King of Kentucky Bourbon Review (2024)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A

For any brand that is revived and reintroduced during my career as a food, drinks and travel writer, I’m always amazed when the lot count reaches several or (especially) a double digit number. Inevitably I find myself thinking “Has that newcomer really been around that long? Is it actually a fixture now?

The answer is yes, King of Kentucky is now in its seventh year. Moreover, as a sometimes late middle-aged, sometimes ultra-aged, single barrel, cask strength expression of Brown-Forman’s Kentucky bourbon, yes, King of Kentucky is definitely a fixture of the ultra-hot autumn release season that sees so many of the most sought after names in American whiskey hit store shelves.

Despite the royal title, King of Kentucky’s last iteration was actually quite bottom shelf, making its modern revival ironic. When Brown-Forman acquired the brand rights in 1940, they turned it into an unremarkable blended whiskey. That low tier status combined with the developing sales slump in the late 1960s (which led to the Great Whiskey Bust of the 1970s) goes a long way to explaining its discontinuance in 1968. So, to see it revived several years ago as a super premium expression, well, clearly it had more to do with the name than any memory of what King of Kentucky used to represent.

Master Distiller Emeritus Chris Morris chose two lots of barrels, entered in 2007, for this lot of King of Kentucky. They are all sixteen years old, and the proof on the sample barrel sent to me was 130.4.

The Bourbon
Once in my copita glass, this bourbon takes on an amber coloring that leans heavy into nut brown. On the nose, the stone fruitiness and tannins come together like a strongly brewed peach tea. Alongside that is a current of vanilla and a hint of chocolate and coconut that are reminiscent of a Mounds bar. The palate brings on more of that gourmet-level Mounds bar experience, coupled to honey, vanilla and a gloss of woody spiciness. The finish opens milk chocolate and vanilla sweetness with a note of nuts, but this fades fast to a light, lingering trace of wood spiciness.

The Price
King of Kentucky now officially retails for $350, but a survey of online retailers reveals plenty of stores hawking this bottle for five times as much.