Very Olde St Nick Immaculata Review
“Very Olde St. Nick Immaculata Ancient Cask Bourbon”
On a 2024 trip to The Kentucky Bourbon Festival I had the opportunity to taste Very Olde St. Nick Immaculata in a bar and enjoyed it. But I had never seen it in a store. So I was very surprised when I came across it at my regular grocery store, which also happens to have a nice selection of whiskey.
The Very Olde St. Nick brand was originally created in 1986 by Marci Palatella in response to the Japanese market’s craving for older bourbons. In 2015, Preservation Distillery purchased the brand with the intent of crafting exceptional whiskey. According to their website: “We pot distill in micro 1–3 barrel batches with an unwavering commitment to both exceptional whiskey and sustainability. While many whiskeys are released between 2 and 4 years (with most at 4 years and a day), our commitment is a minimum of 6 to 7 years of slow maturation.”
The Very Olde St. Nick brand has 6 labels associated with it: Immaculata Bourbon, Faith + Conviction Rye, Straight Outta Bardstown, Summer Rye, Harvest Rye, and Winter Maple Rye. As stated earlier, they used to be primarily produced for the Japanese market, but now they are becoming more available in the States.
Classification: Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Age: NAS, blend of 8 to 15 years
Proof: 118.1
Batch Designation: Small Batch
Proof Designation: Cask Strength
Still: Pot Still
Filtered Status: Non-Chill Filtered
Mash bill: Undisclosed
Barrel Char Level: Undisclosed
Barrel Entry Proof: Undisclosed
Distillate Source: Undisclosed distilleries in Indiana & Kentucky
Distillery: Undisclosed distilleries in Indiana & Kentucky
Company: Preservation Distillery
Bottled By: Olde St. Nick Distillery
Distilled/Aging Location: Bardstown, Kentucky
Batch Size: 1 to 3 barrels
Master Distiller: Marci Palatella
Release Date: Winter 2022
MSRP: $259
Secondary Market: $???
Availability: Hard to find
April 2, 2025
Very Olde St. Nick Immaculata Review
My tasting reviews are unique in that I include the notes of several well-known whiskey critics. The hope is that this format will help me and others to explore and expand their tasting experience. After you have taken your own tasting notes, read the reviews and see if there is a flavor note that others discerned that now you can detect as well.
For this tasting: Opened Bottle (about 2 weeks), Glencairn Glass, Neat, Room Temp, Breathe: 5 minutes.
More flavors definitely open up after getting air for a while.
Legs
Beads form on the crown at about 7 seconds. The first legs form at 15 seconds, and the first legs reach the bowl at about 79 seconds. The legs keep forming, start to fall slightly, but then merge into another thicker crown before finally starting to fall.
Nose
Old oak, soft ethanol, leather, cherry, prune, dark caramel.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Breaking Bourbon: Cherry | Raspberry | Cranberry | Mature oak | Nutmeg | Leather | Nicely layered
Bourbon Banter: A complex aroma of caramel, vanilla, and toasted oak.
Paste Magazine: Heavy on the older oak aromatics, with hints of leather. I’m getting caramel and notable buttered popcorn here, with flashes of citrus and honey-roasted peanuts. The ethanol seems a tad hot to me, having seemingly not been smoothed out by what otherwise feels like a pretty mature and oak-forward profile.
Palate
Old oak, dark caramel, mild vanilla, dark fruits, prune, leather, caramelized or burnt orange, dark chocolate, cola, cherry. The palate is complex, moving from sweet and oaky to spicy, to dark. The alcohol is evident, but warming, no harsh.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Breaking Bourbon: Cherry wood | Seasoned oak | Black currants | Cacao nibs
Bourbon Banter: A full-bodied, velvety mouthfeel with notes of butterscotch, honey, and dark fruit.
Paste Magazine: Caramel/toffee and old oak, chased by spice and honey-roasted nuts again. There’s some rye spice here, pushing occasionally in a more earthy direction, while the spice leans toward sweet stem ginger. Residual sweetness is mild to moderate when all it said and done, with the strong oakiness lending moderate tannin and drying things out somewhat, but not to a problematic degree. The alcohol heat again is pretty expressive…
Finish
Medium-long with a nice mouthfeel. Old oak, cherry, brown sugar, leather, baking spices, chocolate.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Breaking Bourbon: Sandalwood | Leather | Mature oak | Clove | Leans dry | Medium length with a lingering mature oak and cherry wood aftertaste
Bourbon Banter: The finish is long and smooth, with hints of leather and tobacco.
Paste Magazine: A long-lasting spicy prickle on the tongue that suggests the likes of Sichuan peppercorns.
At the end of the day, this reads as a pretty mature bourbon with some appealing notes, though not a lot that specifically stands out to me as overly memorable.
Mouthfeel
The mouthfeel is Silken and pleasant, but the alcohol and spiciness break-through and prevent it from feeling Creamy.
Mouthfeel Rating Guide: Thin = Watery | Silken = smooth & slippery, but not mouth coating | Creamy = coats the tongue like heavy cream does. | Rich or Unctuous = coats the entire palate like quality olive oil
The Burn
3 out of 5. This means that the burn from the alcohol is about what I would expect it to be for something that is 118.1 proof.
Rating Guide: 1 = Burns my face off! | 2 = The burn is hotter than I’d expect for this proof. | 3 = The burn is about what I’d expect. | 4 = The burn is less than what I’d expect. | 5 = The burn is significantly lower than I’d expect.
Tasting Summary
Very Olde St. Nick Immaculata Ancient Cask Bourbon starts soft, sweet, and rich on the palate with notes of aged oak, dark caramel, mild vanilla, and dark fruits. This transitions quickly into the spiciness of baking spices (black pepper, mild clove) and perhaps rye spice (but no rye “dill” flavors). And then moves to leather, some chocolate a cola note and burnt orange.
Pass, Bar, Buy, or Bunker?
Rating: BAR/BUY- Because of the high cost, if you can find it, I’d try a pour of this at a bar before deciding to purchase. But, because it is such a small batch offering, finding it in a bar is unlikely. For me, it was worth the purchase once.
Rating Scale:
PASS – I wish that I had never put this in my mouth!
BAR – I don’t love it or hate it…I suggest trying this in a bar before purchasing it.
BUY – I would buy it once…maybe more.
BUNKER – Love this! I want a back-up bottle…or 3.
My Rating
The higher the score the better the whiskey is in my opinion. For reference, my best rated bottle so far is the George T. Stagg 2022 (138.7p) with a score of 9.7.
See how I think about tasting ratings…
I initially scored this as a 7.8, but a week later (with more air and time to open) I changed the score to 8.1
| Score Type | Score | Examples |
| Likability Score | 8.1 | 1.0 – 10.0 |
| Availability Score | 1 | 1-Rare, 2-Hard to Find, 3-A Little Hunting, 4-Easy to Find |
My Tasting Notes
A blank version of this tasting notes wheel is available in both a color and a black & white version in the member’s area.
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