Stoli Group has unveiled two new whiskey releases in their Kentucky Owl line: Kentucky Owl Batch #12 and Kentucky Owl Mardi Gras XO Cask Limited Edition.
Batch #12 continues what began in 2014 with Batch #1, the first Kentucky Owl bourbon released since Prohibition. For Batch #12, Master Blender John Rhea combined 7- to 14-year-old bourbons with two different 4-year-old bourbons.
The result is a nose with sweet spice and caramel notes, the company reports, plus a hint of butterscotch. On the palate is warm spice with caramel and cream, before hints of passion fruit and spicy citrus. The finish contains caramel and cream. Batch #12 is bottled at 115.8 proof, with a suggested retail price of $400 per 750-ml. bottle.
The Kentucky Owl Mardi Gras XO Cask Limited Edition begins with the brand’s 11-year Kentucky straight rye whiskey. This finished for more than a year in Bayou Rum XO Casks. The Mardi Gras edition comes bottled at 102.8 proof, with a suggested retail price of $500 per 750-ml. bottle.
On the nose, Kentucky Owl Mardi Gras XO Cask Limited Edition has toasted rye bread and sweet butter notes, the company reports, with hints of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. The palate is rye spice with sweet butter and allspice, leading into a finish of butter and allspice, giving way to nutmeg.
These are the latest Kentucky Owl releases under Rhea, who previously served as Four Roses Distillery’s chief operating officer, where his responsibilities included quality control, maturation, evaluation and product blending. He was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2016, and served as chair of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association board of directors.
Stoli Group purchased Kentucky Owl in 2017. Originally founded by C.M. Dedman in 1879, the Kentucky Owl Bardstown distillery went dark during the Prohibition era, and remained dormant until a descendant revived the brand in 2014.
This follows the release of Kentucky Owl Takumi Edition Bourbon Whiskey.
