Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label Dovetail Whiskey Review (2022)

By Randall H. Borkus

Rating: A

Barrell Craft Spirits launched Dovetail, a blend of bourbon and whiskey expressing the company’s favorite sources and flavors, in 2018. For 2022, they have released an ultra-premium Gray Label expression using the same blending. Here Barrell Craft Spirits chose older and rarer barrels with some of the spirits aged up to 20 years. This limited Gray Label Dovetail is finished in rum, port, and Dunn Vineyards Cabernet barrels. The bourbon whiskey is sourced from Indiana, Tennessee and Canada and bottled in Kentucky. Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label Dovetail is a stout and complex expression.

The 2022 Dovetail release is bottled at a 131.54 proof with no age statement is a combination of whiskeys finished in rum casks, Port pipes, and Dunn Vinyards Cabernet casks.

Barrell Craft Spirits describes this spirit: “This is an ester-forward bourbon with the brooding depth of cabernet and port casks. The varied distillates and casks come together into a complex palate that showcases the cola notes of whiskey that’s spent many years in oak.”

The Bourbon
The whiskey dances in my Glencairn glass and hosts a bright golden hue.  The spirit exhibits serious thick legs rolling down the sides of my glass.  The nose is full of caramel, molasses, and sweet crushed cane wrapped in fresh cut leather rose cigar tobacco.

The front palate shows up oily with flavors of sweetened molasses and berry preserves.  The mid palate is invitingly warm with a splashes of ginger, cinnamon and chocolate sugar wrapped in a Caramel-prune covered tobacco leaf sprinkled with a hint of black pepper.  The finish is bold and complex with crushed candied fruits, brown sugar, sweet spice with a syrupy earthy mineral quality.  The finish lasts forever resting a satisfying sugared ginger holding on to my taste buds.

This Gray Label Dovetail is elegant and bold.  I really enjoyed each sip and longed for more when the bottle was empty.  For those who are comfortable with buying a $249 bottle you will enjoy this!  This is a damn good whiskey, and I would seek out another pour in one of my favorite watering holes in Chicago if lucky enough to find it.

The Price
The 2022 Gray Label Dovetail retails for $249 a bottle and expect it to become hard to find quickly.