Barrell, now known as Barrel Craft Spirits, is one of best-known whiskey blenders in the US. I personally appreciate how transparent they are about the fact that they source their whiskey and shun marketing BS to try to craft (no pun intended) a made-up backstory for the company name’s and heritage. Barrell’s name is simple and clearly references its vision: source and blend barrels of whiskey or forego the blending altogether to let certain single barrels of whiskey shine. In the case of this review, it’s to let a single barrel shine (hopefully).
I’m reviewing a Potomac Wine and Spirits pick of Barrell 9 Year Bourbon, barrel 9E66 and completely distilled and aged by MGP in Indiana. At this point, I believe that most of Barrell’s single barrels come from George Dickel in Tennessee (so when you see distilled in Tennessee on the label it probably comes from Dickel), so these MGP-sourced single barrels are becoming more difficult to come-by these days.
In my years of drinking whiskey, this is only the second Barrell product (and first bourbon) I’ve ever had, the first being an 11-year-old American whiskey finished in rum barrels (batch 4). It’s time to find out what this whiskey has to offer in this Potomac Wine and Spirits Barrell 9 Year Single Barrel Bourbon review.