Hartfield & Co. Bourbon

We are in Paris, Kentucky, where Andrew and Larissa Buchanan founded the craft distillery Hartfield & Co in 2013. For their bourbon they use 19% rye and 19% malted barley; the remaining 62% is corn. They use so-called column reflux batch stills for distillation. The spirit goes into small American oak casks (with a char level #3) at around 120 Proof, which is less than the industry standard. Maturation only lasts 3 to 5 months, so the bottled bourbon is very young. For every batch they launch, they blend about 6 to 9 casks. Originally the distillery was to be called The Gentlemen (as you can see on my bottles’ labels), but Hartfield avoided going to court and settled for this new name.

Even in their bourbon the white dog (which is what Americans call their new make) is as obvious as can be. It does not offer any more depth than their so-called American Whiskey. It has a bit more caramel. And maybe some more spiciness. But apart from that, this remains a very young animal on corn, white fruit and pear drops.

I applaud the spiciness on the palate. The small casks on which the spirit matures have done their best. But that does not change that this remains candy-like sweet on caramel, vanilla, liquorice and baked apples. Nothing else is going on here.

The finish is long and sweet, with the spices in second place now.

Uhmm… this might be a spirit with a bright future ahead, provided it gets the chance to mature. I can understand that Andrew and his team are selling this now, as they need to pay the bills, but the product is at this moment simply too young to be enjoyed.