Blade and Bow Bourbon: What the Name Means and What Is in the Bottle
Blade and Bow is the bourbon with a small brass key hanging from the neck. People search the name because the bottle is striking and the name makes no obvious sense. Here is what the name means, where the whiskey comes from, what it tastes like, and whether it is worth $59.99.
What "blade and bow" means
They are the two parts of an old key. The bow is the round end you hold. The blade is the end that goes into the lock and turns it.
The key on the bottle is a nod to the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky. The brand's story is that the distillery had five keys — one for each step of making bourbon: choosing the grain, fermenting, distilling, aging and bottling. Each bottle of Blade and Bow carries one of the five keys, so if you buy a few, you can try to collect the set.
Why Stitzel-Weller matters
Stitzel-Weller opened in 1935 and became one of the most admired distilleries in bourbon — the house associated with Pappy Van Winkle and with the soft, wheated style, where wheat instead of rye is the second grain after corn. It stopped distilling in 1992. Old bottles from there are now collector's items.
Blade and Bow was launched in 2015 by Diageo, which owns the old Stitzel-Weller site. The bottle is aged in a solera — a system of barrels where some older whiskey is always left behind and topped up with younger whiskey, so a thread of the oldest stock runs through every batch. The brand says that thread includes some of the last whiskey distilled at Stitzel-Weller. It does not carry an age statement, and it is not simply old Stitzel-Weller in a new bottle; think of it as modern Kentucky bourbon with a small share of history blended through it.
What it tastes like
Soft and fruit-forward rather than big and spicy. Dried apricot and ripe pear on the nose, then honey, stone fruit and a little vanilla, with warm spice and charred oak on a long, gentle finish. It is bottled at 45.5 percent, 91 proof — a touch stronger than standard 80 proof, which keeps the flavour from going thin over ice.
Drink it neat or with one ice cube. It is too gentle and too expensive to bury in a cocktail with soda. It sits well after a heavy meat meal, or with smoked brisket in the sukkah this week.
Is it kosher?
There is no hechsher on the label. That is normal for bourbon. By law, straight bourbon has to be aged in new charred oak barrels, which rules out the used wine casks that are the main kosher concern with whisky. For that reason many kashrus organisations accept unflavoured bourbon without certification — but standards differ, so ask your own rav. We went through the whole question in is your whiskey kosher.
Is it worth $59.99?
Honestly, part of what you are paying for is the story and the key. As a gift, that is the point — it is a bottle that starts a conversation, and it looks the part on a shelf.
If you are buying for the taste alone and you like that soft, wheated, easy style, there are cheaper ways in:
- Maker's Mark, 750ml, $32.99 — the best known wheated bourbon. Soft, sweet, caramel.
- Larceny Small Batch, 750ml, $32.99 — wheated, a little richer, named for John E. Fitzgerald, whose Old Fitzgerald bourbon was once made at Stitzel-Weller.
And if you want something in the same price range with a different character:
- Woodford Reserve, 750ml, $40.00 — fuller, more oak and spice.
- Basil Hayden, 750ml, $46.99 — light, high in rye, a little peppery.
For how bourbon fits against the rest of the whiskey shelf, see bourbon vs whiskey and rye vs bourbon, or browse the full bourbon collection.
