Distillery: Sourced from the Stitzel-Weller Distilling Company, Diageo distilling company and others
Proof: 91
Age: NAS
Mashbill: Undisclosed
BACKGROUND: Blade and Bow is produced at the original location of the Stitzel-Weller Distillery that closed their doors in 1992. Diageo reopened the distillery in ‘14 and started Blade and Bow. The name comes from the parts of a skeleton key; the blade shaft and the ornate bow. The key is a tribute to the Stitzel-Weller Distillery that had 5 keys hung on the door, each standing for one of the 5 key steps in making bourbon; grains, yeast, fermentation, distilling, & aging.
NOSE: The nose was very light and sweet with scents of honey, vanilla, & peaches. A strong scent of ethanol there for a 91 proof point. (21/25)
PALATE: As the whiskey first touches your tongue you are immediately greeted with strong flavors of cracked pepper, molasses, and oak spice. The spice is perfectly balanced with a lighter vanilla note that caps it off. (31/40)
FINISH: A medium-hot finish that really highlights the sweeter notes: fruit, vanilla, and aged oaky tobacco, As the finish went on the oak stuck out. (21/25)
VALUE: In our opinion $55 is a little high for this bottle. I think it should be more in the $40 range, but it is no surprise that there is a tax with the Stitzel-Weller name. (7/10)
Overall: 80/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Blade and Bow is a great readily available bottle that doesn't break the bank. This would make for a nice bottle to give someone that is new to the world of whiskey.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Rabbit Hole 4 Grain Cave Hill
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Sonoma Brother's Batch 1 Bourbon Whiskey
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Basil Hayden's
Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away