Barrell Whiskey Infinite Barrel 02-2018 Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

As the ranks of whisk(e)y enthusiasts continues to swell, an old concept has gotten some new life and is spreading: the infinity bottle. When a particularly favored bottle reaches its last pour or two, the contents are emptied into a special bottle, mixing with the remnants of past favored whiskeys already there. Thus an evolving, unplanned home blend is created, the only really defining characteristic being the owner’s own tastes.

When I heard Barrell Craft Spirits was taking this nerdy idea and running with it as a commercial product, my first and only thought was “that figures.” Founder Joe Beatrice and his crew are pretty much the only folks in the world’s independent bottling arena that I’ve met who have the spirit for such a venture.

This is their first Infinite Barrel bottling. Much of the stock used to compose this first batch should be familiar to fans of Barrell Craft Spirits from their past releases: Tennessee-made Rye; Indiana-made American Whiskey finished in Oloroso Sherry casks; Indiana-made Rye; Tennessee Whiskey; Polish-made Rye finished in Curaçao barrels. Add to that some stuff that has never appeared in a Barrell Whiskey bottle before: Irish Whiskey and Scotch Whisky. This particular and initial offering comes in at 119.3 proof.

The Whiskey
In the glass, this whiskey leans heavily towards its American Whiskey-Irish Whiskey-Scotch Whisky components, coming out with a golden look. The new oak amber is balanced out by paler elements, if it is much in evidence in the first place. A swish and coat gives the glass a curtain of skinny tears.

With the blend pushing 60% ABV, I decided to give it a splash of water from the start. Even so, it needed several minutes of airing to open up properly, so don’t expect the nose in particular to be there all at once and from the outset. That said, I got a current of pot still whiskey honey and marzipan, accented by touches of toffee, orange zest and green oak.

The quickest summary of the palate would be Irish meets vanilla. Toffee with vanilla and baking spices with a little malty honey and a pinch of orange zest. The finish is tannic, fading into salt and vanilla.

One thing I take into evaluating a blend like this is, when it comes to whisk(e)y, the full foot I’ve got planted on the other side of the Atlantic. This blend leans heavily on the flavors of stuff aged in used barrels, which led me to think that if I really wanted something in the vein of Infinite Barrell 01, I would probably reach for an Irish Pot Still finished in a fruity cask of some kind. I don’t think all the elements going into the infinite barrel made a good showing with this particular installment. It’s good, but I just didn’t like it as much as most of what Barrell Craft Spirits does.

The Price
In line with the current pricing of Barrell Craft Spirits releases, this one fetches $70 a bottle.