droplets.
Nose: Warm honey wheat bread with cinnamon butter. Zested citrus, mild proof burn. Boiled peanuts, red fruit from the Irish whiskey appearing slowly at first then the growing quickly.
Palate: Warm and creamy, blonde roast coffee in chocolate. Just the barest proof heat still. Peanuts, like a booker’s Old Fashioned. The marsala finish is present enough to add fruitiness without becoming the center of attention. Mouthfeel is creamy, oily, a little peppery with a full-tongue grab of heat and brandy. Well-balanced age, with oak backbone but no woodiness.
Finish: The peanuts keep building, buttery and toasty. Mouthfeel continues to be full and vinous to the end on a medium-to-long finish.
Overall: This is an intriguing blend. Each component shows itself, and the marsala is as well-used here as in the Yellowstone bottling. I’m looking for a little more presence from the Irish whiskey, though it’s understandably hard to fight through three bourbons to get to it. The Beam clearly leads, though, of the three.
Final Rating: 7.1
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary
8 | Excellent | Exceptional
7 | Great | Well above average
6 | Very Good | Better than average
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary
4 | Has promise but needs work
1-3 | Let’s have a conversation
More Bardstown Bourbon Co. Reviews
