Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label Seagrass (2022 Release)

Incredibly complex, sweet floral nose flowers by intense evolving flavor. Each of the three finishes seems to take a turn popping to your senses and it finishes with a spiciness that will last forever it seems

Drank this last night, so will have to revisit with glass in hand & update tasting notes. Nose/ pallet/ finish all enjoyable Nothing that detracts Mouth filling A superior pour that does not break the bank at $200/ bottle

This is a different animal. I am mind blown about the comparisons about this not being worth the markup over original Seagrass. These are entirely different whiskeys. Like SFTB compared to Blanton’s SiB. They’re apricots and oranges. The fruit is evident and it’s the apricot that shines on this particular expression BUT - and I can’t stress this enough - everything is secondary to the barrel age on this, almost unheard of, 16 year old RYE whiskey. It’s almost as enjoyable to smell it as it is to taste it but once you do - the barrel char and age - totally hidden on the nose - burst to the forefront. The char-grilled fruit finish still lingers as you read this. I’m confident this will be in my top 5 most memorable whiskies of 2022. This is extremely complex whiskey. This is a whiskey you say “damn that’s good” each time. At $225 a bottle, buy on sight. This is a steal if you’re ready to truly stretch your palate.

Nose fresh spicey citrus Very nice sweet spicy and tangy apricot very tasty but not worth the mark up over normal seagrass

Fantastic. Biggest complaint is the finish lingers what feels like forever.

Golden with a hue of orange. The nose is somewhat closed off initially. Cinnamon, caraway, apple and leather give way to stone fruit and light maple syrup. Hay, eucalyptus, wet stone - almost a Gewürztraminer vibe. Interesting. Dusty bubble gum and some jammy notes even. We’re certainly not in bourbon country anymore… After awhile this declares itself as unequivocally rye (pumpernickel, tea, herbs) but with hearty fruit and borderline-astringent oak. Definitely more tannic and earthy notes than green label Seagrass - which hits some of the same notes and on the palate doesn’t hide the rhum, Madeira and apricot brandy finishing - and in fact seems to twist and turn 3-4 times, in the above order, before having to go back for more. Will this take me down such a twisted road? Holy spice Batman. This is a bit more viscous up front and drying on the back end. Tons of spices - clove, caraway, anise, pepper, tobacco (ok, not technically a spice but bear with me). Then a swell of maple and brandy notes (jam, chocolate, blood orange) and then some weathered oak and possibly even a furniture polish note. The more sips I take the more of the leather and oak come through, but not overwhelmingly so. There is always a balance with that deep bowl of spices, dark cigar wrapper, and funky fruit. The fruit is funky indeed. Not the clean, crisp apricot or red berries of its green label sibling. This is more of a stewed, almost hogo-esque fruit. This, frankly, is challenging. Rewarding, but challenging and requires both patience and a significant financial investment. I like it a good deal more than green label Seagrass but don’t know that it justifies the cost. I would gladly give $100-125 for this but the $250 is a stretch. The well aged notes are fantastic, but honestly it’s a bit too hedonistically sweet for me - largely due to the unfamiliar light-maple and fruit character. It’s not cloying but it’s not subtle either. The way the sweet notes outcompete the earthy and oak notes on the finish is the opposite of how I’d like things to wind down. Verdict - would try before I buy, except I didn’t and am left with a resemblance of buyers remorse. Not because it’s bad, because it’s fantastic. It’s just damn expensive, so much that I’m subtracting a quarter of a point.

Nose: first impression is this is similar but softer than the gold. Honey off the bat. Really a lot of honey and then caramel. Nosing sweeter than the gold. Instead of rose petals I’m getting more fresh cut grass and then lots of sugar cane, the rum component really stands out to me more than the gold. With time more caramel and grass. Definitely more caramel than fruit compared to gold. In total a very nice nose perhaps sweeter and more earthy than the gold, a little less going on but still very unique and delicious. After a couple sips I got wafts of oak and faint fruit. Body: very strange. Despite the higher abv and despite my anticipation that this was going to be huge it went the other way. It was light and soft and muted. It’s a light to medium bodied dram. Curious that it’s less full bodied than the gold but has a higher abv. Maybe my taster is off today or maybe it’s just not as full bodied. Definitely brought the Kentucky hug. Palate: caramel, vanilla, red fruits raspberry. Some of that fresh cut grass or hay came through on the palate. It’s missing the brandy part I liked so much in the gold. Finish: medium to short. Doesn’t have the same length as the gold which brought out a very drawn out lingering sweetness. This is more woody and short. Not bad just different. Note: ok so now I have seagrass, seagrass silver and gold. Somehow I’ve started with the gold and am working backwards which just seems backwards but what can I say. Let’s see how this 16 year old seagrass compares to its older brother. Well I like this version but I like the gold better. This is an interesting take on whiskey with the rye base and rum and brandy barrels. I definitely will enjoy this bottle along side the gold. But. But the gold has more going on, they rye sneaks out more there is the red hot cinnamon amounts the plums and honey rum. This is more honey rum and earthy. This is very good, no one should every turn down a dram of this BUT the gold is just more interesting.

I'm kind of a cheeseburger guy - if my body would let me, I could probably eat a cheeseburger daily and be quite content. But I also love on special occasion reverse searing some thick-cut ribeyes. The regular Seagrass is like my cheeseburger, compared to the thick-cut ribeye of the 16-year Seagrass. In a similar way, the regular Seagrass is all about the several distinct and complementary flavors, none of which seem to dominate the others. The 16-year, however, is mostly about the well-aged Canadian rye, with the finishes more in the background and adding complexity. It's definitely a more elegant pour, although being a cheeseburger guy, it's not so simple as saying it blows away the regular Seagrass. They're different, and I really enjoy both, but the preference may come down to whether you're a cheeseburger or a ribeye guy. I'm giving this one a slightly higher mark just on its technical merits, but my enjoyment is fairly equivalent. I'll also say that my second bottle of regular Seagrass doesn't quite have the same magic as the first. I still enjoy it, but the first bottle really hit the spot all the way through. Lastly, thanks a ton to @pkingmartin for the generous sample. Really a special opportunity it was to try this one.