Barrell Seagrass

Strong notes of apricot

Neat batch 4. Nose rye and green apple notes. Taste sweat heat up front with notes of apple, apricot and baking spices. Has some heat but good.

Can a whisky be both good and a disappointment all at the same time? If so, I feel like this is it. Do I dislike it? Not at all. It's just there's something about it that's missing, and what's missing is a distinctiveness on the nose, which given the finishing barrels here, strikes me as extremely odd. No one likes a tease. I suppose that's how I'll start this. While I can often disagree with the expert scoring here, I rarely comment on the expert reviews. In fact, when I write my own, I avoid them so as not to overlap, so as to form my own opinion. The only time I really ever look at the expert reviews is when I'm not really sure what I'm getting from a particular aspect of a pour, whether it be the nose, palate or finish. In other words, when there's a flavor I don't have words for, I'll look at what others have said to see if that resonates. The problem here is the nose. All the aromas the expert review is citing are there, although they're faint, which is odd for a rye approaching 120 proof. Unless the aromas are overwhelmed by the alcohol, which I didn't feel was the case here. Also, as an aside, I love when people say things like, smells like apricot jam and peach preserves. It's like saying it smells like oranges and clementine. I get the impulse, but you're using two different fruits to get at the same effect. So, yes, Seagrass was finished in apricot brandy barrels. The apricot is there, but it's faint. Just a trace. Maybe that's what people are looking for, just that trace. They're not looking for it to be overwhelming, but to me, it's faint to the point of almost not being there at all. As for mint, well, yes, that's there too, but that may also be the proof, the ethanol combined with it being a rye. The mixture is nice. But when I see a 93 expert rating and a 4.2 community rating, I'm not really expecting nice. I'm expecting a bit more. Do you see what I mean by this is both good and disappointing. Who doesn't like apricots and mint? There's also a slight undercurrent of bubble gum, which is good. But again, 93/4.2? It improves as it opens up in the glass. You've got to let it sit for a while and the aromas become stronger. And I like it. But I expected to love it. I was hoping for love at first sight. But that doesn't always happen with a whisky. Even if the whisky ends up being good. Hey, maybe the nose isn't the main event here. So let's move on. But before I do, to get at what I was expecting, let me explain that I opened the bottle this past weekend during the Eagles/Jaguars game. The week before I'd opened the Talisker Distiller's Edition from 2021. Straight out the gate with the Talisker, I turned to my dad, who was watching the game with me, and commented: "Why do we ever drink anything else?" Because it was incredible. Great from the word go. Great from the first pour. Great from when we switched from the Seagrass mid-game and poured a dram of Talisker to recreate the experience of the week before. We're both Islay fans, of course. But we're also both rye fans, so I was hoping for something similar here, and that just didn't happen. My dad is less versed in drinking barrel proof whiskies than I am, and his response was, "woah, that'll take some nose hairs off." Which is all right. I got him an ice cube. But I was hoping to be a little more impressed off the bat myself. So, the palate is much better, and that, I'm assuming, is the main event here. As the expert reviewer says (and this is one of the most spot-on expert reviews I've seen on the site, so kudos), it's big, bold, there's chocolate (do you have to say both dark chocolate and cacao...are those different things?) and the raspberries are prominent, which is great because I adore raspberries. Letting it sit on the tongue a moment is a highly enjoyable experience and that combination of fruitiness and chocolate which gives way to citrus, mint and rye spice on the finish is really delicious. But I guess this is a question of expectation management: I expected mind-blowing. I got very good, highly solid. And so very good, highly solid is how I'm ranking this. I picked this up during a family vacation down the shore. It was cheaper than SRP at $78.99, which I appreciate. I went with this over Barrell Bourbon Batches 29 and 33 because, as I've stated before, I prefer rye to bourbon. And next time I'm down there, I'll probably pick one of those up. But I doubt I'll purchase this one again. It's an interesting experiment, and the palate is highly unique for a rye, but it's just not hitting the right mark for me to want to spend the same cash I could be spending to get another bottle of Talisker Distiller's Edition. Honestly, it might just be the lack of a nose. Because the more I taste the Seagrass, the more solid I think the palate and finish are. So this is a one-off. A one-off I enjoyed, but a one-off I also found myself a little disappointed in, if that makes any sense at all. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe this is just a case where I'm not ready for what they're offering. A case where it's not hitting me at the right time in my whisky journey. Oh, and a splash of water or an ice cube evens it out and makes it smoother, but also eliminates a lot of the uniqueness, so there's a trade-off there.

Citrus nose. Initial cinnamon with apricot finish

Lot of heat neat. Excellent with a little ice. Unique rye flavor with the rum cask finish. Amazing in cocktails.