Cedar | Brown butter | Apple crisps | White pepper | Whipped cream

Caramel apple | Cinnamon | Pie crust | Rye spice | Slight floral element

Fig | Cigar box | Barrel char | White pepper | Ramp up of heat | Slight Concord grape aftertaste

Blue Run Trifecta offers a lot of firsts for the company. It’s their first triple-age Kentucky straight bourbon blend, and also their first major release since being acquired by Molson Coors Beverage Company in August. Molson Coors is keeping with Blue Run’s premium nature, offering Trifecta at $180 MSRP, putting it directly in line with other Kentucky limited releases this fall.

Blue Run made a name for themselves with numerous great single barrel releases that have been both critical and commercial successes. Their move to blended whiskeys has been a rougher road to pave, as competition in the blended space has been fiercer than it has ever been.

The whiskey’s blend features three bourbons with almost the same percentage of corn. That likely has a lot to do with how tight the flavor profile is in this blend. Noticeably on its palate, the bourbon sticks with the apple pie flavor profile quite closely, before offering slightly more variety in its finish. Interestingly, its 9 year old component is referred to as the “Lost Whiskey,” because it somehow made its way from Kentucky to Spain and then back again, causing a lot of “head scratching” according to the company.

The bourbon is well-blended and the disclosure of its various ages and percentages is respectable, but its high asking price will ultimately be its sticking point. It’s a big ask, and the overall lack of frills makes it hard to fully justify its price tag. If you’re a fan of Blue Run you’re probably all in, but for others new to the brand or on the fence, Blue Run Trifecta is a solid blended bourbon that asks for too much.