The Wiseman Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

Kentucky Owl dates its brand identity back to 1879, and was one of many Bardstown distilleries that were shuttered by Prohibition, never to reopen. The brand was revived in 2014, in the middle of the Bourbon Boom, and fast gained a reputation for producing excellent one-time releases based on well-sourced, middle aged whiskeys. The new Kentucky Owl was acquired by Stoli in 2017, and then became one of the contract production customers of Bardstown Bourbon Company (BBCo).

Now the company has a new regular release item, their first under Four Roses veteran and new Master Blender John Rhea and their first incorporating whiskeys made under their contract with BBCo. Rhea took over from Dixon Dedman, the modern founder and great-grandson of the original founder Charles Dedman, earlier this year. His Wiseman uses four year old wheat and high-rye bourbons from BBCo, plus sourced 5 1/2 and 8 1/2 year bourbons. It’s bottled at 90.8 proof.

The Bourbon
The scent of Wiseman is based squarely on honey and caramel, accented by a little earthy cocoa and a spicy dusting of clove and cinnamon. The palate develops in that vein, coming across as a candy of honey, caramel and toffee in the main, but with a new note akin to canned peaches, plus a vague note that straddles being grainy and oaky, and the familiar spicy dusting from the nose. The finish is short and non-descript, subtracting from what was otherwise an experience that had some real character to it.

The Price
The Wiseman is priced at $60 a bottle, and while that is half what the previous regular release blend from Kentucky Owl costs (Confiscated runs at $125 a bottle), it is still quite a lot for what is in the bottle. Although it is certainly a pleasant bourbon and gets a lot of mileage from its collection of mature (rather than middle aged) bourbons, the price point is a hard one to swallow considering what else is out there of the same general quality.