Tasting notes

nose

crusty sourdough and toffee, then cedar, pipe tobacco, walnut and old leather, with persimmon, pear and sticky bun as it opens

palate

big and chewy; cinnamon-heavy cola, dried cherry and dates, pistachio and perfumed vanilla over charred cornbread, with dark tea and a savory edge of dried mushroom

finish

long and spiced; sweet vermouth up front, then cocoa powder, clove and juniper with a salty slate streak, drifting to incense, truffle and rosehip as it fades

Mash bill

Corn-majority straight bourbon recipes from distilleries in Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana; Barrell has not published the grains or their proportions for this blend. Because every component is straight bourbon, each recipe is at least 51% corn and each spent at least two years in new charred oak before Barrell bought it. What sets the whiskey apart is the wood that followed: separate portions went into four different finishing casks before the parts were married.

Awards

• Double Gold — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2026
• Best Unique Barrel Finish — LA Spirits Awards 2026
• Platinum — LA Spirits Awards 2026
• Double Platinum — ASCOT Awards 2026

Why it's craft

Cigar Blend draws on straight bourbons aged as long as 18 years and finishes them in four kinds of cask: Madeira, Armagnac, rum and Hungarian oak, the last adding a cola-like spice. Barrell Craft Spirits does not distill; founder Joe Beatrice started the company in Louisville in 2013 to buy barrels from established distilleries, blend them and bottle them at cask strength, taking Scotland's independent bottlers as his model. Every release goes out without chill filtration, and the company remains independent.