Sainsbury's Kentucky Bourbon

Price:
£13.50 - 70cl
(Reduced to £10.19 when purchased - July 2018)

Those who know me well will know that bourbon is my favourite spirit. I love the versatility of being able to sip it neat, mixed with coke or in a number of gorgeous cocktails such as an Old Fashioned, Whiskey Sour or a Manhattan. So when I saw this reduced in my local Sainsbury's, down to just over £10, it was a no-brainer. 

I always have at least 2 bourbons in stock - a low end one such as Jim Beam or Jack Daniels for mixing with coke, and then a higher end one such as Bulleit or Woodford Reserve for cocktails. I fully expected this bourbon to be a decent replacement for the lower end mixers, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was better than that. 

I personally find Jack Daniels to be a little to sickly sweet for mixing with coke so prefer Jim Beam at the lower end of the market. This product though is better than both. It's smooth and tasty without the sweetness of JD or the harshness of JB. The times I mixed it with coke, I actually felt a little bad as it is definitely capable of more. 

Pleasingly and surprisingly, this bourbon makes a cracking Whiskey Sour, far better than JD or JB in my opinion. Whilst it isn't a great bourbon for sipping or using in a Manhattan or Old Fashioned, it still fills the middle ground very well.

Price wise, this is a well priced product. At its regular price of £13.50, it's about the same price as Jim Beam (when JB is on offer), and is in my opinion, a superior bourbon. At the price I paid, it was a steal. The evidence is that it didn't last very long at all. The open bottle of Jim Beam Double Barrel I had just sat there whilst I drank this Sainsbury's bourbon instead - a product almost half the price. Even at full price I would buy this again as it's a better product than Jim Beam which makes little difference mixed with coke, but has the flexibility of being used well in some other drinks, meaning I can save my top shelf stuff for special occasions. 

NB. This product is currently (September 2018) out of stock on the Sainsbury's website and I can't see it in store either. This could be related trade issues and tariffs between the UK and the USA at the moment. Either way, it looks like Sainsbury's is in the process of moving suppliers, so this product may no longer be in stock. On the positive side though, if it's being reduced to clear as it seemed to be when I purchased it, then you're in for an absolute bargain.