Archives for November 2023

Barrell Craft Spirits debuts first 100-proof bourbon

November 4, 2023 By Dustin Scoggins

Barrell Craft Spirits may have only opened its doors in 2013, but it’s already one of the most popular whiskey producers in the country. Located in Louisville, in the heart of bourbon country, the brand is well-known for its innovative blending techniques, hand-selected barrels, and unique finishing processes.

When it comes to spirits specifically, it’s known for its myriad numbered batches of bourbon, American whiskey, rye, and rum, as well as ongoing releases like Dovetail, Armida, Seagrass, and others. But where it shines is with its cask strength bourbon releases.

For those unaware, cask strength means that after the maturation process, the distillers didn’t add any water to proof the whiskey down. Instead of 80 or even 90-proof, the whiskeys will be more like 110-120-proof.

While the terms “sourcing” and “blending” seem like naughty words to some whiskey drinkers, they don’t bother the folks at Barrell Craft Spirits. Unlike some whiskey producers, Barrell Craft makes its name with blends. The Barrell bourbon brand is highly regarded for its blending prowess, melding sourced whiskeys from various distillery partners throughout the U.S. (and the world in some cases). That’s why it’s so exciting when the brand announces a new expression. Especially one that takes it a little off course: Its first non-cask strength bourbon. One created to be enjoyed on “all occasions.”

Its newest expression is called Barrel Foundation Bourbon, and its whiskeys come from all over the country. But this whiskey is more than a unique and interesting name. It’s a blend of eight-year-old Kentucky bourbon, five, six, and nine-year-old Indiana bourbons, eight-year-old Tennessee bourbon, as well as five and six-year-old Maryland bourbons. It carries a mash bill of 73% corn, 23% rye, and only 4% malted barley, making it a high-rye spicier bourbon yet remaining at a low ABV (as compared to its other offerings).

“Barrell Foundation is a delicious and easy-drinking bourbon whiskey with all the flavor of a cask strength bourbon whiskey at 100-proof,” Barrell Craft Spirits founder Joe Beatrice said in a press release. “We believe that a true art form in bourbon-making is the ability to produce bourbon whiskey that can be enjoyed by everyone, and we welcomed the challenge to show that we can produce great bourbon whiskey at a more approachable strength and price for all occasions.”

He added, “For 10 years, we’ve led the blending movement in the U.S. and now welcome this exciting opportunity to be a trailblazer of an entirely different style of bourbon whiskey.”

If you want to get your hands on a bottle of this mellow, easy-drinking bourbon, you can purchase one online on the Barrel Craft Spirits website or at select retailers in Arizona, California, DC, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Washington State. It was released in October for a suggested retail price of $59.99 for a 750ml bottle. If you don’t live in one of those states, it will roll out nationally in January of 2024.

For more information please visit https://www.barrellbourbon.com/

Frey Ranch Distillery Releases Their First American Single Malt Whiskey

November 4, 2023 By Dustin Scoggins

Frey Ranch Distillery just announced the release of their first American single malt whiskey, which was not just grown, harvested and distilled on their farm, but it was also smoked in-house using their own peat.

“Someone once told me that I’d never be able to make a smoked whiskey, and I said ‘Challenge accepted,’” says Colby Frey, who founded this Fallon, NV farm-to-glass, estate distillery with his wife Ashley on the Frey family 1,500 acre farm. “When someone throws down a gauntlet like that, my immediate response is I need to prove them wrong.”

Frey Ranch American Single Malt Smoked whiskey, which is sold online at here for $59.99 in 375 ml. bottles, is 110 proof and aged for six years and seven months. The whiskey is made using 100 percent of slow-grown barley on the farm.

Frey built his own smoker by reconstituting a smoker from an old grain silo and a fireplace. He also made his own peat from decomposed plant matter from the farm by pressing it into bread pans and dehydrating it to properly smoke the whiskey. “Like everything we do at the ranch, the team and I had some fun putting together our custom smoker, taking a few days to weld, cut, and wire it to our precise specifications,” Frey says. The smoker was built in 2016. “We built it around seven years ago, when we were contemplating different ways to showcase our grains through whiskey production,” Frey says. “As with all Frey Ranch whiskeys, we pride ourselves on overseeing all aspects of the production process – meaning nothing leaves our Nevada farm until its ready to be sold.”

“We didn’t want toy release our smoked single malt too soon, as we were really focused at the time on successfully introducing our signature whiskey, Frey Ranch Four Grain Bourbon, which put Frey Ranch and Nevada on the map as a serious whiskey producer,” Frey says.

But now, with its release, the timing couldn’t be better. “We’re happy to see our patience pay off, as American single malts are truly having a moment right now in the whiskey zeitgeist,” Frey says.

Frey Ranch American Single Malt Smoked is not only their first American Single Malt release, but it is the first in Frey Ranch’s “smoked series,” which will be followed with the release of Frey Ranch Rye & Smoked Oat Whiskey.

For more information please visit https://freyranch.com/

Hard Truth Distilling Co. Releases Barrel Finished Reserve

November 3, 2023 By Dustin Scoggins

Photo Credit: Hard Truth Distilling Company

Hard Truth Distilling Co., an award-winning whiskey distillery located in Brown County, Indiana, announced the release of Barrel Finished Reserve, four unique pairings of Hard Truth’s finest sweet mash aged in the highest quality barrels sourced from some of the world’s most celebrated winemakers.

All four new whiskeys come under Hard Truth’s award-winning Sweet Mash Rye label and will be available in extremely limited quantities. Barrel Finished Reserve, which will be an annual offering, is mashed, distilled, aged, and bottled by the distillers at the Hard Truth distillery. Each expression is available in 750 mL bottles with a suggested retail price of $99.99.

The barrel lineup includes Pedro Ximénez Sherry, Pedro Ximénez Brandy, Sauternes and Cognac. Each barrel housed Hard Truth Sweet Rye’s mainline RW-1 mash bill of 94% rye and 6% malted barley.

According to Bryan Smith, Hard Truth Master Distiller, “Barrel finishing in the American whiskey scene has been an exciting space over the past few years.” Smith tapped Chris Moore, Hard Truth’s barrel program manager, who has robust knowledge and experience in the world of wine and wine-based spirits, to source the highest quality finishing barrels without cost consideration.

“To stay consistent with Hard Truth’s philosophy for making the highest quality whiskey, it was critical that we use not just any barrel – but instead use barrels with the level of quality and provenance that could match and complement its specific style of sweet mash whiskey making,” said Moore.”

Moore added that once the barrels were selected, extreme care was taken to match the whiskey blend to each finishing cask. The result being four custom blends that each enhance the flavor of these finishing barrels without sacrificing the complexity and richness of Hard Truth’s sweet mash whiskey.

About Hard Truth Distilling Co.

Headquartered in Nashville, Indiana, Hard Truth Distilling Co. produces more than 20 premium spirits, including the critically acclaimed Hard Truth Sweet Mash Rye Whiskey and top-selling Hard Truth Cinnamon Vodka, Hard Truth Maple Bourbon Cream, Hard Truth Toasted Coconut Rum, and Hard Truth Toasted Coconut Rum Cream.

Hard Truth Distilling Co. is an industry leader in the production of sweet mash rye whiskeys. In addition to Hard Truth Sweet Mash Rye Whiskey, they recently released a new Sweet Mash Rye whiskey project in collaboration with Mellencamp Whiskey Company. The new partnership will include a four-part, limited collectors series of Hard Truth’s award-winning Sweet Mash Rye Whiskey to be released in the spring and fall. The first release called Harvest Sweet Mash Rye launched at the Hard Truth Distillery on September 9.

Hard Truth’s spirits are distributed in Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Washington, D.C. and The Bahamas.

For More Information:
https://hardtruthdistilling.com/

Bob Dylan Just Dropped a Bold New 18-Year-Old Bourbon Finished in Vermouth Barrels

November 3, 2023 By Dustin Scoggins

We’ve been covering recent news from Bob Dylan‘s Heaven’s Door whiskey brand recently, and there’s been a lot of it, some of it stemming Heaven’s Door opening its own distillery in Kentucky. Now there’s a new edition of the Bootleg Series, an expensive 18-year-old bourbon given an unusual secondary maturation in Spanish red vermouth casks, and the resulting whiskey is bold and assertive.

The Bootleg Series was first released in 2019 making this is the fifth installment. This whiskey series was named as a tribute to the rare and unreleased recordings that make up a portion of Dylan’s catalogue, and according to the brand the specific whiskeys, blends, and cask finishes in this series are meant to evoke that concept. Bootleg Series V was overseen by Heaven’s Door master distiller Ken Pierce and master blender Alex Moore. They selected an 18-year-old bourbon distilled in Tennessee, which is pretty old for a bourbon, and then finished it in vermouth rouge barrels. “Vermouth has long been a part of whiskey cocktail culture, and we wanted to capture that essence in this mature Bootleg Series expression,” said Moore in a statement. “We chose Spanish vermouth casks to finish the 18-year-old bourbon to provide depth of flavor and complexity that perfectly complements the whiskey’s character.”

The whiskey, which is bottled at 114 proof, is a deep ruddy brown color. On the nose it reads like an older Dickel whiskey, full of grain, fruit, and nutty notes. The palate is immediately drying and tannic, but not in an unpleasant way. There are dollops of oak along with dried fruit, candied orange, spiced nuts, rum raisins, vanilla, and kettle corn. This is a bold and pointed bourbon that might prove to be divisive, but its unique flavor and spiciness will please whiskey fans who prefer older age statements and secondary maturations that are not subtle. And it kind of grows on you the more you sip it.

Heaven’s Door Bootleg Series V (SRP $600) comes in a ceramic bottle with Dylan’s 2019 painting “No Vacancies” on the front. The bottle, in turn, is found inside a carrying case that opens like a book to display the whiskey.

For more information please visit https://buy.heavensdoor.com/