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Don’t be fooled by recent headlines reports of sluggishness, American whiskey remains as popular as ever. According to the latest figures from the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., the category accounts for $5.3 billion in annual sales. And during the first three quarters of 2024, super-premium-and-above offerings—those priced at $30 and up—were still climbing sharply. Which brings us to the bottle we’re uncorking today: the non-age-statement flagship from Blade and Bow.

Top shelf labels like these are keeping momentum going. In the case of Blade and Bow, it’s been a slow but steady movement. Although the Kentucky bourbon maker was officially launched in 2018, it actually draws heavily on the hallowed history of Stitzel-Weller, a legendary Louisville distillery that was originally founded back in 1935.

That facility shuttered in 1992, but the current makers of Blade and Bow utilize a solera aging method, in which no barrel is ever fully drained. Therefore, according to them, a small fraction of that old liquid is always present in every bottle you open today. The name of the brand calls back to the five keys that supposedly hung on the door of Stitzel-Weller. Each one correlates to an essential step in the bourbon making process: grains, yeast, fermentation, distillation, and aging.

It all makes for a great conversation starter on a label, as does the decorative key that hangs down off the collar of the bottle. But the conversation falls flat if the liquid inside doesn’t pass the smell taste. Thankfully, Blade and Bow backs up with bonafides. Let’s have a pour and see what makes it so special.

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Blade and Bow At a Glance

• Bottom line: Blade and Bow is a spry and fruity everyday sipping bourbon that’s equally effective as a neat pour as it is in your favorite classic bourbon cocktail.
• Casks: Charred American oak.
• Still: Column still for initial distillation, followed by a second run in a doubler
• Proof: 45.5 percent ABV, 91 proof.
• Age: No age statement
• Mash bill: Undisclosed, with a minimum of 51 percent corn by law. Experts speculate that it’s a four-grain recipe including rye, barley, and wheat
• Appearance: Varnished copper
• Nose: Stone fruit and toasted oak staves
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied
• Taste: An elegant balance between vanilla sweetness and spicy, earthy cereal grain.
• Finish: The earthy-sweet tandem basses the baton to darker threads of charred wood, which fade relatively fast.
• Price: $50

Related: Whiskey Brands Have Forgotten Their Best Customers. Now, They’re Paying the Price

Blade and Bow Pros and Cons 

Blade and Bow Review

Blade and Bow has a lot going for it. The tannish tipple is an easy-drinking, well-rounded bourbon that benefits from a mash bill that likely includes wheat as well as rye. It gives ever-so-gentle tones of stone fruit as it pours into the glass. Although somewhat muted, those apricot and peach notes are increasingly discernible as it warms to room temperature.

An initial sip reveals earthy elements of cereal and hay. Upon repeated exposure, they share the palate with subtly sweet threads of vanilla and caramel. And though those specific notes are quite commonplace in the realm of Kentucky bourbon, they’re emboldened here by a firm finish of burnt oak. It’s a sensual journey that doesn’t come about by accident.

“It’s use of the solera system in its distilling is more typically found in other spirits like rum or sherry,” says Max Block, president of hospitality experience agency Carvingblock. “Here, it lends a bright, fruit-forward aroma, and on the palate finishes with a oaky and warmly spiced linger. It’s an easy bourbon to excite both friends that are simple-pleasure seekers and those more in-the-know.”

Its age-stated older sibling, Blade and Bow 22-Year-Old has long been one of my favorite bourbons for the top shelf. But it also typically retails for around $1,700. The far less expensive flagship affords me a minuscule taste of Stitzel-Weller history at a fraction of the cost. 

How to Drink Blade and Bow

The best way to drink any spirit is, invariably, however you damn well please. But when first sampling something new, I always suggest exploring it neat in a snifter at room temperature. This allows you the most honest expression of the liquid in question. 

With Blade and Bow specifically, I would consider adding just one small drop of water from a pipette in order to free up some of the more gentler aromatics. Then taking small sips after it has opened in the glass. But its sweet and spice components are also showcased compellingly in cocktail form.

At By The Way, a new cocktail bar in Charleston, SC, Keith Benjamin is taking it to large format. 

“We dreamt up this really cool, family-style old fashioned,” says Benjamin, the bar’s cofounder. “We create the cocktail in a decanter and bring it over for sharing. It serves six to eight people, comes with the glasses iced down, with big cubes and all the garnishes. When thinking about the right bourbon, we knew we wanted to select Blade and Bow, a delicious spirit by itself, that speaks to our guests and connects everything in the cocktail.”

History of Blade and Bow

Blade and Bow is tied to one of bourbon’s most storied distilleries: Stitzel-Weller. The legendary facility on the outskirts of Louisville, KY, gave birth to some of the biggest labels the industry has ever known like Pappy Van Winkle, Old Fitzgerald, and Weller.

Blade and Bow’s parent company, Diageo, has owned and operated the site since 2014. Shortly thereafter, it launched this particular line to honor and preserve the legacy. In liquid form this preservation is achieved through a solera system of fractional blending. Bourbon fans can enjoy a small taste through both the flagship Kentucky Straight offering alongside the 22-Year-Old, an annual limited release.

“What I like about Blade and Bow is that it is one of only two solera bourbons in America,” notes Carl Gilbert, bar manager at Marbled and Fin in Charleston, SC. “That brings it to a different level of quality and production methodology that sets it apart from other bourbons that people traditionally enjoy. That process rounds out the product and produces a more smooth and enjoyable whisky…because the solera system is so wildly unique.”

How Is Blade and Bow Made?

It’s important to note that there is currently no commercial-scale whiskey production taking place at Stitzel-Weller. Diageo maintains the site mainly as a museum for bourbon lovers. There is, however, a dwindling supply of aging stock within its massive 90-year-old warehouses—stuff that was distilled there prior to the shuttering of the stills back in 1992. Today it represents some of the last known stores of Stitzel-Weller whiskey on earth.

A minuscule portion of that juice makes its way into Blade and Bow expressions by way of the aforementioned solera system. But we don’t know much else about the bourbon that comprises the majority of the liquid in the glass. 

It comes from Kentucky, as plainly stated on the bottle. It very likely contains wheat in its mash bill—a hallmark of the style of whiskey historically produced at Stitzel-Weller. And it definitely ages in new charred American oak for more than four years, as required by law; if a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey is aged for less time than that, it must specify such on the label.

If You Like Blade and Bow You’ll Also Like…

Frey Ranch Quad Malt

Frey Ranch, a venerated craft producer, grows all its grain on its own farm in rural Nevada. For Quad Malt, it uses a malted variation of the same combination of ingredients that purportedly go into Blade and Bow. As a result you end up with a juice that offers a similar blend of earth and confection. Though this one finishes with dark chocolate as opposed to singed oak.

Woodford Reserve Double Double Oaked

Woodford Reserve Double Double Oaked is an absolute belter of a bourbon that benefits from a full two-year finish in heavily toasted, lightly charred, new oak barrels. It hits the bottle at a comparable proof point to Blade and Bow, and goes down with comparable ease. But it takes that oak-laden finish and dials it up to full blast.

Blade and Bow 22-Year-Old

In Blade and Bow 22-Year-Old, everything you like about the liquid and lineage of the flagship is upped to the level of extravagance. Honeyed spice converge in complexity with roasted wood and a touch of campfire. It’s sturdy on the palate—with a slow fading finish—and in the bottle, in its hefty gold-labeled decanter. When first introduced it won best straight bourbon at the 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. But it comes at a super seep cost.

Why You Should Trust Me

I’m an award-winning spirits writer and presenter, who judges for some of the world’s premiere booze competitions. I generally taste around 500 whiskeys in any given year and have been a full-time journalist in the space for over a decade.

The industry pros I interviewed for this piece are among the most acclaimed hospitality experts from their respective sides of the country. They’re always drinking great whiskey—as a matter of professional responsibility, of course. 

Related: Don’t Listen to Whiskey Snobs. Here Are the Best Ways to Enjoy Bourbon