My biggest problem with the whiskeys from Barrell Craft Spirits had always been the price of the whiskey. I understood why they had to price their whiskey high, because as a new company, the barrels were expensive. They have since improved their pricing as they have grown and had access to more barrels. It helps that the Bourbon boom has slowed down considerably and the price of barrels has come down as distillers find they have made more whiskey than they need. Barrell Craft Spirits has lowered the bottle price on many of their products to a reasonable range of $40-$60 and that is a good thing. I recently visited their new facility in the Louisville Industrial Park and picked up several bottles of their product, including their Batch 36 Bourbon and Batch 4 Rye. Matt and I sat down and tasted these bottles the other day and here are our tasting notes.

Barrell Craft Spirits Bourbon Batch 36

Proof: 114.44

Age: Seven Years Old (It contains 7.5 year old Indiana Bourbon, 9 year old Kentucky bourbon and 8 year old Tennessee Bourbon)

Nose:

  • Mike: Vanilla, pears, baking spices and oak wood.
  • Matt: Caramel, brown sugar, cherries, allspice and oak wood.

Taste:

  • Mike: Vanilla, citrus, pears, white pepper, cinnamon and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the citrus becomes lemon zest. Tasted with a pecan and the oak wood and white pepper dominate the flavor.
  • Matt: Caramel, red pepper, cinnamon and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhanced the caramel and cinnamon. The pecan enhanced the red pepper and cinnamon.

Finish:

  • Mike: Medium long with oak wood and spice. The dried cranberry made the finish longer with oak and lemon zest. The pecan made the finish long and spicy with oak wood and white pepper.
  • Matt: Medium long with oak wood, cinnamon and red pepper. The dried cranberry made the finish long with oak wood and cinnamon red hot candy. The pecan made the finish long and spicy with oak wood, cinnamon and red pepper.

Barrell Craft Spirits Rye Batch 4

Proof: 115.7

Age: Five Years, Six Months

Nose:

  • Mike: Rye grass, vanilla, wild berries, baking spices and oak wood.
  • Matt: Caramel, spun sugar, cherries and oak wood.

Taste:

  • Mike: Rye grass, vanilla, raspberries, blackberries, cardamom, allspice and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhanced the raspberry and made the spice black pepper. The pecan made the vanilla a rich caramel with cardamom and white pepper spice.
  • Matt: Vanilla, caramel, lemon zest and oak wood. The dried cranberry added a cotton candy note to the taste. The pecan gave the rye flavors of vanilla, lemon zest, cotton candy, cherry cake and oak wood.

Finish:

  • Mike: Medium long with oak wood, rye grass and a hint of spice. The dried cranberry made the finish long and dry with oak wood and black pepper. The pecan made the finish long and spicy with oak and white pepper.
  • Matt: Medium long with oak wood and lemon zest. The dried cranberry made the finish longer and added lingering vanilla. The pecan made the finish long with oak wood, cherry cake and lemon zest.

I would pair these whiskeys with an Old World Maduro cigar. I think the vanilla and cedar spice in the smoke would pair well with the vanilla and spice of the whiskeys.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller