I found this 1980s Daviess County Blended Whiskey on a dusty hunt and since I’d never had it, and it was only $10, I picked it up; after opening it I wish I hadn’t. Made at the original Medley Distillery in Kentucky this brand, like most of their other brands, all but disappeared after Diageo (then United Distillers) bought them and shut down the distillery in the early 90s. The brand is currently owned by Luxco
Luxco lists the Daviess County Blended Whiskey on their site as a current product, but they don’t list it as an active product in their Product Specifications section. I’ve also never seen it in stores without a tax strip and searching online I can’t find anyone who currently carries it. So if they do still make it, it has a very limited distribution.
1980s Daviess County Blended Whiskey Info
Region: Kentucky, USA
Distiller: Daviess County Distilling (Medley)
Blend: 49% GNS & 51% KSBW
Cask: New and used oak
Age: NAS (The bourbon is at least 4 years old)
ABV: 40%
Price: NA – Auction, Specialty Store or Private Seller… but why even look for it?
1980s Daviess County Blended Whiskey Review
EYE
Dark caramel
NOSE
Acrid artificial caramel, a heavy dose of metallic alcohol, waxy licorice, over-seeped black tea and bits of burnt grain, anise and artificial butterscotch. The longer it sits the more alcohol pops up.
PALATE
Raw vodka-like alcohol with bits of stale caramel, over-seeped black tea, bread, stale herbal spice and more alcohol.
FINISH
A graciously short drop of metallic artificial caramel, tea, stale bread and stale herbs that dissapates to a “sour vodka” quality.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
No balance, thin body and watery feel.
OVERALL
1980s Daviess County Blended Whiskey is awful and about as spirit driven as can be without it actually being pure GNS. Have you ever tried iced tea flavored vodka? It’s like that but 10x worse. It’s like someone took some of that, dropped a dry-erase marker in it and then left it to float the ocean on a garbage barge.
At one point Daviess was a straight bourbon, but I haven’t had it to compare this to. Though after trying this I’m not sure I want to. Daviess KSBW makes up 51% of this blended whiskey and now I’m wondering if the bourbon itself is bad, the NGS they added is magnificently foul or both are true.
To be fair, thisDaviess County Blended Whiskey has sat in the bottle since the 1980s and maybe NGS doesn’t “bottle age” as well as bourbon does, but to be honest I don’t care too much because it’s not a current product. It’s bad and if you see it gathering dust on a shelf learn from my mistake and leave it there. Let sleeping shelf turds lie.
SCORE: 20/100 (F)
