Cream of Kentucky Small Batch Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

Cream of Kentucky is the revival of a defunct brand, dating back to Cincinnati’s I. Trager & Co. in 1888. There some dispute over that point, however, with a few different versions and origin stories for the brand, each pointing to a different and conflicting source. I’m sticking with Trager for now, and that company was supplied by at least a couple of different distilleries from across the Ohio River. They owned a handful of brand names, but to date I think Cream of Kentucky is the only Trager brand to be revived. That might be because the brand was bought by the infamous Schenley Industries and reintroduced following the repeal of Prohibition. Cream of Kentucky became a top seller, with none other than Normal Rockwell drawing their advertising in the 1930s and ’40s. They were discontinued during the Great Whiskey Bust of the 1970s, and Schenley itself was sold to Guinness in 1987. From there, the brand rights languished in obscurity until they were snapped up by two men who became Jim Rutledge’s future partners.

For the purpose of a review, Rutledge is the character to zero in on. A distilling veteran of almost five decades at Seagram’s, most of it working at the Old Prentiss Distillery, the home of Four Roses Bourbon. More than any other single individual, Rutledge was responsibly for the reversal of fortunes for Four Roses, lobbying for the brand revival under Seagram’s and then carrying forward its triumphal return under Kirin. After retirement, he did was most Master Distillers do nowadays, which is turn around and get right back into the business, either to raise his own banner or work as a consultant. In his case, that meant founding Cream of Kentucky.

Introduced in 2024, Cream of Kentucky Small Batch is clearly intended as the company standard bearer going forward. When the brand was revived in 2018, it was with an 11 1/2 year old Single Barrel, the kind of premium product that could not occupy the kind of shelf space required. Bottled at 100 proof, it was introduced alongside a more expensive cask strength version of the same sourced formulation.

The Bourbon
My pour took on a much lighter coloring that the standard bourbon, sitting on the dividing line between copper and gold.

The nose came on with a main current very much in traditional bourbon territory: caramel and candy corn, plus a strong accent of orange zest. Likewise, the palate followed stayed in expected boundaries, with creme brulee balanced by oak shavings and a slice of banana. The latter point would, if I didn’t know better, make me suspect the sourcing was Brown-Forman, in fact. But that is most unlikely. The finish is where things become truly interesting, because it began with a decidedly peanut note, before sliding off into a fading sweetness.

The Price
Expect to pay $70 for the Cream of Kentucky Small Batch.