I was reading about this over a lukewarm cup this morning. Woodford Reserve — that fancy-looking one with the copper stills and the horse-track vibe — is turning thirty. They’re marking it with two new bottles: one is a limited Master’s Collection release, aged in toasted oak, and the other is a permanent addition — bourbon finished in rye whiskey barrels.
They’ve been making bourbon in Versailles, Kentucky since 1996, which means they were just getting their footing when I was trying to unlearn how to say ‘da’ in business meetings. Funny how time works. One minute you’re launching something, the next you’re bottling nostalgia and calling it ‘heritage’.
The press release says ‘craftsmanship’, ‘tradition’, ‘innovation’. I say: good bourbon, bad bourbon, and the bourbon you drink because it’s the only one left in the bottle. They’re all real.
