Review #: 497
Description: Barrell Dovetail
Spirit: American Whiskey
Background: This is technically an American Whiskey sourced from Indiana and Tennessee and bottled by Barrell. Not sure if it might include some light whiskey or rye or a blend of those with some bourbon, but the whiskey is finished in rum, port, and Dunn Vineyards Cabernet barrels before bottling. This comes from batch #9.
Distillery – Various
Bottler – Barrell Craft Spirits
Brand – Barrell
Selection – N/A
ABV – 62.08%
Age – NAS
Nose – Hard hitting, caramel corn, vanilla icing, cheesecake with raspberries, I get more of that funk character from the wine rather than a large amount of fruit
Taste – Sweet and thick texture, stewed plums, caramel corn, tart cherry, vanilla buttercream, maybe some of those fruit cream cheeses that are out there? A little tart and funky but fruit is there
Finish – Fresh cornbread, cherry pie, dark chocolate, really nice oak influence on the back end. Might be propped with some of the cab influence too? Can almost get some white wine like taste.
Score: 7
Would I buy a bottle? Yes
Thoughts: Barrell really does some things that you look at and think, “that can’t work” and even this one isn’t that crazy, then you taste it and it is a bit of sensory blast that takes a second to wrap your head around, but then you realize, it works. I’m really impressed with their ability to do these finishes in such big batches. Might need to figure out a way to try the gray or gold versions.