Barrell Bourbon Batch 003

This one is a keeper... if you can get it.

Barrel Craft Spirits is responsible for Barrell Bourbon. Note the extra "L" in the product name? No one knows why it's there and so far the company founder — Joe Beatrice, is keeping it a secret. But what he will talk about — all day long if need be — is his passion: preserving unique orphan casks of superb American Whiskey.

Founded in 2014, Barrell Bourbon scoops up extra casks of premium Bourbon and bottles ‘em up at full strength. Each batch is completely different. Sometimes the coolest cask on the market is a Tennessee style Whiskey, at other times, it’s Kentucky style. The good stuff could be a finished wood, or it could be wood. The point is that they find the best odd lots and “left-overs” that would more likely be tossed into a blend and sell it to us in all of its pure single-cask Bourbon glory.

Today we are talking about Batch 3. And since everything they do at Barrell Bourbon is about VERY limited supply, we can tell you everything you could ever want to know about it. The first thing you HAVE to know is that it is bottled at cask strength. Sometimes that means an ABV in the mid 50’s, but Barrell Bourbon Batch 6 is bottled at a jaw-dropping 122 proof… that’s exactly 61% ABV. Any higher and they might have to register it with the Department of Homeland Security, so this is so NOT a dram for little boys and girls.

Every single drop of this special elixir is a flavor-packed wonder of American Whiskey. It’s 70% corn, 25% rye, and and 5% malted barley. It was aged for 5 years in charred white oak in the Tennessee style. It radiates a color like it was peeled from a mahogany-paneled library and drips from the side of the glass like honey. A Bourbon worthy of its name.