Barrell Craft is BACK! 142 Proof ‘Decade’ Blend: Nuclear AND Nuanced

BARRELL CRAFT SPIRITS 'DECADE BLEND' 20 YEAR WHISKEY

 

WHY BUY:
When Barrell Craft Spirits released their 33 Year last November, it sold out online in 7 minutes — and we’re expecting no less with their latest high-octane, consummately-crafted release: The Decade Blend, in which they took ten whiskeys from ten years (1995-2005), blended them, and matured the whole thing twice, in Spanish brandy and Hungarian oak casks. This is an extraordinary bottling, powerful (a walloping 142.7 proof!) and polished, and yet more proof that nobody (but nobody) is making better spirits these days than these guys.

OUR TASTING NOTES:
Amazingly, with a proof this high, The Decade Blend manages to be both nuclear and nuanced — a neat balancing act that speaks to founder Joe Beatrice's blending brilliance. The nose delivers lush, syrupy fruit notes (a tip of the hat to the Spanish brandy casks), followed by waves of vanilla and caramel. On the palate, it's surprisingly smooth and even silken, with rich complexity that evolves in stages: first the bourbon backbone, then a medley of dried fruits (including raisins and figs), and, finally, some subtle tannic shading (courtesy of the Hungarian oak). The finish has genuine staying power, as if it’s determined to keep impressing you (and impressing itself upon you). Add a few drops of water and watch it bloom into something even more magical.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:
Over the past two years, Barrell Craft has collected some major hardware, including: Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, two Platinum Awards at the L.A. Spirits Awards, and Best American Blended Whiskey 12 Years and Younger at the World Whiskies Awards. 

THE STORY:
A former marketing and technology entrepreneur, Joe Beatrice founded Barrell Craft Spirits in 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky, in answer to a question that had long bedeviled him: what happens when you combine different distillation methods, barrels, and aging environments on cask strength spirits? Inspired by Scotland's independent bottlers and their ability to elevate whisky through expert barrel-aging, Beatrice began sourcing and blending exceptional casks from established producers with whom he and his team cultivated close relationships within the spirits community. The genius lies in the execution. Beatrice and his team are savvy sourcers and brilliant blenders, procuring barrels from Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and beyond, then weaving them into something magical through extraordinary knowledge, an unerring eye for quality, and exquisite collective palate. The Decade Blend represents the culmination of this philosophy: whiskeys distilled annually from 1995 to 2005, carefully selected and harmonized, then given secondary maturation in Spanish brandy and Hungarian oak casks. Even for a team known for going to the nth degree, this release is brimming with careful detail work.

ABV: 
71.35% (142.7 proof).

FUN FACT:
When Beatrice launched his company, twelve years ago, he did so without a distillery — a bit of daring that might have failed, but didn’t. Instead, he made his name by sourcing and blending casks from producers around the country and the world.

OUR GUARANTEE:
As always, we only buy and source directly from the producer, so rest assured: your whiskey will arrive in your hands with pristine provenance. Act now to secure your bottles!