On the nose, Vantage is intriguingly exotic and hard to immediately pin down. So with all that said, let’s get to tasting and see how these three different oak profiles are playing with one another in Barrell Vantage. In whiskeys, it is often said to contribute perfume-like or “incense” notes that are delicate and exotic. The Mizunara or “Japanese oak” is the more exotic element, as it is exceedingly expensive and difficult to create barrels from. French oak is also likely familiar to American whiskey geeks at this point it is known for its intensely aromatic, rich and spicy qualities. What can one expect out of each type of oak? Well, the American component sounds like a barrel that is merely toasted and not actually charred, a recently popular method that is often said to extract notes of toasted oak, marshmallow and baking spice-though I find that in some cases it also brings out unpleasantly tannic qualities. Where it diverges is in those secondary maturations-each component whiskey in Vantage is finished separately in a different type of barrel, “then systematically combined according to a blending process fueled in equal parts by a scientific approach, experience, creativity and experimentation.” Like so many other Barrell releases, this is a blend of sourced bourbon from Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee, and like most it is bottled at cask strength-here that’s 57.22% ABV (114.44 proof). This is the newly released Barrell Vantage, a blended American bourbon that is finished in “three distinct expressions of virgin oak: Mizunara, French and toasted American oak casks.” As the company puts it, “the result is a warm, elegant bourbon that highlights the many dimensions of oak.” The newest extension of the Barrell family tree, though, is essentially heading back to the more elemental roots of what provides so much of bourbon’s flavor profile, which is “virgin,” freshly charred or toasted oak. The original Barrell flagships seem almost quaint at this point-what do you mean, they’re simply well-aged sourced bourbons from three different states or more, blended together at cask strength? Where’s the novelty in that? This is the kind of perspective you’re likely to end up with when Barrell has been so busy in recent years with spin-offs and extensions to its product line-products such as Dovetail, Armida and Seagrass, which have heavily relied on flavor infusions from casks that previously contained other spirits or wines such as pear brandy, madeira, cabernet sauvignon, Jamaican rum, Martinique rhum agricole, or Sicilian amaro. If there’s one blender out there in the bourbon space that can always be relied upon to keep pushing the boundaries of experimentation, it’s Barrell Craft Spirits.
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