Barrell Whiskey Batch #004

Barrell Whiskey
Cask Strength American whiskey
Batch #004
11 yrs age
60.3% ABV (120.6 proof)
$not sure, but probably $70+ (sample provided)

Excited to dig into this one - based on Barrell's website, this whiskey looks very unique: bourbon mashbill, 11 years in used oak, with finishing in rye and rum casks.

Color: bright gold, bordering on light brown

Smell: Despite the proof, your nose can mosey right up to this whiskey. Lots of sweet smells - caramel, banana (likely from the rum casks), raisins, and almost a fudge note cropping up too. There's also a hint of barrel-driven vanilla and cinnamon.

Taste: very much in keeping with the aroma - sweet throughout, and smooth enough at full proof, though a little water brings more to enjoy. "Funky caramelized banana sweetness" pretty much sums up the sipping experience. There's a little drying oak note in the finish that provides a nice balance to what would otherwise be a sugar cookie of a whiskey.

Overall: I like this quite a bit, particularly with a little water to open things up. It's very well balanced with the caramelized tropical fruit/banana sweetness in the nose and front palate and then some (but not too much) oak spice backbone to balance things out. Very interesting, and recommended. "A-" for me.

Orphan Barrel "Whoop & Holler"

Orphan Barrel

"Whoop & Holler"

American Whisky

Aged 28 Years

42% ABV (84 proof)

~$175 (sample provided)

Color: light golden brown

Smell: really nice bouquet. Roasted corn is the main note, but there's also a bit of creamy red berry sweetness and a great complement of muted oak spice that comes across as tobacco-ish. It's a funky and musty nose, as far as whisky is concerned, and I dig it.

Taste: it's pretty unremarkable at first - just mild corn and caramel sweetness with some of the floral berries. But then the midpalate brings in some old dusty leather and tobacco. This continues into the finish, which is long and marked by drying oak spice.

Overall: this certainly isn't the flavor profile I was expecting from a 28 year old whisky (i.e., massively woody, bitter, and burnt). Although this was distilled at Dickel using Dickel's mashbill, I'd venture to guess that it aged in far different circumstances, perhaps not in freshly charred new oak barrels - Dickel's offerings are all much more wood-driven in terms of flavor. That said, the whisky in the bottle is good. Very good, even. It's vibrant and fresh, with some very interesting secondary flavors and - particularly - an impressively lingering and complex finish. For me, this is an "A-" and it comes closest to matching the BTAC Eagle Rare 17 flavor profile in terms of an analog.

Barrell Whiskey Batch 002

Barrell Whiskey
Batch 002
123.8 proof

From Barrell's website, it looks like this is a whiskey that uses a bourbon mashbill, but then purposely switches things up. Specifically, it was aged for 9.5 years (approx) in used bourbon barrels, and then finished in sherry casks. I'm really excited to see what shines through.

Color: pale golden orange

Smell: elegant, soft, fruity. It's interesting because this is monstrously proofed, and yet you can just get all up in there to sniff things without consequence. It's hard for me to classify what I'm smelling. In a sense, I would say "bourbon light," but I think that does this a disservice - it's not at all unimpressive. There's restraint here - a hint of cinnamon, some dark red fruit, graham crackers, and definitely some nuttiness (presumably from the sherry). It's sort of an American version of an unpeated sherried scotch.

Taste: very nice - the sherry really shows up on the palate. First thing's first: this is smooth. Very soft sweetness on entry...red fruits and toasted nuts. The midpalate and finish are also restrained, but bring in a balancing oak influence and a certain degree of richness - fudgey, almost.

Overall: I like it, but don't love it. It's in the B/B+ area for me. It's fun to see something original in the American whiskey scene and, specifically, fun to see what a bourbon mashbill can produce when it isn't oaked to within an inch of its life. I think the sherry influence is well integrated, but the overall package lacks a big depth of flavor. As far as experimental whiskies go, this is miles ahead of the great majority of them.