Daniel Davis
NOSE
Bootstrap molasses | Cinnamon spice | Burnt sugar | Shoe polish | Seasoned oak | Coconut macaroon
PALATE
Nutty | Dark chocolate | Roasted coffee beans | Cola | Shades of sweetness
FINISH
Roasted malt | Barrel tannins | Char | Mild smokiness | Ramp up of heat
OVERALL
A finished bourbon that is so surprising and unique, it’s hard to fully grasp what Barrell is trying to say.
Barrell Craft Spirits has proven over the last 10 years that they are great blenders. They have proven this time and time again with their Barrell Bourbon batches, but when the company moves into an unexplored blended or finished category (e.g. Seagrass, Armida, Dovetail), it’s always worth taking note. Barrell dubs this release as part of their expanding “Cask Finished Series,” but the name is only telling half the tale.
Barrell Bourbon Cask Finish Series: Tale of Two Islands Edition 001 rides on the coattails of one of their lesser known releases, 2018’s Tale of Two Islands Rum. That was a rum finished in peated Islay single malt barrels. For their latest release, Barrell took those used barrels and finished a newly concocted blend of bourbons in them. The result is just as unique as it sounds.
The bourbon’s nose features a big aroma filled with strong notes of bootstrap molasses, sharp cinnamon spice, a bit of shoe polish, and a nice but fleeting coconut macaroon accent. The palate is where things start to buck expectations. It’s very nut forward, with a rich dark chocolate, roasted coffee beans, and not-very-sweet cola base. Likewise, the finish features roasted malt, barrel tannins, barrel char, and mild smokiness. Taken as a whole, it’s so unlike anything else on the market, that it’s difficult to fully wrap your tastebuds around. It features a much more robust and roasted flavor profile than I expected from a rum and Islay whisky cask finish. I can’t say it veers in any one direction completely and is surprisingly noncommittal. Its flavor profile is well outside of what we’ve gotten from a Barrell product before, making it hard to put in a box and fully define to a T. Its uniqueness is its blessing but perhaps also a curse.
Classification: A Blend of Straight Bourbons Finished in Used Rum/Peated Barrels
Company: Barrell Craft Spirits
Distillery: Undisclosed distilleries in Maryland and Indiana
Release Date: September 2023
Proof: 118.22
Age: 5 Years (Blend of 5, 6, 9, and 16 year old bourbons per company website)
Mashbill: Derived mashbill from blend: 73% Corn, 23% Rye, 4% Malted Barley
Color: Mahogany
MSRP: $90 / 750mL (2023)
Ls of the company’s earlier and higher proofed “Tale of Two Islands” blends. The 001 edition adds new layers to the flavor profile with two different sourced barrels and two different casks.
This is a
“Barrell’s Cask Finish Series continues to impress with their unique and surprising blends, and this Tale of Two Islands Edition 001 is no exception. Complex and well-balanced, it’s a testament to the company’s skill in blending and finishing. A must-try for any bourbon lover.”
Ls of another, darker sibling. BCS-TA-001-FEmploying molasses based rum from, what the bottle and Internets will tell you, is a distillery in the lesser known (at least to Americans) Canary Islands. So…while ago
This review gives a glowing assessment of Barrell Craft Spirits’ Bourbon Cask Finish Series: Tale of Two Islands Edition 001, particularly noting its uniqueness and surprising flavor profile. With Barrell’s track record for great blending, this reviewer is intrigued by their exploration into uncharted territory and recommends giving it a try.
Wow! This review really makes me want to try Barrell’s Cask Finish Series, especially the Tale of Two Islands Edition 001. The nose and palate have such interesting and unexpected flavors, and the overall conclusion that Barrell is a great blender is compelling. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for this release.