Barrell Whiskey Batch 004
The fourth Barrell Whiskey release from my friends over at the The Bourbon Culture was again a left turn from the first three, and brought back an old friend: Barrell Batch 1 Rum.
For this release, Barrell made four combinations, aged them, and then blended them after 11 years: Indiana bourbon aged in rye barrels, Indiana bourbon aged in rum casks, Tennessee bourbon aged in rye barrels, and Tennessee bourbon aged in rum casks. It’s a clever aging structure, and I respect the idea behind it. Just for a quick comparison, it brought to mind Dewar’s Double Double Aged series, where Stephanie MacLeod used a similar 2x2 aging process to create a really stellar blended Scotch.
Unfortunately, this one doesn’t quite meet the comparison. And maybe I’m reading into this too much - which I do do - but the description on their website reads like every step was a “well let’s just do this” or “eh maybe we’ll do that”, like there were 30 pieces for a 20-piece puzzle and they were trying to figure out which ones fit and which ones were just ancillary.
Maybe I’m being too hard on them. Barrell isn’t known for coloring within the lines, so it’s not like a spontaneous choice is unusual. And, while it wasn’t my favorite release, it wasn’t a bad whiskey. It really wasn’t - it’s just not for me. I tried it blind not even knowing these were Barrell samples, so it’s as objective a tasting note as you’ll get. I know I loved Batch 003, so I’ll keep that one for myself and let Batch 004 stay in the wild.
Barrell Whiskey Batch 004: Specs
Classification: Tennessee and Indiana Whiskey
Origin: Indiana (MGP) and Tennessee (Cascade Hollow)
Mashbill: Undisclosed Corn, Rye, and Malt Mashbill
Proof: 120.6 (60.3% ABV)
Age: 11 Years
Location: Distilled and aged in Tennessee
Barrell Whiskey Batch 004 Price: N/A - No Longer Available
Barrell Whiskey Batch 004 Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Golden honey. Thin disintegrating rims and minuscule droplets.
Nose: A little funky…some raw oak. Tight nose with some light fruit peeking out - white nectarines and yellow cherries. A bit of heat in the nostrils. Cocoa butter and cascara fruit.
Palate: Bourbon? Tingly on my whole tongue but not burning hot. Overall not much flavor coming through…maybe a little chocolate or a little wheat, but it’s just as tight as the nose. Mouthfeel is coating, medium-bodied, quite pleasant, opens more dark cocoa and dried cherries. Also some blanched almonds, almost combining into a light gianduja.
Finish: Dark chocolate and a little nuttiness, definitely either almond or toasted hazelnut. A pleasing finish that almost makes up for the lack of a nose.
Overall: I feel like this is a wheater, if only because of the chocolate notes, but it’s mild. The mouthfeel is fantastic, and the finish is better than expected. Nose takes forever to open up, and when it does the scents are muted.
Final Rating: 5.7
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel)
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B518 and B520)
8 | Excellent | Exceptional (12+YO MGP Bourbon, Highland Park Single Barrels)
7 | Great | Well above average (Blanton’s Original, Old Weller Antique, Booker’s)
6 | Very Good | Better than average (Four Roses Small Batch Select, Knob Creek 14+ YO Picks)
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Elijah Craig Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond)
4 | Sub-par | Many things I’d rather have (A.D. Laws Four Grain, Compass Box “Oak Cross”)
3 | Bad | Flawed (Iron Smoke Bourbon, Balcones)
2 | Poor | Forced myself to drink it (Buckshee Bourbon and Rye)
1 | Disgusting | Drain pour (Virginia Distilling Co. Cider Cask)
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