Feb. 10: Online Tasting with Barrell Craft Spirits Founder Joe Beatrice...
Fellow Drammers!
We’re excited to announce a special tasting on February 10th (starting at 5pm Pacific, 8pm EST) with Joe Beatrice, the founder of Barrell Craft Spirits. We’ve long been fans of this exceptional spirits company that from Seagrass to Dovetail and beyond has produced some of the most creative and exciting new blends of the last decade. At this tasting we’ll be working our way through 10 expressions, including some of their high-end “Gray Label” releases. Here’s the lineup, 10 expressions in total:
Grey Label 19yo Seagrass. Distilled in Canada — Rye whiskey finished in Martinique rhum, Madeira, and apricot brandy casks. Aged in the US and Canada, then blended and bottled in Kentucky. 128.3 proof cask strength bottling. $203.99 / bottle
Grey Label - Batch 6 Bourbon. A blend of straight bourbon whiskeys matured in select cooperage. Distilled and aged in TN, KY, IN, & WY. 110.12 proof cask strength bottling. ($160.99 / bottle)
New Year 2025 Barrell Bourbon. A mix of bourbon from 8 states (including some unusual ones like Ohio and Wyoming), aged in a range from 5 years to 15 years old. They list a mashbill (what I presume is the combined/average mashbill) of 75% corn, 20% rye, 4% malted barley, 1% wheat. Bottled at 56.05% abv. $79.99 / bottle
Barrell Foundation Bourbon. This new release is hot off the presses — and at a lower price point that makes us wonder if this was intended to fill a space similar to the one previously occupied by their Stellum Spirits line (see below). Like Stellum, Barrell describes this as essentially reflecting the core flavors that fans love in Barrell releases, a “classic bourbon”, with a high rye (23%) mashbill, and a mix of whiskies aged 5 to 9 years old from KY, IN, TN and MD interestingly.
Barrell Bourbon - Mizunara Finish Batch #1. Presumably most of our members already know how rare/hard it is to secure a Mizunara oak cask, and it is certainly the rare finishing cask du jour. Normally Mizunara wood tends to bring a sandalwood note to whiskies, and from the reviews it sounds like we can expect nothing less here. Finished for a remarkable 1.5 years btw. A mix of KY, IN and TN bourbon aged 6 to 14 years with a 20% rye mashbill. 58.21% abv. ($84.99 / bottle)
Barrell Bourbon - Batch 36. One of the most recent of their celebrated bourbon batches, they describe this as a blend that was created by combining full-bodied barrels with black cherry notes and oak-forward barrels with a nutty flavor profile. After these mingled, younger barrels with stone fruit and peppery highlights were added to the blend. Lastly, older barrels with notes of milk chocolate, cinnamon and pecans were carefully layered in. The components from IN, TN and KY were aged between 7.5 and 15 years, with a 16% rye mashbill. 57.22% abv ($66.99 / bottle).
Drammers-Exclusive Single Barrell - Kentucky Whiskey Finished in a St. Agrestis Amaro Cask. The title says it all — an Amaro finish on a product that is almost certainly bourbon, though technically the company couldn’t prove it. Part of their “Private Release” line. 56.93% abv. ($109.99 / bottle)
Drammers-Exclusive Stellum Rye Single Barrel. The “Stellum” line of releases was launched a few years ago as a core range variant that would reflect the ultimate “classic” profiles of bourbon and rye, as opposed to the more unique and creative releases under the Barrell line. But almost instantly the lines began to blur, as higher end Fibonacci and other premium releases started to appear under the Stellum range, begging the question what the difference was between it and Barrell. Regardless of the reason, the Stellum social media accounts stopped posting new content towards the end of 2023, and so we’re presuming the Stellum brand is on hold for now (though, as noted above, they have possibly rebooted it under the Barrell Foundation name). It will be interesting to get Joe’s take on this, but it perhaps makes our Drammers-exclusive single barrel shine a little brighter as a discontinued brand. Serpens A2 (a 95% / 5% barrel from MGP). 58.22% abv. ($58.99 / bottle)
Seagrass. We decided we needed to include this core-range masterpiece so that we could do a side-by-side tasting with the 19yo grey label variant. For those unfamiliar with this expression, it is one of the most remarkably unique whiskies to come along in a generation. It is a blend of American and Canadian rye whiskeys, finished separately in Martinique Rhum, Madeira & apricot brandy barrels and then blended together to make something utterly original. 60.19% abv. ($66.99 / bottle)
Plus one more surprise pour!
That’s our (extraordinary!) lineup, we hope you can join us! Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Cheers,
Drammers Club