Bardstown Bourbon Company The Prisoner

Bardstown Bourbon Company The Prisoner — a collaboration release between Bardstown Bourbon Company (BBCo.) and The Prisoner Wine Company, finishing a 9-year Tennessee straight bourbon in The Prisoner's red wine casks of French oak for 18 months. Bottled at 100 proof.

The Prisoner Wine Company's signature blend uses red wine varietals including Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon in its distinctive Amnesia casks — the same casks used for this 18-month finish. The result is a bourbon-rye hybrid profile: the 9-year Tennessee straight bourbon providing the aged grain foundation while the French oak Prisoner casks introduce red fruit, drying tannin, and the distinctive wine complexity The Prisoner brand is known for. Bottled at 100 proof (50% ABV).

Tasting Notes

• Nose: Red fruits leading — blackberry and dark cherry — with sweet vanilla, spicy cinnamon, and herbal notes from the wine cask
• Palate: Dry and grippy on entry — tannins from the Prisoner casks producing a texture unusual in American bourbon, with blackberry, cherry, and cooling menthol through the mid-palate. Water opens additional fruit complexity
• Finish: Maintains presence on the tongue with lingering tannin, dark fruit, and warm bourbon base

Specs

• Producer: Bardstown Bourbon Company, Bardstown, Kentucky
• Style: Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Wine Cask Finish
• Base spirit: 9-year Tennessee straight bourbon
• Finish: The Prisoner red wine casks (French oak) — 18 months
• Proof: 100 (50% ABV)
• Size: 750ml

Browse all bourbon at Wooden Cork.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes The Prisoner wine casks distinctive?

The Prisoner Wine Company uses a blend of red varietals including Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon in its Amnesia casks — producing the wine's characteristic dry, grippy tannin structure. Applied to an 18-month bourbon finish, those casks introduce the same drying tannin and dark fruit that defines The Prisoner wine into the bourbon base.