Barrell has come out with a mind boggling, and probably genius, strategy: have a micro-production of about 2 dozen highly customized blends finished in various casks. These are limited to about 120 bottles. There’s such varieties like 18 yr whiskey finished in Italian amaro, 18 yr whiskey finished in German ice wine, etc. Each variant has no more than 120 bottles, all reasonable priced at $100 or so. This one caught my attention because it was the only non-American in the lineup. So...every Friday I have a bit of a ritual. Since I only drink about 1 ounce (3-4cl) once a week, I really look forward to it. On a Monday, I select the whiskey I want to have for Friday. I pour it into a sample vial. Throughout the week, every so often, I’ll open up the vial and smell the aroma. It really makes the Friday pour that much more appreciated. All week long I was looking forward to this one. It was like smelling a fruit basket of lychees and pineapples. Finally, Friday night...relaxing with a Netflix...poured into a glencairn. That pineapple aroma floated through the air. The palette starts with the fruit basket, but takes an abrupt turn to a slight bitter tinge, a bit grape-y, from the brandy I guess. I wasn’t a fan of that slight deviation..would’ve loved instead to have the fruit forward...but I guess that defeats the point of the brandy finish. I’d give this a solid 4 on the nose and a 3 on the palette...