Nutmeg | Aged oak | Cinnamon stick | Faint dark stone fruit | Tobacco leaf | Light black peppercorn

Buttery caramel | Vanilla | Oak | Mixed peppercorn spice | Hint of ripe plum | Rye spice | Leather | Brown butter | Cinnamon spice

Black cherry | Cinnamon powder | Rye spice | Black peppercorn | Dry oak | Lingering spice

15 Stars was started by father-and-son team Rick and Ricky Johnson, who bottle their whiskeys at Bardstown Bourbon Co. in Bardstown, Kentucky. Their whiskeys began hitting the market in 2022, with many of their bourbons being relatively high aged sourced whiskeys originating from an undisclosed distillery or multiple distilleries in Kentucky. The name “15 Stars'' refers to Kentucky as the 15th state on the second United States flag, which included 15 stars and 15 stripes. This history is called upon in various ways within the company’s marketing, including details such as the metal bottle stoppers, which resemble the first U.S. coinage containing 15 stars, engraved by the American artisan Robert Scot.

The Artisan Collection is the latest limited bourbon release by the company and consists of  a total of just 1,290 bottles. Sourced from Indiana and Kentucky, the release timing coincided with the 2025 Kentucky Bourbon Festival in September. While the mashbill is undisclosed, Ricky Johnson states that it contains a high corn content.

Higher aged bourbon and bourbon blends have had a renaissance in 2025. 15 Stars continues this trend with the usage of 12 and 15 year old bourbons for their Artisan Collection. The end result is a bourbon that exudes typical aged notes along with pleasing sweet dark fruit notes.

It begins with an aroma that hints at its age, as nutmeg and aged oak take center stage, followed by cinnamon stick and faint notes of dark stone fruit. The fruit theme carries forward to the palate, with a hint of ripe plum that adds sweetness, followed by buttery caramel, before more aged notes take over. A black cherry note kicks off the finish before spice and dry oak take over, allowing the sip to end on a lingering spice note. The aged notes push a bit forceful at times, but overall this is a very nice, albeit pricey, blend from 15 Stars.

The bottle in review is from batch number 001 and is bottle number 1,220 out of 1,290.