Joe Beatrice built his career on new ideas. A former marketing and technology entrepreneur, Joe founded his first company, Blue Dingo Digital, in the 1990s to help companies use the Internet to establish, brand, and grow their products.
After 20 years, Joe was ready for a change. Joe saw the true magic of spirits after a transformative experience tasting whiskey straight from the barrel for the very first time. In 2013, he launched Barrell Craft Spirits in Louisville, Kentucky.
Instead of building his own distillery, Joe took a different course. He sourced and blended exceptional casks from established producers, bottled whiskeys at cask strength, and sold them as transparently as possible.
This transparency of what is in the bottle when it is sourced whiskey gets the distilleries out there a little touchy. Many sourced whiskeys will try to hide that it is whiskey from MGP in Indiana or another distillery. Bardstown is the other example of a distillery/whiskey company being very transparent about where their product is coming from. It is actually technically illegal to name the distillery your product is coming from, but you can put mash bills and age statements on the bottles. From there, clever people can figure out exactly where the whiskey is coming from.
If you would like to read more about their story, here is a good article.
On this evening we’ll taste through 4 of the Barrel Craft Spirits whiskeys. Two of them are standard releases and two are limited releases - one batch and we’ll never see them again.
Dovetail
https://www.barrellbourbon.com/dovetail
Dovetail is blended to highlight some of our favorite flavors. Woody bourbon; terroir driven Dunn Cabernet; toasted French oak; Late Bottled Vintage Port pipes; black strap molasses casks; all working in tandem to create a buttery and deep whiskey as unique as it is delicious.
Seagrass
https://www.barrellbourbon.com/seagrass
A basket brimming with tropical and orchard fruits lies at the heart of this juicy whiskey, with prominent tones of ripe apricot from the brandy casks. The tropical notes are kept in check by a broad array of spicy and herbaceous rye aromas and complemented by the delicate florals of grassy, Martinique rhum. With a splash of water, the oxidized Madeira notes emerge, candying the fruit and bringing out an earthiness on the palate.
Batch 029
https://www.barrellbourbon.com/batch29
The base of Barrell Bourbon Batch 029 is an herbal and viscous blend of Indiana bourbons. The blend was expanded with 6 and 7-year-old rye-grain Kentucky bourbon, chosen for its exotic cinnamon spice note and floral 9 and 10-year-old wheated bourbon. Finally, a small amount of 6, 14, and 16-year-old Tennessee bourbon was added for a fruity nose and a long, oxidative finish.
Infinite Barrel Project
https://www.barrellbourbon.com/infinite
The tradition of keeping an infinity bottle is well known to whiskey collectors and aficionados around the world. Take the last ounces of each whisk(e)y bottle as you finish it, and pour them into a bottle you’ve set aside. We are honoring the Infinity bottle tradition in our own way by introducing the Infinite Barrel Project.