Broken Barrel Whiskey Company is located in California. Their founder, Seth Benhaim, started the company in 2016. He contracts his distilling at Owensboro Distilling and takes various barrels and breaks them up and adds the staves to the barrels of whiskey, creating what he calls an “oak bill.” He is very open as to what is in the whiskeys and lists both the mash bill and the oak bill on the labels. I received four bottles of their whiskey the other day and Matt and I sat down to taste them. Here are our tasting notes.
Broken Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon
Proof: 115
Age: No Age Statement
Mash Bill: 70% corn / 21% rye / 9% malted barley
Oak Bill: 40% ex-Bourbon barrels / 40% new French oak / 20% sherry cask oak
Nose:
- Mike: Vanilla, apples, grapes, baking spices, oak wood.
- Matt: Vanilla, cherry, pepper jelly, oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla, apples, grapes, cinnamon, allspice, oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the vanilla is enhanced and ginger spice comes forward. Tasted with a pecan and the oak and spice are enhanced.
- Matt: Vanilla, black cherry cola, pepper jelly and oak wood. The dried cranberry brought out notes of raisins. The pecan brought out notes of caramel and brown sugar.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak and spice. The dried cranberry added some ginger spice to the finish. The pecan made the finish long and dry with oak and spice.
- Matt: Medium long with oak and pepper jelly. The dried cranberry added some lingering raisin notes. The pecan added a tobacco note to the finish.
Broken Barrel Small Batch Bourbon
Proof: 95
Age: No Age Statement
Mash Bill: 70% corn / 21% rye / 9% malted barley
Oak Bill: 40% ex-Bourbon barrels / 40% new French oak / 20% sherry cask oak
Nose:
- Mike: Vanilla, citrus, baking spices and oak wood.
- Matt: Caramel, raisins, pepper, and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla, citrus, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oak wood. The dried cranberry brought out notes of apricots and lemon zest. The pecan brought flavor from the corn and black pepper.
- Matt: Caramel, vanilla, blackberries, and oak wood. The dried cranberry added a cotton candy note to the taste. The pecan brought out banana and oak.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak and spice. The dried cranberry enhanced the oak. The pecan added black pepper to the finish.
- Matt: Medium long with oak and a floral white pepper. The dried cranberry added some lingering berry flavor. The pecan made it long and spicy with oak and pepper.
Broken Barrel Heresy Rye Whiskey
Proof: 105
Age: No Age Statement
Mash Bill: 95% rye / 5% malted barley
Oak Bill: 40% ex-Bourbon barrels / 40% new French Oak / 20% sherry cask oak
Nose:
- Mike: Rye grass, vanilla, wild berries, a hint of dark chocolate, and oak wood.
- Matt: Rye grass, chocolate, mint and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Rye grass, vanilla, strawberries cinnamon and oak wood. The dried cranberry added some raspberry and blackberry to the flavor. The pecan brought out some lemon zest and chocolate.
- Matt: Rye grass, chocolate, mint, butterscotch, and oak wood. The dried cranberry added tea leaves and vanilla to the flavor. The pecan gave it the flavor of an Andes mint.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak and cinnamon. The dried cranberry added lingering berry notes to the finish. The pecan made the finish long and dry with oak and lemon zest.
- Matt: Medium long with oak, butterscotch, chocolate and mint. The dried cranberry added some vanilla to the finish. The pecan made the finish long with oak and mint.
Broken Barrel Americana American Whiskey
Proof: 100
Age: No Age Statement
Mash Bill: 80% corn / 14% rye / 6% malted barley
Oak Bill: 40% charred American Oak / 40% toasted American oak / 20% American apple brandy cask
Nose:
- Mike: Vanilla, apples and oak wood – a very light nose.
- Matt: Brown sugar, vanilla and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Vanilla, apples, white pepper and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhanced the apple and pepper flavors. The pecan made the vanilla a sweeter French vanilla.
- Matt: Vanilla, dark fruit, oak wood with a note of candle wax. The dried cranberry added strawberry to the flavor. The pecan brought out notes of caramel.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak and pepper. The dried cranberry added some lingering apple to the finish. The pecan made the finish very long with oak and lingering vanilla.
- Matt: Medium long with oak and baking spices. The dried cranberry enhanced the oak wood. The pecan added some lingering vanilla to the finish.
I would pair these whiskeys with a NUB Habano wrapper cigar. I think the vanilla and cedar spice of the smoke would pair well with the vanilla and spices of these whiskeys.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller