Barrell Craft Spirits Debuts Experimental Cask Finishing Series Featuring Amburana Release, A Rare Finish Currently Taking Whiskey World by Storm
Barrell Craft Spirits unveiled the Barrell Craft Bourbon Cask Finish Series. (Photo: Barrell Craft Spirits)
Barrell Craft Spirits announced the launch of a limited-edition series meant to celebrate the brand’s distinctive approach to cask finishes, according to Wednesday’s news release from the brand. The Barrell Bourbon Cask Finish Series will release two blends a year starting this fall.
“We’re thrilled to continue our 10-year legacy of developing sought-after award-winning blends that push the boundaries of American whiskey,” stated Joe Beatrice, Founder of Barrell Craft Spirits in the news release.
This is the latest release from Barrell Craft, a brand that continues to push the envelope in terms of releases. In August, the brand announced the hotly-anticipated release of its first rye batch since 2020.
As for the Barrell Bourbon Cask Finish Series, the inaugural blends are Amburana and Tale of Two Islands.
Amburana is a blend of Indiana and Kentucky whiskeys, matured in Amburana casks. Amburana is a South American hardwood that is typically used for maturing cachaça and imparts a lot of baking spice notes, according to Punch Drink. Punch Drink claims that Amburana is unique due to its distinctive aromas, and even compares the whiskeys aged in the hardwood as having the potential to fetch similar prices to those aged in Japanese Mizunara.
According to Barrell Craft, this massively trending wood is “challenging to work with,” and requires plenty of “blending expertise.”
For the Amburana, a blend of 5-,6-,7-, and 10-year Indiana whiskeys was used in conjunction with a single 5-year Kentucky bourbon.
The blending team blended the two mashbills with different char levels in the Amburana finishing casks. The spirit underwent an additional vatting process without finishing to add more depth to the blended whiskey, which hosts a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye and 4% malted barley. The spirit was bottled at a cask strength of 116.42 proof.
The second offering in the Cask Finish Series is a continuation of the brand’s 2018 release of Tale of Two Islands Rum. The Jamaican rum was matured in peated Islay single malt casks. This offering is a blend of straight bourbons from Indiana and Maryland.
For the 2023 Tale of Two Islands, Barrell Craft Spirits chose to use 5-,6- and 9-year bourbons from Indiana and blend them with 5- and 6-year bourbons from Maryland. The blend was bottled at a cask strength of 118.22 proof and hosts a mashbill of 73% corn, 23% rye and 4% malted barley, according to Barrell Craft. The brand claims Tale of Two Islands possesses a “classic bourbon” flavor profile with old-fashioned donut and coconut macaron aromas.
“The intent for this Series is to produce unique blends that showcase the finishing cask, while respecting the underlying bourbon blend,” Beatrice concluded.
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