Last Call from Bardstown: Our Larceny Barrel Proof 8 Year Pick
The final barrel from our June 202 Kentucky trip is here. We visited Heaven Hill in Bardstown with Five Star Liquor, tasted through three solid barrels, and ended up with something even better thanks to a surprise appearance from Master Distiller Conor O'Driscoll.
Back in June 2025, four members of the Orlando Whiskey Alliance joined Sam Patel of Five Star Liquor for our annual barrel pick trip to Kentucky, a tradition we all look forward to each year. Over the course of the trip, we selected several barrels in this Larceny Barrel Proof 8 Year is the last one from that journey.
Bardstown, KY / Heaven Hill Distillery
We arrived at Heaven Hill's distillery on Gilkey Run Road in Bardstown, where we were greeted by a familiar face: Sylvia Hans, Heaven Hill's Private Barrel Program Specialist. Sylvia has been an incredible partner over the years, and it's always a pleasure working with her.
She walked us through three barrels of 7-8 year old Old Fitzgerald, or, in this case, Larceny BP, all genuinely solid whiskeys. But as we tasted through them, we kept coming back to the same feeling: each one was good, but something was missing. We couldn't quite put our finger on it.
Enter Conor O'Driscoll
That's when the afternoon took an unexpected turn. Conor O'Driscoll, Heaven Hill's Master Distiller, walked into the rickhouse and immediately recognized Sam and the rest of our pick team. After a few warm hellos, Conor didn't hesitate. He led us deeper into the rickhouse, straight to a barrel he had been personally tasting and watching for several months.
We drilled it, tasted, and we all knew immediately: This is the one.
The barrel was everything we'd been looking for: perfectly balanced, rich, and exactly the kind of whiskey we'd traveled all the way to Kentucky to find. We didn't need to deliberate. We unanimously nodded our heads in synchronization and the rest is history.
The Final Barrel
This Larceny Barrel Proof 8 Year is the last barrel from our 2025 pick calendar and it holds a special place for all of us. It's a testament to the relationships we've built in this industry over the past 13 years and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
