King of Kentucky 12 Year Batch #1

CRITICAL ACCLAIM:

REVIEW: “The nose is loaded with beautifully mature aromas—rich gobs of caramel, fragrant tobacco leaf, fragrant potpourri, smoky barrel char, and warm dark chocolate. The palate is spicy and offers more melted caramel and dark chocolate. On the finish, chocolate, peanuts, spice, a hint of candied orange, vanilla, and pepper spice emerge. Full-bodied, well-balanced, and with plenty of richness and thickness of flavor.” - 94 PTS, DAVID FLEMING, WHISKY ADVOCATE (02/2026)

OVERVIEW: "Few of the whiskeys produced by the Louisville-based Brown-Forman Distillery have generated as much attention as its sought-after King of Kentucky label. The brand was founded in 1881 by John Roach, a distiller, entrepreneur, and avid horse-racing enthusiast who named the bourbon for his favorite sport. (Alongside hunting and polo, horse racing is often called the “sport of kings.”) Brown-Forman acquired King of Kentucky in 1936 from a now-defunct company called Selected Kentucky Distillers and converted it from being a straight bourbon to a blended whiskey, which it remained until being discontinued in 1968. But in 2018, Brown-Forman revived the brand as a limited release single barrel, featuring older whiskeys.

The new release has three 12 year old bourbons, differentiated as Batch 1, Batch 2, and Batch 3. All three have the same base recipe, each accounting for a blend of around 100 barrels aged for 12–18 years across several of the distillery’s warehouses. All have the same mashbill—75% corn, 15% rye, and 10% malted barley—representing a shift from some previous batches that have used Brown-Forman’s signature 79% corn, 11% rye, and 10% malted barley mashbill, which has been used for other Brown-Forman products like Old Forester 1924, Cooper’s Craft, and formerly Early Times, which is now owned and produced by Sazerac. The key difference among these batches is their ABVs: Batch 1 is 52.5%, Batch 2 is 53.75%, and Batch 3 is 55%."