Horse racing and bourbon are two pastimes that are like peanut butter and chocolate and "just go together". Kentucky Silk marries these two together in a new 4-year bourbon from the Green River Distillery in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Green River Distillery
You may remember some of the former names of the Green River Distillery, including the O.Z. Tyler Distillery and the Owensboro Distilling Company. Once releasing rapidly-aged bourbon using its Terrapure technology, the rebranded Green River Distillery has returned to its roots and has been distilling, aging, and releasing traditionally aged products, including the Green River brand (including a high-rye expression and a wheated expression), Cumberland Falls Straight Bourbon, Quarter Horse Bourbon (a youthful expression), Yellow Banks Straight Bourbon, and the focus of this review - Kentucky Silk.
Master Distiller Jacob Call along with input from its new parent, Bardstown Bourbon Company, have brought the Green River Distillery back to its glory and have been producing much improved products. Let's see what they've done with this release.
The Tasting
This Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey comes in a heavy square bottle with a gold label and jockey and thoroughbred galloping in front of similar gold and white jockey silks. The bottle indicates that this is small batch bourbon, made with locally sourced corn, and has been aged at least 4+ years. The finished product has been bottled at 94 proof. MSRP is an affordable $28 - about $7 cheaper than their popular Green River products.
Color: Medium amber.
Nose: Honey and vanilla, but overall pretty light.
Palate: Slightly sweet, with loads of honey, balanced with baking spice and toasted oak that arrive late, but linger.
Finish: Medium with oak and spice and a similar honey sweetness.
Overall: This is very smooth - but also very sweet. It's a nice improvement over their rapidly aged products, though a little one-dimensional, leaning heavily into the honey note. At this price point, you're surpassing Jim Beam Black and Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond, as well as running up against Old Forester and Wild Turkey 101 - all of which would beat this hands down. The package presentation is nice, I just wish it had a little more "gold medal" juice inside.