Dueling Kelvins are Back🔥

At this point, we know what to expect when we taste through barrels at Nashville Barrel Co: a lot of strong considerations and a few barrels we don’t want to leave behind. Of the 50-plus barrels we tried on our last trip to Tennessee, we knew we had to make sure another 21% rye Indiana Kelvin barrel was in the mix now that they’ve reached 10 years old. We’ve been selecting these barrels for years, and they consistently rank among the best we bring in.

The nose is creamy and plush but perfectly juicy, balancing both fresh and simmering fruits with heavily charred oak, all packaged with a lovely honeyed bow. There’s also a fresh, expressed citrus-oil quality to it.

The palate leads with strawberry fruit candy and chewy vanilla, almost reminding me of an Armagnac with its perfumed, slightly funky fruitiness and fragrant oak. It continues to grow more heavy oak, but when met with beautifully creamy vanilla and candied orange peel, it comes across like a boozy Sprecher's Orange Cream Soda.

The finish is like crème brûlée with a heavily torched top and fresh raspberry, followed by layers and layers of softly effervescent brown sugar and sweet antique oak.

When the opportunity presented itself to select from a brand-new run, our interest was piqued. We thought these now eight-year-old Kentucky Kelvin 70/21/9 barrels were long gone, but somehow they made their way into the hands of our Nashville friends. They are so good, in fact, that a single barrel from this same run won a Double Gold with a score of 98 points, advancing as a finalist for Best Single Barrel Bourbon Up to 10 Years Old at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

While these barrels began under the Nashtucky label, this one comes to us under the brand-new Louisville Rickhouse Whiskey Co. label. It celebrates the team’s expansion beyond Tennessee’s borders with its new rickhouse and tasting room in Louisville, Kentucky.

About as rich as eight-year-old Kentucky bourbon can get.

The nose is thick and potent. Slightly smoked butterscotch, rich vanilla cake, heavy brown sugar syrup, and plenty of black cherry, leather, well-seasoned oak, and spice.

The palate matches that potency with incredibly velvetiness. There’s heavily seasoned oak and slightly spiced cherry syrup and flat cream soda before it moves into deep sugar notes and torched citrus peel.

It remains rich and enveloping as the heavy oak grows, moving into dark chocolate, chocolate-tumbled raspberry, and rich cola concentrate.