The Story

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! We were lucky enough to grab a bottle of Kentucky Owl’s St. Patrick’s Edition Kentucky Straight Bourbon, a special release for – you guessed it – St. Patrick’s Day.

So what do we know about this bottle? Well, we know that Master Blender John Rhea partnered with Louise McGuane, Ireland’s first modern whiskey bonder and founder of J.J. Corry Irish Whiskey. According to the producer, Irish whiskey bonding is a way of blending that was commonplace during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, when most Irish distilleries produced whiskeys for bonders to age, blend and bottle. When the Irish whiskey industry collapsed in the 1930s, bonding faded away — until McGuane began resurrecting the tradition again in 2015.

This expression features Kentucky straight bourbons aged 4 to 11 years and is bottled at 100 proof.

We actually took a minute to compare this bottle to Kentucky Owl’s The Wiseman, thinking they may be similar, but to our surprise they each had a lot of unique notes that set them apart from one another. Whereas the Wiseman seemed to lean on the spicier side for most of the palate, St. Patrick’s Edition was the opposite, leaning more heavily on the sweeter notes. It was a similar profile of course, but they varied substantially both on the nose and palate.

Ok, enough of our Kentucky Owl comparison experiment. Let’s dive deeper into this bottle.

Nose

The nose presents some nice, typical bourbon scents of vanilla and caramel, adding in some corn sweetness and a hint of oak.

Palate

The palate stays true to the nose while it features some of those caramel, vanilla and corn notes initially, but folds in some citrus notes halfway through and some baking spice as well. There’s an interesting faint note of marshmallow that shines through late in the palate that was enjoyable.

Finish

On the finish there’s a nice vanilla, grain and oak note with a touch of lemongrass in there as well.

Verdict

Kentucky Owl’s St. Patrick’s Edition retails in our area at $124.99, though MSRP is $135. There have been some rumors that it can be found at Costco or other box stores for potentially around $100, but either way this limited edition bottle is a tad on the pricier side.

This bottle is rather decently balanced and overall a decent pour. However, we’re going to have to pass at the current price point. While it’s definitely solid, we would peg the value of this bottle around the $50-$75 mark. It’s not bad – it’s just a bit overpriced from our perspective. If you’re dead set on grabbing this bottle, we would say to pay no more than the MSRP at $135 and if you can snag it at a box store for closer to that $100 mark, that would be even more ideal.

Overall, we’re giving Kentucky Owl’s St. Patricks Edition a 7.8 out of 10 for it’s well-balanced sweet notes, pleasant citrus undertones, and a fun bottle to share with friends on St. Patty’s Day.

Do you own this bottle? Then surely you’ll want to add it to your inventory using our web app! It’s free to use. Sign up here to get a handle on that unruly home bar.

Cheers friends!