Whiskey Advent Calendar Tasting: Pure Kentucky XO Bourbon

This is part of my series on tasting notes from the 2021 Drinks By The Dram Bourbon Advent Calendar.

Whiskey for December 10th, 2021: Pure Kentucky XO Bourbon

The distillery

Pure Kentucky is a brand from Willett Distillery who also make Willett Reserve, Old Bardstown, Noah's Mill and Rowan's Creek. Willett Distillery was established in 1936, just after the repeal of prohibition, in Bardstown, Kentucky. The Willett family, however, had been involved in distilling in Kentucky since the mid-1800s.

Willett had a hiatus from distilling from 1984 to 2012 when it was primarly an independent bottler, but after some renovations in 2011 and 2012, they're back in the distilling business again. Even E. A. "Drew" Kulsveen is the current master distiller and manages production. Willett remains owned by the Willett family to this day.

The whiskey

Tonight's whiskey is the Pure Kentucky XO Bourbon. Willett doesn't provide any mash bill, but non-official sites state this is a 12-year aged bourbon. Willett offers these tasting notes:

The nose is toffee, fruit, eucalyptus and oak. The palate is cinnamon, toffee, caramel, pepper, oak, and spices.

Basically it sounds like what most people think of when they think of bourbon. I look forward to trying it.

Look

Standard bourbon russett that's lightly colored with golden highlights in the light. It swirls well to lots of thin legs that are slow to creep back down the glass.

Nose

The nose is a lovely traditional sweet bourbon nose of dried fruit, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Taste

An initial sweet taste up front followed by a small burst of rye spice that blossoms with the alcohol into a warm, oaky finish. There's lots of cinnamon up in the initial sweetness, reminiscent of a red-hot candy. There's good balance in the flavor and this is easy to drink and enjoy.

After water

A little water knocks down the fruit on the nose and lets a little vegetative smell come through. It's a little grassy, and a little minty, so I see where the eucalyptus from the notes comes from. The brown sugar is still there, but hiding behind this new smell.

The taste moves to a calmer, smoother, version of the same bourbon. Cinnamon and brown sugar up front that lingers and lets the pepper and oak come on nice and late. Still nothing too complex, but doing all the flavors it does have well.

Summary

I've had Pure Kentucky XO before and it continues to be, in my mind, one of those "what I mean when I say bourbon" kind of bourbons. This is a good every day bourbon. You don't need to think too hard to just enjoy the well executed flavors that just sort of show up and are nice to have around. The price is a bit of a drawback, coming in at 46 dollars on Caskers. We've seen some more interesting offerings at the same price tag and I think there are better budget bourbons that do a similar flavor profile, but this is so easy to drink and enjoy I'm not going to say don't buy it if you're not put out by the price.