Barrell Bourbon Batch 33
This has been a great year for Barrell Craft Spirits, hasn’t it?
Between the first few gray label releases in a few years and then the multiple gold label releases, then the recent Vantage extension, it’s easy to forget that their bourbon batches are some solidly good bourbons right off the shelf.
Each batch has similar ingredients, usually a mix of bourbons from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and are around 5-9 years old. It’s a bit expensive if you look at the 5-year side of things, but for a barrel strength 9-year-old bourbon, it’s almost exactly in line with the $10/year rule.
When these batches come out, I do two things: first, review on my own; then, look at the tasting notes on Barrell’s website and some reviews from people I trust. Why? Because Barrell’s folks have great blending skills, and can create different profiles from different proportions of ostensibly similar base components. Excepting Batch 30, which had wheated bourbon from Wyoming Whiskey in it, almost all recent Barrell Bourbon batches have been made of those three components: Indiana (MGP), Tennessee, (Cascade Hollow), and Kentucky (some say Jim Beam, others Barton, I honestly can’t decide).
There’s another reason I follow that process: ensuring my notes are in the ballpark. I trust my palate, but nobody is perfect, and each palate is more or less sensitive to certain flavors than others. If a batch has a standout flavor or something particularly notable about it, it’s worth checking if I’ve picked up on it (afterwards, of course, to ensure no power of suggestion interference).
With Batch 33, I’m right in line with other reviewers. I don’t consider it my favorite of all time, but it is a really good batch, perhaps my favorite of this year. There’s plenty of fruitiness with a super oily mouthfeel, likely from the high-corn bourbon. Orange zest and cinnamon around the edges complete the pour. I didn’t get the nuttiness some other reviewers did, and the fruit was more berry-forward than tropical (I admit, I wanted to get the passion fruit notes - it’s my favorite fruit).
Blends like this are also tougher to review in my opinion since there are multiple sources. There are added skills here that only come through when tasting. Joe, Tripp, Will, and the team are blending with a purpose: want more fruit? up the proportion of this. Want more oak? up the aged percentage or reduce the younger side. It’s an art, and they’re brilliant at it. I’ll bring up my only complaint, and it’s a regular one: Barrell doesn’t release their proportions for anything. I’m confident enough that if another blender, even one I trust as much as Barrell, were to attempt an exact reconstruction, it wouldn’t be the same. That doesn’t change me wanting to know because I’m that much of a nerd and just want to know!
For me, it goes back to the argument that everyone should release their mashbills and processes, because even if it were copied exactly from place to place, the end product would still be different on paper than in the glass. Let’s say Barrell can’t release the sources because of NDAs, but could release mashbills like Bardstown Bourbon Co. does. That gives us hints. Maybe even proportions, if possible. Nobody’s producing what Barrell is producing, not exactly, anyway. On the recent Vantage, I would’ve loved to know which bourbons were matched with which finishing cask, because that information leads to research and experimentation and deep thought about why.
Putting that aside? This is a very good-to-great batch that’s an easy pickup if you see it.
Thank you to Ro-Bro Marketing and Barrell Craft Spirits for providing this bottle for review purposes without restriction.
Barrell Bourbon Batch 33: Specs
Classification: Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskies
Origin: Barrell Craft Spirits
Mashbill: Undisclosed
Proof: 116.6 (58.3% ABV)
Age: 5+ Years Old
Location: Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee
Barrell Bourbon Batch 33 Price: $84.99
Barrell Bourbon Batch 33 Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Orange blossom honey. Medium rims and slow-to-leave teardrops.
Nose: Strawberries cut and sprinkled with sugar. Proof hits up the nostrils. Slightly savory caramels. Nose has heft, though the flavors are a little hidden and hard to distinguish at first. Marmalade on seeded rye bread.
Palate: Wild strawberry preserves, oak pepperiness from tongue to throat. Warming with honey and cinnamon. Fresh leather and a new cigar box. Mouthfeel is oily with medium body, peppery on the sides of my tongue. Citrus peel grows, fresh lemon and pink grapefruit. Unctuous fruit underneath.
Finish: Medium-length, settles under the tongue for a while. Warm honey in tea comes back around with a slight astringency in the cheeks.
Overall: One of my favorite batches this year. Fruity and oily. The nose needs time to open, but the palate and finish are solidly in good territory.
Final Rating: 6.9
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary
8 | Excellent | Exceptional
7 | Great | Well above average
6 | Very Good | Better than average
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary
4 | Has promise but needs work
1-3 | Let’s have a conversation
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