Ride the unicorn!

Single barrel whiskey.  It’s actually refreshing to have a bourbon term that actually means what it says.  Blanton’s claims to be the first commercially sold single barrel bourbon.  No one has won an objection to this, so I suppose it remains true.  However, nearly all bourbon was single barrel until bottling, but it was also generally unaged so not quite the same thing.  So what is this Single Barrel hype, and are they really unicorns?

When a distiller makes whiskey, they make many batches. Each of these will start with the same mashbill, and so go in to the barrel basically all the same.

They then put it in oak barrels and age it. This is where you have wild results. As an example, Old Forester uses the same mashbill in everything they make. As a result, all Old Forester bourbon goes in to the barrel the same. It is time and the varying interaction with the oak that make them different. The results, from 1920 to Statesman to Birthday Bourbon, all went into the barrel the same but come out very different.

As these barrels age, they can take on unique flavors, for better or for worse. Less than stellar barrels get blended with great bottles to make consistent bottles.  In many cases, the bottle you are drinking could be a blend of hundreds of barrels.  But exceptional ones, ones that are better or more unique than the intended blend, can be pulled out for single barrels.

Single Barrel means just that, it is from one barrel. No blending. While Blanton’s tries to pull their single barrels from a certain area of the rickhouse to keep them somewhat similar, you can find radically different barrels in there.  A single barrel selection creates an opportunity for a group to find one of these unicorns for themselves. 

Generally, these barrels are dumped right from the barrel, making them barrel proof as well as a single barrel. No blending, no watering it down. From barrel to bottle. Amazing and unique for the group selecting it.  You will never taste this particular flavor again, ever.

So if you come across a groups’ ‘Barrel Pick’ or ‘Barrel Selection’, give it a shot.  Even though it may be from a company you have had many times, it very well could be incredibly different and a whole new experience.  Ride the unicorn!