A month ago, Preservation Distillery sent me a couple of sample bottles of their latest release Bourbons. I have a huge backlog of whiskey to review and I am just now getting to these fine Bourbons. Preservation Distillery is owned by Marci Palatalle, a woman who has been in the distilling industry for many years. Julian Van Winkle III credits her for helping him to get his products in Japan back in the late 20th century. She started by selling brands such as Old St. Nick and Old Man Winter in Japan and built a reputation of selling great whiskey. She was sourcing her whiskey at that time and still has many barrels of fine sourced whiskey, but in 2015, she opened her own distillery in Bardstown. The samples she sent to me are Preservation Distillery Estate Pot Still Wheat recipe Bourbon and Preservation Distillery Pure Antique Bourbon. The pot still Bourbon has no age statement and was made at her distillery. The Pure Antique is twenty years old and comes from her stock of sourced barrels. Matt and I sat down and tasted them the other day and here are our tasting notes.
Preservation Distillery Estate Pot Still Bourbon
Proof: 114.6
Age: No Age Statement
Nose:
- Mike: Vanilla, marshmallows, bananas, hazelnuts, baking spices and oak wood.
- Matt: Caramel, cherries, grapes and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla, citrus, apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the apple and cinnamon are enhanced. Tasted with a pecan and the vanilla becomes a rich caramel with hazelnuts and oak wood.
- Matt: Caramel, chocolate and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhanced the caramel. The pecan made it sweet with brown sugar, chocolate, cherries and oak wood.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak wood, vanilla and cinnamon. The dried cranberry made it very long with oak wood and cinnamon spice. The pecan made the finish very long with lots of oak wood, hazelnuts and spice.
- Matt: Medium long with oak wood and dark chocolate. The dried cranberry added lingering caramel. The pecan added a lingering brown sugar.
Preservation Distillery Pure Antique Bourbon
Proof: 115.4
Age: Twenty Year Old
Nose:
- Mike: Caramel, chocolate, pine nuts, nutmeg and oak wood.
- Matt: Caramel, brown sugar, dark fruits and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Caramel, chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg and oak wood. The dried cranberry made the caramel a rich toffee and brought out citrus notes. The pecan made the chocolate a rich dark chocolate and brought out some ginger spice.
- Matt: Caramel, brown sugar, dark fruits and oak wood. The dried cranberry made the dark fruit raisins and prunes. The pecan enhanced the caramel and brought out raisins and cinnamon.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak wood and spice. The dried cranberry made the spice a definite cinnamon. The pecan made the finish long and dry with oak wood and ginger spice.
- Matt: Medium long with oak and dark fruit. The dried cranberry made the finish sweet with oak wood and caramel. The pecan made the finish long with oak wood, cinnamon and caramel.
I would pair these Bourbons with a New World A. J. Fernandez cigar. The rich vanilla and tobacco in the smoke would pair well with the vanilla and caramel in the Bourbons.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller