Daviess County Finished Bourbons, French Oak Cask and Cabernet Sauvignon Casks

I’d like to thank Common Ground PR and Lux Row for providing a review sample to me with no strings attached.

Last week, I gave you a quick overview of the history of the Daviess County brand along with my thoughts on the Straight Bourbon. Tuesday I gave you a quick overview of the state of my sanity and feelings. Tonight, I think I am going to just let the reviews do the talking. Things are getting better around here, but I’m still having a hard time being witty.

Some would say I never was witty.

But I digress, let’s talk about some whiskey.

Davies County Bourbon finished in French Oak casks

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided by Lux Row for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $44.99.

Price per Drink (50mL): $3.00

Details: 48% ABV. A combination of both wheated and rye-mash bourbons. Finished in French Oak Casks for six months

Nose: Mint, bubblegum, nutmeg, cooked oatmeal, and oak.

Mouth: Dry with cinnamon, mint, vanilla and oak.

Finish: Warm, spicy and of medium length. Oak, cinnamon candies and mint.

Thoughts: Compared to the Straight Bourbon, this is drier and not as nutty, though I am missing the cocoa notes. I'm enjoying the added oak presence. It is a light, but noticeable presence in the mouth, but much stronger on the finish. The cinnamon and mint complement the oak nicely.

Davies County Bourbon finished in Cabernet Sauvignon casks

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided by Lux Row for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $44.99.

Price per Drink (50mL): $3.00

Details: 48% ABV. A combination of both wheated and rye-mash bourbons. Finished in Cabernet Sauvignon Casks for six months

Nose: "Berry" flavored candy, earthy oak, a hint of wintergreen.

Mouth: Earthy, dry, berries, wintergreen and strong baking spices.

Finish: Dry and of medium length. The wine makes its presence well known on the finish with what I can only describe as a "red wine" note. It is supported by notes of oak and baking spice.

Thoughts: This is nice and round on the mouth. The berry/wine flavors are very noticeable if you know what you are drinking, but when I had my wife surprise me with it one night, I hardly noticed them. Instead I just tasted a fruity whiskey.

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Comparison Thoughts: So which should you buy? Well, that all depends on what you are looking for in a whiskey. Are you looking for round and fruity with a nice spice? Then get the Cabernet finished. If you are looking for a nutty bourbon that feels like a high-end Beam with cocoa notes? Then get the straight. If you want a drier whiskey with a little more oak, then get the French Oak finished. To be honest, I like all three. If forced to choose one to buy, I’d go Straight (based on price), then the Cabernet finished, followed by the French Oak. But it would really depend on my mood.

The fact that I like the Cabernet finished at all surprises me. I usually do not like wine finished bourbons…though to be fair I think I’ve only had ones from Woodford Reserve. As I was tasting it in a Glencairn, I found the wine notes to be very prominent. But with subsequent drams in my normal tumbler-shaped rocks glass, and when I didn’t know what it was, I just thought it was a fruity bourbon. Turns out I am as suggestive as everyone else.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

This post is not about bourbon...

I’ve started and deleted this post more times than I can count today. In case the title didn’t convince you, this post contains no bourbon content. I didn’t think that it would be fair to anything I might review to have this as the lead in. This is my reaction to recent and current events in my city. To shield those who would be offended, I’ve done the best I can to keep “politics” out of it. But, to be fair, as this is the prattling of yet another liberal, white dude, you’d be forgiven for not reading it at all. I’m sure it comes off as just “more words” or an empty gesture as I offer no solutions. But as a writer, writing is how I come to understand my feelings and myself better. This post is for me to work out a few things in my own heart and mind. And this seemed like as good of a place as any to do that.

Many of you know that I live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro area. For the last week, the centers of my city were burning. First figuratively. Then, sadly, literally. I've spent the last four days worried about friends and family who live closer to those centers than I do. I've spent the last week wondering how we as a city, a state, and a nation could still be at this point. The point where a man's cold-blooded murder by four men could be captured on video, and the punishment be the loss of four jobs and one arrest.

Of course, I knew the answer all along. And it made me angry. Angry at the injustice of my fellow humans being treated as less than human. And angry and guilty at the knowledge that as a cis, white man, I would never be subjected to the hate and the fear that a black man is, by those who don't know me. Angry that friends had to watch white men in red hats, who were not from their area, "patrol" the streets outside their houses. Angry that those friends had to lie to their children and try to hide their anxieties as they locked their doors and pretended to have a sleepover upstairs. Scared and angry for my cousin, who happens to be a person of color and lives in Minneapolis. Angry that the professionals who were supposed to be protecting them seemed to take every possible opportunity to escalate the situation.

I spent the weekend watching my city burn. And I couldn't find it in my heart to condemn those that lit it on fire. I was empathetic. Both to the owners of the burned businesses and the anger of those that did the burning. Even though I understand that there are always opportunists in any tragedy (a few bad apples, one might say), I also know that rage isn't rational. Rage is a flood of anger that can no longer be held back by the dam of rational thought.

I've experienced rage. I was a teenager who was uncomfortable with his own sexuality. I was belittled and bullied by those around me who suspected more than I was even willing to admit to myself. I had to live and sleep with my bedroom door open because my mother and stepfather thought I might be doing...something, I still don't know what, even though my younger brother didn't have that restriction. I was physically threatened by my father for not being manly enough, even though my younger brother was showered with affection. As a young man, I sadly let my rage explode more often than I should have. And I pointed that rage at my brother, even though none of it was his fault. Now, as I am older and hopefully wiser, I can't find it in my heart to criticize others' expressions of rage. Especially when that rage has been so dearly earned.

I've been told that this site is a distraction from the hate and divisiveness in the news. I'm sorry that today I'm not writing about bourbon. The fact of the matter is that I refuse to be distracted, or be a distraction for others, from the events happening in our country today. I believe we are experiencing the defining events of our generation. I am hopeful, perhaps naively, that change is finally coming. That soon, all humans will be treated equally in this country, regardless of their religion, skin color, or their place of origin. That my friends won't have to teach their children how to survive a traffic stop. And that my family won't be told to "go back to the reservation."

My love to each and every one of you. Bourbon content will return on Thursday, as I think we could all use a drink. Stay safe.

Daviess County Straight Bourbon

I’d like to thank Common Ground PR and Lux Row for providing a review sample to me with no strings attached.

I recently got an email from Lux Row Distillery that started with the following statement: “To pay homage to the rich distilling tradition of Daviess County, Kentucky, Lux Row Distillers is re-launching Daviess County Kentucky Straight Bourbon – an ultra-premium family of bourbons, with three variants.” Now, I had no idea what Daviess County Bourbon was, but I’ve come to trust that Lux Row is putting out some pretty decent whiskeys so I felt pretty comfortable requesting a sample from them.

In the meantime, I got to learning all there was to learn about the history of the brand using my library of whiskey books supplemented by my patented “30 minutes of Googling” method of research. I found some interesting things about the brand and its original distillery outside Owensboro, KY. And in lieu of bitching about the pandemic again tonight, I thought I’d share what I found with you. To begin, I’d like to quote an 1883 book snappily titled: History of Daviess County, Kentucky. Together With Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Edu­cational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons, Biographies of Representative Citizens. And an Outline History Of Kentucky.

Daviess County Distillery Company (W. S. Harris and John Callaghan). — This distillery was started April 16, 1874, by Cal­laghan & Trigg. Mr. Bell afterward bought an interest in the concern, when the firm name became the "Daviess County Dis­tillery Company." In March, 1879, Mr. Harris commenced, alone, and Oct. 14, 1880, the present partnership was formed. Both these gentlemen reside in Louisville, and their business here is superintended by C. A. Todd, General Agent. The distillery is located about a mile west of town, on the river, and its capacity is 800 bushels of corn per day; it has 720 mash tubs and its engine is ninety horse-power. 

Callaghan & Trigg were located on Main St in Louisville. I can’t find anything about Trigg, but John Callaghan stayed with the distillery in a leadership role along with a rotating cast of partners. Harris & Callaghan was how the records in 1882 listed them. They were listed as Millett & Callaghan in 1886. And in 1888 the distillery was purchased by Richard Monarch, a whiskey man from Owensboro with John Callaghan being mentioned as Vice President and Treasurer of the Daviess County Distilling Company.

As mentioned, Monarch was a whiskey man. A whiskey man from a whiskey family. He and his brothers each owned numerous distilleries. Unfortunately, they didn’t see their current whiskey boom ending soon enough and overproduced throughout the mid-1890s. Shortly after Monarch finished building his lavish house near the distillery, his whiskey stocks were basically worthless and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. His brothers would do the same not too long after. Monarch died in 1900.

Bourbon historian Sam K. Cecil states in his book, The Evolution of Kentucky Whiskey that in 1901 Monarch’s estate sold a portion of the company to George E. Medley (you’ve probably heard of the Medleys, there are still a couple of bourbons out there with their name on the bottle. They were another Whiskey-making Family in Kentucky. Jack Sullivan has a nice write-up on the family over at his site Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men). Cecil says in 1904 Medley bought the entire company with the help of Dietrich “Dick” Meschendorf.

Meschendorf had a financial interest in multiple distilleries and was considered enough of a whiskey expert that he advised Presidents Roosevelt and Taft on what the definition of whiskey should be. His advice helped lead to the Taft Decision which defined what whiskey actually was and more importantly, what it wasn’t.

Things went smoothly from then on. Well, aside from 1911 when Meschendorf and then two warehouses burning down and destroying $300,000 worth of whiskey (that’s 1911 dollars, it’d be about just under $8 million today). But they rebuilt and expanded. Of course, there was also that little thing called Prohibition that closed the company down and forced them to sell all their stocks to Wathen Bros. Finally in 1928 the distillery was sold to the Field Packing Company.

Ok, not so smoothly then.

However, the brand survived Prohibition. There was a whiskey-ish thing being sold as late as 1980 that had the Daviess County name on it. Josh over at the WhiskeyJug has a review of a 1980 era dusty he found. Sounds like it was…unpleasant. The brand went from the Medley family to the precursor of Diageo to Luxco, who has the brand today. They have apparently decided that the blended whiskey that Josh tried wasn’t the best legacy that this historic distillery could have and so we get back to where we started: “To pay homage to the rich distilling tradition of Daviess County, Kentucky, Lux Row Distillers is re-launching Daviess County Kentucky Straight Bourbon – an ultra-premium family of bourbons, with three variants.”

I’ve received samples of all three, but I’ll only be reviewing the Straight Bourbon tonight. I’ve typed enough for one post, no need to make it any longer.

Daviess County Straight Bourbon

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided by Lux Row for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $39.99.

Price per Drink (50mL): $2.67

Details: 48% ABV. A combination of both wheated and rye-mash bourbons.

Nose: Mint, bubblegum, toasted grain, and a hint of nutmeg.

Mouth: Nutty with mint, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cocoa.

Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm but not hot. Nutty with mint cocoa and nutmeg.

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Thoughts: This is a good bourbon. I like it. The nutty flavors remind me of a good Beam bourbon without going full peanut. The toasted grain on the nose is interesting. It reminds me of the aroma you might get when you lightly toast whole grains before making a granola or a trail mix. And I’m a sucker for cocoa notes in a bourbon. All in all, I’d recommend this one. This isn’t part of the recommendation, but I also love the color blue they used for the label. It’s my favorite color.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, Batch B520

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

May is a weird-ass time in Minnesota. We’ve been blessed with wonderful weather this year. But I noticed in my Facebook memories this week that we’ve had both days over 100° F and snowy days during the time I’ve lived here. I thought about this when I noticed that everyone in my neighborhood is building gardens.

I’ve had a garden for the entire time I’ve lived in Minnesota (and yet, I am just now getting around to building a permanent fence…huh). It’s nice to see other people getting into the hobby. I do feel a little bad for some of them though when I see that they have planted already. We never plant until Memorial Day. The ground is still too cold and you never know when you will get a freak snowstorm coming through.

It’s nice to get a decent May this year though. It’s like the weather said: “Well, you can’t go anywhere so I might as well let you work in the yard.“ An even nicer thing than the weather that is happening in May is the release of the next batch of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. I’m going to give you a little spoiler: this might be my favorite yet.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, Batch B520

Purchase info: This sample was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. Locally Elijah Craig Barrel Proof sells for as low as $64.99 for a 750 mL bottle when not on sale.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 63.6% ABV, 12 years old

Nose: Brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, cocoa, and oak.

Mouth: Sweet and hot. Caramel, vanilla, baking spice, and a little mint.

Finish: Warm, sweet, and long. Lingering caramel, baking spice, dark chocolate and smokey oak.

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Thoughts: This is thick, rich, syrupy, and oh, so sweet. It's like a glass of bourbon syrup. And boy, is it ever delicious. I was a big fan of the first release of 2020, but I think I like this one even more. I’m loving the dark chocolate and the strong oak notes on the finish. I love the overall rich sweetness of it. This is pretty close to a perfect bourbon for me. I love it. I would recommend a little ice though.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.