Barrell Armida

Very good. Nose: Raisins, Chocolate, Caramel, Guava, Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, Oranges, Toffee, Leather, Maple Syrup, Pears, Red Apples, Coffee, Grapefruit Peels, Peaches, Figs Palate: Caramel, Red Apples, Raisins, Pears, Ginger, Peaches, Cherries, Cotton Candy, Anise, Pepper, Cloves, Grass, Finish: Anise, Caramel, Raisins, Papaya, Pineapples, Starfruit, Guava, Perfume, Cherries, Green Apples

Heavy butterscotch nose with molasses and peach cobbler.

I’m going to need to taste this one again before I form an opinion. Nose is really interesting and you can definitely pick up on the pear. Taste is like no other “bourbon”. There’s a lot going on with this one and I can’t decide if I like or hate. Guessing this one is polarizing for bourbon drinkers. If you’re not into something different, I would stay away.

Somethings just come out of the left field. You just don’t expect it. A few years ago, at the Mumbai Bridge Club over in Shivaji Park, I challenged my father-in-law to a game of chess. It was a bridge club, and my father in law invited me over to just hang out. I noticed a chess board, and asked if he knew how to play. “ yes, back in my younger days, I dabbled a bit”. I figured I’ll go easy on this 80 yr old man, but I noticed we had only 15 min till Club closure. “ we have only 15 min”. “ oh don’t worry, that’s more than enough”. I figured he thinks I can beat him in less than 15 min. Fine...game on old man. He opens with a Queen’s Gambit. Forces me to play defense. In 10 min, we were done. He beat me handily. “Wait, you said you only dabbled a bit in younger days?” “ my dear son”, in his Mumbai British accent, “ I forgot to mention I was ranked in the top 5 in India and top 100 in the world “. So didn’t see that coming. So goes this pour, generously given to me by @jonwilkinson7309. This is just a myriad of aromas and flavors. First whiff is oranges and pears. Second...now more of sweet breads and cherries. Just changing every time. Palette is equally good. Getting oranges and pears first, but there’s that slight bitter tinge from the Amaro at the back end, just enough to hold back the sweetness from the pears. It’s a whirlwind of pears, bitters, and oranges just back and forth. Really well blended. I just didn’t expect this myriad of flavors. Personally, this might be the best Barrell blend I’ve had yet. Thanks Jon! I need to find myself a bottle.

I want to start by saying that I love Barrell Craft Spirits. Dovetail is a top 10 pour for me, bar none. Which is why I'm especially sad to report that my second taste of this was far worse than my first. I offered it blind to two others at the same time and none of us could finish our 1-oz pours. This honestly tastes like a mad scientist/bartender's cocktail experiment gone wrong, and the only thing that could salvage this is to use it in a cocktail to temper the wayward, angular notes of Flintstone vitamins, pear candy, and bitter cherries. But at $90 MSRP, it's not a bottle you buy to use in a cocktail. This might be the worst whiskey in my collection.

I could smell this forever. Unfortunately, I don't really like the way it tastes. The nose is candied orange and poached pear with cinnamon and cream. I swear this smells like a dessert I've been served before at the end of a tasting menu. Unfortunately, the taste is not as pleasant as the smell. There is something too sweet about this that reminds me of a poorly-made flavored vodka cocktail. I don't get bourbon or whiskey at all from this. What I get is alcohol and mixer, with an artificial quality to the sweetness... Or maybe even like quality peach wine or fruit wine with too much residual sugar While I normally like everything from Barrell, I can't recommend this... I'll need to come back to this tomorrow to see if my palate was off or if it improves after the neck pour.