Barrell Bourbon Batch 014 Review

Barrell is a company that has made a name for themselves sourcing and blending whiskies from various undisclosed distilleries in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana (which we can assume is MGP). In general, I've really liked all of their bourbons I've tried and a batch of their whiskey too. All of the Tennessee ones I've tasted were very George Dickel forward and while the Dickel profile is not for everyone, I find it unique and oddly gravitate towards it at times. That's probably why I like their bourbons as much as I do and why when I heard about this batch my curiosity was piqued. The highlights from barrellbourbon.com: 

We reserved a portion of Barrell Bourbon Batch 012 in the original barrels, which became the foundation for Barrell Bourbon Batch 014. We then selected additional 9 year-old bourbon barrels for their fruit notes, as well as a number of 14 year-old high rye barrels to deliver a bit of spice and oak. The result is complex and thoughtful - a nicely balanced spicy bourbon.

Distilled and aged in Tennessee and Kentucky

Selection of 9 and 14 year-old barrels

Aged in American white oak barrels

Mash bill: corn, rye, malted barley

While this isn't complete transparency in terms of ratios or distilleries, I think this is about the best we can get from a non distiller producer these days so kudos to them for continually publishing this information with each release. 

The only thing that's held me back from most of these has been the cost as I don't understand their pricing model. Every single release seems to be priced the same whether it's 4 years old or 13 years old. Considering they average for around $90 here, they are usually a hard pass however I was traveling recently and came across a bottle at a lower than usual price so I took a chance.

Aged 9 Years; 54.7% ABV; $70

Nose: A little bit of multivitamin Dickel funk, trademark Dickel high corn, and slight rye spice in the form of anise / menthol. There is also a touch of earthy bitterness which I suspect is the 14 year old component coming through. 

Taste: Corn, multivitamins, and sweet honey flavors up front. Lots of rye spice and light apple/pear fruit in the middle. A darker, almost bitter chocolate finish along with more spice. It's considerably spicy. It tastes like someone made a mixture of rye and corn bread with a little apple jam. The notorious multivitamin Dickel notes are there but they are rather mellow. While the nose smells like there is a higher ratio of Tennessee bourbon, the palate suggests it's more like 50/50. 

Thoughts: It is good but not great. At times I feel like there is too much going on as it's overly busy. There are a bunch of distinct elements at play that are all battling it out but it never really finds harmony. Spice is the only component that really shines through but beyond that, neither wood depth nor sweet notes really stand out and rather just seem to hang out in the back seat arguing with each other. Considering the quality of their previous bourbon releases, I'm a little disappointed. The 13 year old Tennessee bourbon (batch 009) still remains the best thing I've had from them.

Rating: B / B-

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.

Barrell Bourbon 009 Review

Barrell has been making a name for themselves as an independent bottler putting out quality sourced whiskey. They mostly seem to be catering to the high end market because all of their bourbon releases have been cask strength and priced at the $80+ mark. What I like about the brand is that they are no frills with no bullshit marketing. The bottle has almost no verbiage on it with basically just a brand name and raw specifications. It's so plain it might as well just say XXX whiskey and I love that. They do have more details about each batch on their website with probably as much information as they can contractually provide due to NDAs.

Thus far, most of their bourbon has been distilled in TN but a few releases have been sourced from Kentucky. TN sourced bourbon is usually easy to guess if it has a decent age and the answer is George Dickel. I've tried a few of the Barrell batches prior to this one and while they were all good, I could never pull the trigger given the retail cost for a 6-9 year old bourbon. But here we have batch 009 that is 13 years old and retails for the same price which seemed pretty fair given today's market. 

Aged 13 years; Distilled in TN (75% corn, 18% rye, 7% barley); 56.05% ABV; Bottle 2112; $80

Nose: Yep, smells like George Dickel: corn bread, vanilla, anise rye spice, and multivitamin notes. There's also some old wood at play. It's rather rich which should be expected given the proof and age.

Taste: Like the nose, it's Dickel forward with vanilla, corn, and Flintstone vitamins. There's a little bit of sour old wood in there too but loads of nice wood notes, sweetness, and lots of rye spice bite. The upped proof and longer aging has smoothed the funky notes much like in what I experienced with a 14 year old Dickel store select. The finish is surprisingly spicy which I think can be attributed to the higher proof.

Thoughts: Of the four or five Barrell Bourbon batches I have tried, this is the best by far. It's woody, sweet, spicy, and the Dickel funk isn't too off-putting. Having said that, if you don't like George Dickel than you should steer way clear of this. I liked it enough to be happy with the purchase but don't feel strongly enough about it to run out and grab a spare. If splitting hairs, I think I might have liked the 14 year store select I had a little better than this but both are pretty good drams. 

Rating: B / B+

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.