@jonwilkinson7309 yeah, it is young——and honestly, if I weren’t visiting the distillery, I’d not have bought it.

@PBMichiganWolverine Funny - I was there last summer as well, and almost bought a bottle and then balked. Not so much because of the sheep dung, but because everything I read about it gave me the impression it was super young - way too young. But peated Balvenie sounds nice, and I loved the bottle.

@jonwilkinson7309 i actually have a bottle of Floki...bought that sheep dung smoked single malt while I was in Iceland last year. So...it’s not bad, almost like a Peated Balvenie. Just don’t think if it’s raw ingredients

@jonwilkinson7309 oof. Not a fan of Corsair. I've only tried Ryemaggedon, and it was bad enough to make me never want to touch anything from them again. I come to Armida as a whiskey, rum, and brandy drinker, btw, and I get bits and pieces of all those things when I drink it. But not in any way that gels together!

@ContemplativeFox I think you're right about that.  There are only two other distilleries that I can think of that might compete - Tamworth, here in NH, whose Deerslayer whiskey is seasoned with (you guessed it) venison, and Floki in Iceland, which dries its barley by burning sheeps' dung.  But those are both obscure enough to make Corsair seem like Buffalo Trace by comparison

"Way out there" for Barrell is really saying something @jonwilkinson7309. Along with Corsair, it's on the short list of distilleries that rarely approach normalcy.

I fall into the "love it" camp with this one. Which sounds like it's trending towards being a very small group. So perhaps I'll be able to pick up an extra bottle or two on the cheap before the Armida is sent away for an early retirement. Love it or hate it, every review I've come across has said the Armida bears little or no resemblance to whiskey, much less bourbon. Perhaps Barrell would be wise to just call this a "spirit", while dripping "bourbon" from the label entirely. Even though the TTB apparently said "yes" to the bourbon designation doesn't mean it's the best idea from a marketing standpoint. Because ultimately, even accounting for Barrell's high degree of creativity, the Armida is way out there.

@ScotchingHard sounds like it might work! I never make duck personally

@BeerNinjaEsq you’re right —the Baller is a hate it or love it type. Some folks love that umami flavor, and especially in highballs, while others want to spit it out ( I’m in the latter ).

@BeerNinjaEsq I don’t really drink cocktails and this tastes like it is already a cocktail. A strong one. With absinthe. What I immediately thought of was maybe I can try this is in cooking? Maybe try it in replacement of grand marnier for duck.

@ScotchingHard - when I drink it, I feel like it has the potential to be a good ingredient in a cocktail, or maybe blended with more traditional whiskey, but all of the individual flavors are just too strong here. Conceptually, it reminds me a bit of a single barrel fullproof 1792 I have: this bottle is perfumey to the point of being nearly undrinkable, but when used as an ingredient in an infinity bottle, it adds magnificent complexity, floral in the way that some of the BTAC are. So, anyway, I guess I'm going to try some blends using the Armida. If I find noteworthy success, l'll report back

@PBMichiganWolverine and @Richard-ModernDrinking I actually love St. George Baller. I like it so much that it's probably been the closest thing I've had to a daily drinker, and the single bottle I've drank the most of, over the last 6 months. I only recently learned that it's divisive and disliked by a lot of people, and that really surprised me and caught me off guard, because I was introducing it to a lot of people who came over as something I found really special. I do agree that it inhabits a weird space: The finish on Baller is too weird for Scotch drinkers and too scotchy for bourbon drinkers. I might just have a fondness for plum liqueur, having drank it with my dad when I was younger

@Richard-ModernDrinking i wasn’t a fan of st George baller...was just too out there for me. This sounds like an experiment that’s good to try once, but hard to have more than a few times

I have a half-finished sample of this that I mean to return to for a more considered opinion. I like it in the same way that I like St George Baller - it's enjoyable because it's so different, but not something I'd want to drink more than once or twice.

I just cracked my bottle. I love Barrell as well. And I don’t see how anyone can like this. Mad experiment is right.