Barrell Bourbon Batch 028

Pour from Standard Bottle (Batch 29, Bottle #19,634).

Smoky, vanilla and oak. Short finish with a little smoke and leather. One of the best barrel batches yet

Very tasty, nice finish

Tried this in a Barrell blind lineup with about 5 other Barrell products and this won. Decided to give it an individual rating. Taste was neat in glencairn with just a drop of water. Nose - vanilla, smoky, does have an earthiness to it, pick up on some oak, little bit of orange, has a dark fruit jam flavor, a nice complex nose. Palate - sweet, with vanilla the stand out up front, maybe even a vanilla frosting, but really well balanced, nice amount of oak and smokiness comes in behind it, really coats the mouth well, closes out with little bit of pepper and allspice, get hints of a dark fruit as well. Finish - relatively short, but again well balanced. A lot of bourbon or whiskey tends to go dry or dryer flavors, oak, leather, anise, etc. I do pickup a little bit of oak and leather, but still have a sweetness lingering. Some cinnamon. I remembered why this one won the blind after trying it again. It just kept evolving. One of those where you go back to it and you keep pulling out different flavors. The Barrell batches sometimes are hit or miss, not bad necessarily, but when price is usually around $80-$100 some hit better than others and batch 28 probably one of my favorites. Batch 25 was also in this blind and was a very close 2nd. These can be pricey, and as mentioned already some blends are better than others. Batch 28 definitely recommend, ideally if you get into the other batches it would be a try before you buy if possible.

Solid. Vanilla. Caramel. Not too sweet though.