🥃Whiskey Frankenstein: Kirkland Bottled-in-Bond (2024) + Wolcott Rickhouse Reserve = Barton White Label

Bottle of Kirkland Bottled-in-Bond and A wolcott rickhouse reserve bottle on a bar mat next to a Glencairn which blends the two whiskies

I've been meaning to kill off my oldest bottle Costco's Kirkland BiB Bourbon for a bit now. The 2024 iteration was a good bit better than the 2025 for whatever reason, but this bottle had gotten pushed to the back of the cabinet. Unfortunately a good amount of headspace in that 1L bottle has resulted in a bit of over oxidation; most of the interested fruited notes are gone. With a few sips of a prior pour left in the glass, I absentmindedly tossed in a few glugs of Total Wine's Wolcott Rickhouse Reserve, also a Barton-1792 product, hoping that a little bit of fresh juice would liven up the Kirkland. The Wolcott impressed me for being relatively easy drinking at 120 proof and around $35, especially given how hard to find 1792 Full Proof had been over the past few years. Results of this impromptu mix were favorable, so I have set out to better document the ratios involved and recreate my accidental success.

Vámonos!

For the uninitiated, Whiskey Frankenstein is the practice of whiskey blending at home to create improved or interesting combos.

🧪Preparation

I blended the two spirits in a 75/25 ratio to arrive at a 50ml sample, majority Wolcott. Final proof should be around 115.

Whiskies were measured using a 100ml lab-quality graduated cylinder wielded with questionable skill. Mechanical agitation (stirring/shaking) was applied at the time of blending and prior to consumption. Blend married for a couple drinks at the casino bar before proceeding to the wedding chapel (~2 hours).

👅The Tasting

If "stale" whiskey is good for one thing, it's cooling off a hot partner. The 75/25 ratio seems just about perfect, edges are rounded off the Wolcott while retaining a good amount of the stone fruit and spice from the Rickhouse Reserve. There is a somewhat dark chocolate cherry swirl going on that I'm not sure I got out of either individually.

🏆Verdict

4 - Superior - Very happy with how this turned out. Two bottles that I needed to finish that, while I enjoyed them as they were, definitely had some room for improvement. I have probably 4 oz. of the Kirkland left and just enough of the Wolcott to upscale the pour. Another round of Barton White Label coming right up!

Now that the hard work is over, time for a real quality PHD (pretty huge drink). Thanks for reading!

💀Scoring Reference

1 - Abysmal - Maybe I'm the monster? This is a war crime.

2 - Inferior - So preoccupied with the knowledge that we could, we didn't stop to think if we should.

3 - Neutral - A simple average of its parts. At least we did no real harm.

4 - Superior - "Jinkies Gang", we might be on to something here. Target whiskey is improved.

5 - Genius - Mad Science does have it's perks; this is a breakthrough. Better than all inputs.

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