Tasting notes

nose

ripe white peach and pale cherry, a green note of snap peas and sorrel, then gentian, dill, maple sap and wintergreen

palate

oily and weighty; tart green apple and lemon up front, turning to oatmeal, pumpkin bread, molasses and clove, with a light grip of tannin

finish

long and building; pumpkin pie and warm baking spice, with roasted chestnut, sunflower seed and a faint note of red clover at the end

Mash bill

74% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley, 1% wheat. Barrell calculates this derived recipe from the separate recipes of the bourbons in the blend, which come from distilleries in seven states: Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Wyoming, Maryland, New York and Ohio. Each of those distilleries works to its own grain bill, so the published figure describes the finished blend rather than any single mash.

Why it's craft

New Year is Barrell's annual edition, and the 2026 blend combines bourbons from seven states, from Indiana to New York and Ohio, ranging from 5 to 16 years old. Barrell publishes every state and age in the blend along with the derived grain recipe, so a drinker can see exactly what went in. The Louisville company has distilled none of it: Joe Beatrice set Barrell up in 2013 to buy and blend barrels from established distilleries, and it still bottles everything at cask strength without chill filtration.