Its Bourbon Baby and The Liquor Connoisseur Review Bardstown's Small Batch Stave Finish Bourbon!

Behind the Pour

Fallon — aka Its Bourbon Baby — came to bourbon from vodka, with a New Orleans background and a deep appreciation for the culture of spirits rather than just the liquid. She joins Crystal and Roger for one of TLC's most relaxed, wide-ranging conversations — 64 minutes on whiskey proof preferences, stave finishes, and the bottle that brought them together: Bardstown Bourbon Company's small-batch stave finish expression. Along the way, the three of them compare paths, preferences, and what makes a great bottle worth knowing.

What You'll Discover

• What a stave finish is and how it works: A stave finish is a secondary aging technique where additional wood staves are placed inside an already-aged bourbon barrel to impart additional wood character without moving the spirit to a new barrel. It is faster than full re-barreling and allows distilleries to add complexity to a finished spirit with precision.
• Bardstown Bourbon's glass-walled rickhouse experiment: Bardstown is one of the more experimental bourbon producers in Kentucky — their glass-walled rickhouse exposes barrels to natural light and temperature cycles that enclosed warehouses do not, which changes the extraction rate and flavor development pattern over time.
• Proof preferences and what they reveal: Fallon and Crystal talk through why proof preference is often a marker of where someone is in their bourbon education journey — beginners often prefer lower proofs, while experienced drinkers tend to seek higher proof for the additional flavor density.
• Tequila's influence on bourbon drinkers: All three agree that the agave category has changed how many bourbon drinkers think about terroir, production transparency, and the value of knowing who made your spirit. The categories are teaching each other.
• From vodka to bourbon: Fallon's conversion story is the episode's most personal section — New Orleans drinking culture is specific, and the path from vodka-centric cocktail culture to serious bourbon appreciation is a meaningful one.

A Moment of Pourspective

Every bourbon drinker has a bottle they came home with on a whim that reorganized their entire understanding of what the category was capable of. That bottle is different for everyone. Fallon's is probably still on her shelf. Yours might be too.

Explore the Conversation

The Its Bourbon Baby episode is one of TLC's most relaxed long-form conversations — three bourbon-knowledgeable people spending an hour talking through their experience of the category without a tight agenda. The Bardstown Bourbon tasting gives it structure, but the Fallon conversation is the real draw. The stave finish explanation is the episode's most technically useful segment. The technique is increasingly common in American whiskey, and understanding how it works mechanically helps listeners evaluate whether a stave-finished expression is worth the premium over the base expression. Bardstown's glass-walled rickhouse is a production detail that most bourbon drinkers have not encountered. Fallon and Crystal dig into the logic of natural light and temperature cycling as variables in barrel aging — a conversation that reflects both of their genuine curiosity about the craft rather than a prepared talking point.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Bardstown Bourbon Company? Bardstown Bourbon Company is a Kentucky distillery based in Bardstown, known for both its own bourbon production and its custom distilling services for other brands. Their facility includes innovative warehouse designs including a glass-walled rickhouse.
• What is a stave finish? A stave finish is a secondary maturation technique where new wood staves are placed inside an aged bourbon barrel to add additional flavor compounds — vanilla, spice, toasted oak — without transferring the spirit to a new barrel.
• Who is Its Bourbon Baby? Its Bourbon Baby is Fallon, a bourbon enthusiast and content creator with an audience built around accessible bourbon education and community.
• Is the Bardstown Bourbon stave finish expression still available? Bardstown Bourbon releases multiple expressions across their Collaborative and Discovery series. Check bardstownbourbon.com for current availability.

Episode at a Glance

• Guest: Fallon, Its Bourbon Baby (bourbon enthusiast and creator)
• Hosts: Crystal and Roger
• Runtime: 1 hour, 4 minutes, 5 seconds
• Category: Bourbon
• Spirit reviewed: Bardstown Bourbon Small Batch Stave Finish