This blind had a simple purpose: I realized I do not think I had ever formally scored Old Bardstown Bottled in Bond, and that made it worth lining up against two other inexpensive bonded bottles already sitting nearby.
That created an unintentionally honest matchup: three bottom-shelf bottled-in-bond bourbons, all in the low-$20 range, none pretending to be heroes.
Old Bardstown came home with me from Kentucky last year. Stedman’s turned up in a Walmart last fall. Old Tub came courtesy of Scott the last time he was here. None of them arrive with much ceremony, but all three are perfectly sippable to a point — and I am convinced every one of them would make a very respectable Old Fashioned.
The question was simple: where exactly does Old Bardstown fit when poured blind beside a couple of similarly priced bonded bottles?
The color on all three pours was almost useless as a separator — light- to mid-amber across the board — so this became a nose, palate and finish contest from the first sip forward.
Blind Notes
A
Stedman’s opened with light caramel, nutmeg, oak and vanilla on the nose. The palate added peanuts, cinnamon and brown sugar, giving it the most immediate personality of the three. But the mouthfeel stayed thin, and the short finish — cinnamon and vanilla — kept it from gaining ground after the first impression.
Score: 72.15
B
Old Bardstown stepped up the nose with light tree fruit layered into caramel, nutmeg and oak. The aroma suggested more than the palate ultimately delivered, where vanilla, cinnamon and light caramel stayed fairly restrained. Thin mouthfeel again, with a short finish that echoed the same cinnamon-and-vanilla lane.
Score: 72.70
C
Old Tub began with the simplest nose — vanilla, oak and caramel — but improved as it sat. The palate started thin, then gradually added tree fruit and oak before settling into vanilla and caramel. The mouthfeel remained light, but the finish edged the others just enough to separate it.
Score: 74.21
Final Order
- Old Tub — 74.21
- Old Bardstown — 72.70
- Stedman’s — 72.15
Closing Thought
No one here threatened greatness, and none of these bottles suddenly demand a shelf promotion.
But that is not really their assignment.
These are honest budget bottled-in-bond bourbons: affordable, dependable, and entirely capable of doing their job — especially when a cocktail glass is nearby.
And in this blind, Old Tub simply did that job a little better than the others.
Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
How often is a bottle just bad? I bought a bottle of Old Tub and it is terrible. It has that wet cardboard taste that I’ve only come across one other time.
Honestly, I haven’t had many terrible bottles. The worst I ever had was First Call Rye from Total Wine. It was like drinking a cross between 100-year-old cough syrup from your grandmother’s medicine cabinet and kerosene. Just the smell could peel paint. And I got a rye from Clyde Mays that was far too medicinal. That said, I have a bottle of Old Tub a buddy gave me, and I’m sipping it right now to see if it matches what you tasted. It isn’t great – too much proof for a bonded bourbon, and the textbook Beam peanut. And a bit more oak than I’d like out of something so young. But no wet cardboard here. You might have gotten a bad bottle.