Barrell Bourbon Batch 4 (58.35%, OB, 2015)

• Category: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Origin: Kentucky
• Bottling: Barrell
• ABV: 58.35%
• Cost: ~$75

What they say:

Barrell Bourbon Batch 4

Kentucky straight Bourbon Whiskey

Distilled in Kentucky

116.7 proof cask strength bottling

Aged for 6 years, 4 months in charred white oak barrels

Mash bill: corn, rye, malted barley

Bursts of sea salt and slowly cooked peach preserves give way to smoldering Turkish tobacco across your tongue. Dark toasted English Muffins served sizzling hot, smeared with both lemon marmalade and sweet French butter immediately comes into view. This sweetness dissipates into dried licks of cedar-tinged lead pencil shavings. There is assertiveness to each sip; this whiskey is both sophisticated and confident. The Bourbon 004 merely whispers the 116.7 proof with raw honey in the finish that eventually leads to a long and salty peanut brittle ending.

What I say:

Another Cask Strength Bourbon, sourced in the US and looked intriguing enough for us to be interested. Barrell Craft Spirits are purely a bottling company who source some of the finest spirits to bottle under their label. We just jumped at the chance of sampling another cask strength Bourbon!

Appearance:

Dark bronzed gold (11/20), medium-fine tears and long fine legs

Nose:

Cinnamon and apple pie, fruity baked apples, cloudy cider or scrumpy – their is a slightly yeasty note to this too, citric fruits, warming, with baking spices, sweet maple syrup and vanilla custard, reduced with water more spices such as cinnamon powder are evident.

Taste:

Orange oil, wood shavings, cinnamon spice, maple syrup, fruity and spiced, sweet grains, corn syrup, estery ripe banana, bubblegum, leathery and tannic, briny and nutty like salted peanuts, medium-full bodied this is thick and oily on the palate.

Finish:

Medium-short, sweet spiced molasses, with water this becomes creamier with a mineralic/chalky note like crushed limestone or calcium and Edinburgh rock

Overall:

A little harsh and spirit at Cask Strength, sweet and spiced and with water a little more mineralic but plenty of mileage in this and some excellent flavours.

Score: 84/100

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