Taste Test: Barrell Craft Spirits’ New Whiskey Rewards Hardcore Rye Fans With Spice and Audacity
When it comes to booze, people seem to enjoy exploring extremes in flavor—the peatiest scotch, the hoppiest beer, the funkiest rum. So why shouldn’t that apply to rye whiskey, too? This new release from Barrell Craft Spirits is one of the most quintessentially “rye” rye whiskeys you’ve likely ever tried, and that’s a very good thing.
Rye whiskey generally comes in two styles here in the U.S. (with some exceptions, of course)—”barely legal” with somewhere just over the required 51 percent rye in the mash bill, or full-bodied 95 to 100 percent rye. The latter typically has an intensely spicy (think baking spices rather than chili spice) and fruity palate, with some whiskeys of this style veering more towards rye bread and others towards black pepper-vanilla cookie. This new whiskey from Louisville blender and bottler Barrell Craft Spirits, however, takes the rye character to another level, and the reason likely has to do with the specific whiskeys incorporated in the blend.
This is the first batch of the BCS Private Release Rye Series, which is a blend of rye whiskey from Indiana (likely MGP) and Canada (likely Alberta Distillers) that launched this spring with 10 individual bottlings, each finished in a different type of cask including bourbon, cognac, rum, sherry, and madeira. The expression that I got to sample was finished in a Sauternes barrel, a type of sweet French wine from Bordeaux. It was bottled at 116.72 proof, a sturdy but manageable level of alcohol that buttresses the flavor. Obviously, each expression will vary depending on which cask type it was finished in, and the core blend is about five to six years old.
The makeup of the whiskey in the blend, according to BCS, is indicated by the third character in the name–0 contains the least amount of Canadian whisky, 2 the most. The code for this bottle is 1S20–the first series, Sauternes finish, most Canadian whisky in the blend, no other finishes. And this rye whiskey is as rye whiskey as a rye whiskey can get, with deep layers of nutmeg, cardamom, cracked black pepper, ripe blackberry, and some menthol and red hot cinnamon. The cask finish adds notes of creamy vanilla, honey, maple, and more dark fruits, with a bit of bright orange citrus on the finish.
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This is a fantastic rye, but it is definitely one for those seeking new frontiers of spice and enjoy some audacity in their whiskey. This is not a sweeter, tamer Kentucky rye like something you might have tried from Michter’s or Old Overholt, and there’s an intensity to it that goes beyond your typical MGP rye in the form of Bulleit or Dickel. Private Release comes with an SRP of $110, but don’t be shy about using it in a cocktail if you are feeling so inclined it because it adds a lot of depth to a Manhattan. There are only about 150 to 180 bottles of each of the 10 expressions, so collect them all if you can to compare and contrast, especially if you are true rye-hard.
Score: 93
100: Worth trading your first born for
95 – 99 In the Pantheon: A trophy for the cabinet
90 – 94 Great: An excited nod from friends when you pour them a dram
85 – 89 Very Good: Delicious enough to buy, but not quite special enough to chase on the secondary market
80 – 84 Good: More of your everyday drinker, solid and reliable
Below 80 It’s alright: Honestly, we probably won’t waste your time and ours with this
Every week Jonah Flicker tastes the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Friday for his latest review.
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