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Here’s a Kentucky bourbon ‘unicorn’ you can probably get your hands on

Barrell Craft Spirits, the Louisville-based company that has won awards for its innovated spirits, has added a new bourbon to the lineup.

Barrell Vantage is a blend of straight bourbon finished in three different virgin oak barrels: Mizunara (also known as Japanese oak), French and toasted American oak casks.

Barrell Vantage joins other ongoing releases Dovetail, Seagrass and Armida and is available to buy at stores nationally now and online at barrellbourbon.com.

The cask-strength 114.44 proof bourbon has a suggested retail price of $89.99.

Barrell Craft Spirits has released a new ongoing bourbon: Vantage, a blend of three bourbons aged in virgin Mizunara, French and toasted American oak barrels for a complex whiskey.
Barrell Craft Spirits has released a new ongoing bourbon: Vantage, a blend of three bourbons aged in virgin Mizunara, French and toasted American oak barrels for a complex whiskey.
Barrell Vantage from Barrell Craft Spirits is hitting stores now and is available in 48 states and online in 40 states at barrellbourbon.com.
Barrell Vantage from Barrell Craft Spirits is hitting stores now and is available in 48 states and online in 40 states at barrellbourbon.com.

What does Barrell Vantage bourbon taste like?

It’s complex.

According to the tasting notes, Vantage has a nose of creme brulee, coconut oil and chocolate pudding from the American oak, tarragon, nutmeg and warm cola from the French oak, and incense and grilled pineapple from mizunara. The palate is sweet and oily with an espresso note, robust spice and maple syrup sweetness. The finish brings in green grapes, red plus, za’atar, crystallized ginger and Szechuan peppercorns. Add a splash of water and even more emerges: Graham cracker and dark chocolate, pumpernickel, celery and chive on the nose with a sweeter palate, tasting of maraschino liqueur and pavlova, according to the notes, with a finish of grapefruit zest and kola nut.

It’s the kind of layers of flavor that have won Barrell Craft Spirits releases more than 150 awards in less than 10 years.

But, as BCS founder Joe Beatrice said in an interview, the end result is subtle and balanced, not overbearing.

“Our products seem to be resonating with people and we’re going to keep doing that,” Beatrice said.

What is Barrell Craft’s secret?

“We’ve always had a very sophisticated ability to blend products,” Beatrice said. “It’s not just dumping barrels. It’s a combination of art and science. Some of it is done in lab, but at the end of the day it’s all sensory.”

Beatrice said that he and his fellow blenders come into each release with a distinct objective.

In the lab they talk about what characteristics they are looking for, how they might want to differentiate it from previous releases and work on refining that with a blind tastings of lab blends.

Once they have a target in the lab, they scale up from lab samples to hundreds of barrels.

As they begin blending, they continually tweak to keep on the original flavor profile, Beatrice said.

What makes Barrell different?

Barrell has carved a niche for itself as a non-distilling producer. They source whiskey (as well as rum) from distillers all over the world and are masters at blending and finishing. They are committed to transparency on sources.

“We reveal as much information as we can on the label,” Beatrice said. In the case of Vantage, the latest release, the original bourbons were distilled in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, according to BCS.

Another thing that makes Barrell different: The ongoing releases are more widely available than you might expect. BCS spirits are available in 48 states and can be sold direct to consumer in 40 states. Barrell Spirits also do single barrel and private releases, which also are pretty “findable,” according to Beatrice.

“We’re conscious of people just trying to hunt unicorns (hard to find bourbon bottles) and we don’t want people to be unhappy,” he said.

“Our promise to make it the best thing we can.”

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