Barrell Craft Spirits Just Dropped 2 New ‘Gray Label’ Whiskeys, and One Is 19 Years Old

Barrell Craft Spirits has unveiled two new “Gray Label” whiskeys. (Photo: Barrell Craft Spirits)

On Tuesday, Barrell Craft Spirits, the critically acclaimed whiskey blending house, announced the release of two “Gray Label” products. Let’s break down the new releases.

Barrell Craft Spirits 13 Year Old Gray Label Bourbon

This bourbon is composed of barrels aged between 13 and 19 years, sourced from Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Wyoming. It’s bottled at 55.06% ABV.

Tasting Notes, Via Barrell Craft Spirits

Color: “Maroon, with tones ranging from rust to baker’s chocolate.”

Nose: “Pungent vanilla bean is first out of the gate, woven through with goldenrod as you just approach the glass. They add lift to a treacly nose that ranges from dark brown sugar to woodsy sugarcane. The original grain character is well preserved, but advanced age has evolved it into tres leches cake, granola, and macadamia nut. Sage, tonka bean, and menthol play the herbal register here. Plump raisins and fig newtons round it out.”

 Taste: “S’mores, amoretti, and oatmeal raisin cookie depict a palate balanced between biscuit-y and sweet. A marked spiciness shoulders its way in with notes of crystallized ginger, peppermint, and black peppercorn. Oak tannins give a bit of chew to a body that’s oily and rich with sugars.Meanwhile gentian root, sesame seeds, and apple peels comprise the humus layer.”

Finish: “Fresh ginger, fennel seed, and cardamom rush up through the exhale. The tongue is left with a pronounced bitterness that inspires thoughts of cocoa powder and grapefruit peel.Gradually, a gentle sweet vermouth takes over; later joined by a grainy signature of skillet cornbread.”

Barrell Craft Spirits 19 Year Old Gray Label Seagrass

An updated Gray Label edition of Barrell’s popular Seagrass rye whiskey, this bottle hosts an age statement of 19 years, a three-year increase from the previous Gray Label Seagrass, which received an exceedingly rare perfect 10/10 house score from Bottle Raiders.

The new Gray Label Seagrass is a blend of two groups of 19-year-old Canadian rye barrels distilled from 100% rye. The expressio is finished in a blend of Martinique rhum, Madeira and apricot brandy casks.

Tasting Notes, Via Barrell Craft Spirits

Color: “Rich, golden straw.”

Nose: “The savory side of rye is showcased by an array of exotic spices and seeds–caraway, fenugreek, dill, and mustard. Rye toast, grilled cornbread, and roasted taro root give it a bready depth. The Rhum Agricole barrels bolster the spirit’s innate grassy notes of cucumber peel, black olive, and bark mulch. Beyond the cask’s prior contents, the oak itself is expressed by cigar tobacco, coffee, and cinnamon.”

 Taste: “Extremely oily, displaying notes of peanut-, coconut-, and tea tree–oils. As it’s held in the mouth it grows creamier with soy milk and cocoa butter. A bright lemonade note buoys nutty sunflower seed in a nod toward the madeira barrels. That madeira influence expands into notes of grapefruit peel, verjus, and gravel.”

Finish: “The apricot brandy casks pick up where the madeira left off, bursting forth with passionfruit, mirabelle plum, and banana peel. Now the collective minerality of the rye and its respective finishes wash over the palate with notes of chalk dust, flint, paraffin, and cedar smoke.”