Bourbon Review
Blood Oath
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Annual Release
The Story
Blood Oath is Lux Row's annual limited release, where they blend a few different bourbons together and finish at least one of them in some kind of unusual cask. Every year it's a new "Pact," a new finish, a new story. It's become a reliable thing to mark on the calendar, and the bottle alone is enough to make people pick it up off a shelf.
Nose, Palate & Finish
Nose
The finishing cask jumps out first — some kind of dried fruit or wine-adjacent note depending on the year — with regular bourbon caramel and vanilla underneath. Not the most complicated thing you'll smell, but not boring either.
Palate
Medium-full body, sweet, fruit-forward. The finishing cask and the base bourbon play nicely together — brown sugar, dried cherry, a little oak grip in the middle. Nothing fights for attention, it just kind of works.
Finish
Medium length, warm, a little tannic from the finishing cask. The fruit hangs around longer than the sweetness does, so it ends dry rather than sugary.