Barrell Craft Spirits is one of the best in the whiskey blending business, with a wide and varied range of expressions anchoring a lineup focused on innovative cask finishes and intricate combinations of whiskey sourced from around the country. The annual New Year Bourbon falls squarely into the latter category, and this year’s edition—the tenth to date—combines whiskey from seven different states into a cask-strength banger that is worth seeking out.
Barrell Craft Spirits was founded in 2013 by Joe Beatrice, and over the years it’s become well known for the high quality of its bourbon blends, which are released in batches, as well as blends of whiskeys that have been given unique cask finishes like Seagrass (finished in Martinique rhum, madeira, and apricot brandy barrels) and Tale of Two Islands (finished in barrels previously used to age Jamaican rum and peated Islay single malt). New Year was first dropped at the end of 2016 for the 2017 edition, making this the 10-year anniversary of this annual limited-release series that changes up the component whiskey makeup with each successive iteration.
This year’s blend includes whiskey from seven different states, each made from a different mashbill and with a unique age statement. The final makeup is as follows: Indiana bourbon (7 to 10 years old); Kentucky bourbon (7 and 8 years old); Tennessee bourbon (10 and 16 years old); Wyoming bourbon (13 years old); Maryland bourbon (7 and 8 years old); Texas bourbon (five years old); and Ohio bourbon (5 years old). The brand did not reveal which distilleries the whiskey was sourced from, although you may be able to guess what some of them are, but the derived mashbill of the blend of all of these whiskeys is 73 percent corn, 22 percent rye, four percent malted barley, and just one percent wheat. The 2027 edition was bottled at cask strength of 116.6 proof.
As usual, the tasting notes provided by Barrell are quite intricate. I picked up notes of licorice, malted chocolate, cherry pie, pepper spice, orange rind, and cream soda on the palate. The much more specific official tasting notes include flavors like grassy olive oil, maple walnut ice cream, green grape, and root beer barrels. At 116.6 proof, there is some heat, but nothing that overwhelms or burns out your palate, and a little bit of water unlocks a whole new burst of flavors. Barrell Bourbon New Year 2027 started rolling out earlier this month (SRP $85), so check your local specialty retailer or the brand’s website to find a bottle now.
