Barrell Craft Spirits Batch 001 Bourbon Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: A-

Joe Beatrice’s Barrel Craft Spirits enjoys a well-earned reputation for having created a handful of series consisting of one-shot quality, cask strength blends of sourced whiskeys. Now he has taken what was already a premium operation up a level with the Barrell Craft Spirits (BCS) line. This is the first release, a mix of bourbons made in Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana bearing a 15 year age statement and bottled at their customary cask strength, 105.1 proof.

The Bourbon
In the glass, BCS Batch 001 Bourbon has a middle amber look, with eye-catching red highlights. Coating the inside of the glass yielded big, long legs.

A sniff gave me cherry-driven fruitiness underscored by nuts and vanilla, with a trace of oak. This is enjoyable enough to be sure, but it’s on the palate where things get truly interesting. All the same elements are present, but whereas the nose brought them on with different weights and all at once, the flavor is divided, successive and measured. The cherries and vanilla came on first, followed by the nuttiness and a now equal measures of oak. It’s surprisingly mild and smooth as well, not as bold as one might expect from an old bourbon in the middle 100s proof.

The finish was as complex as the flavor profile. It led with the nuttiness, with the oak turning to cedar and joined by a measure of spiciness. This faded away, allowing the cherry fruitiness to resurface at the end.

Barrell Craft Spirits has reliably produced very good (B+), cask strength whiskeys at a fair price point, with each batch of whiskey standing as distinctive from what came before and what will come after. Insofar as my experience goes, and I’ve had a lot of their offerings, this is the best one yet.

The Price
Unfortunately, the price point on this offering is quite steep, albeit in tune with many super premium American whiskeys: $250.