Barrell Vantage Bourbon Review - Best Neat or on the Rocks?

Today on the Bourbon Bites Podcast, I'm in the middle of a heatwave, so I'm reviewing the new Barrel Vantage from Barrel Craft Spirits, both neat and on the rocks

Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites Podcast. I am joining you from a very warm 104 degrees

Now that's outside, not inside, but if you heard the intro, I am in a bit of a heatwave here in Southern California

I think actually Northern California has it worse than us, so I guess I can be thankful for that

But yes, it is hot. We are having rolling blackouts. Fortunately, I haven't seen those here yet

We're being told to limit our power consumption, so right now I am on a laptop

and I am recording this trying to conserve a little bit of energy

but I still wanted to get a review out of this brand new release from Barrel Craft Spirits

They were very kind to send this over for me to review and this is Barrel Vantage. So this new

release is a blend of straight bourbon whiskeys finished in mucinara, French, and toasted American

oak casks. This first release comes in at 114.44 proof or 57.22% ABV and is a blend of whiskey

distilled in Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky. So this is the latest edition of their special

releases. You know, from the past, there's been Dovetail, Armita, Seagrass, and like the rest of

the lineup, this one retails at $80. So this one is joining the lineup to highlight the many

dimensions of oak. In the previous releases, we've seen finishes from rum to cognac, but this release

is relying on the three different types of oak cask to impart a lot of different flavors to this

bourbon. The press release says that our unique vantage point in the whiskey world, combined with

a passion for experimentation and nuance, has inspired us to produce a blend with impeccable

balance and a depth of flavor. Barrel Vantage is the result of deliberately pairing specifically

identified bourbons with carefully selected cooperage, giving rise to a final expression

that focuses on the subtle flavors and their compounding profiles. So in addition to these

being different types of wood, of course, the Mizunara coming from Japan, the French oak coming

from, believe it or not, France, and the American oak that we see a lot in most bourbon here

in the States. They are also experimenting with different char levels and toast levels

Each of the different bourbons that went to this from, like I said, Indiana, Tennessee

Kentucky, were finished with specific casts. Of course, I'm not going to reveal what was finished with what, and then blended together

to make this final blend, which is Vantage. I would like to know, though, which type of whiskey they thought paired best with each

type of oak. That would be an interesting conversation. I need to reach out to their Will Shragus, who I've had on my channel several times

who could probably give us that info. But yeah, I've been a pretty big fan of these releases

It's been a minute since I've had Dovetail, and I loved Seagrass, as you all know

Armida was kind of a miss for me. It wasn't my favorite flavor profile, but I'll tell you right now, I'm very excited to try Vantage

Now if you want to see me try all four of those in a blind flight to find out what I actually like best, stay tuned later this month on my YouTube channel

I'm celebrating Bourbon Heritage Month by doing a new series on the channel called Blinded by the Flights

So I'm doing four different blind flights this month starting with Larceny Barrel Proof this week and I will be doing a barrel blind flight later this month

I'll also be giving away sample sets from all of the blinds So if you guys want to watch that Make sure to check out Bourbon Bites on YouTube Subscribe and hit the bell button So you be notified you don miss it because you got to tune into the lives to be able to have a chance to spin the wheel of whiskey which is how i do my giveaways but i did want to give this a

review beforehand like i said i've tried all the others before so to give it a fair shot in the

blind flight i do need to give it a taste and since it is so hot i will be trying it both neat

and on the rocks so as usual we're going to start out with the neat pour i feel like that's the best

way to approach it you know for the first time but then we're going to see how it stands up to

ice because i'll be honest when it's this hot i do enjoy a good high proof whiskey on the rocks

so let's go to get this barrel vantage poured now i'll be honest i'm not an expert on wood i feel like i've said that multiple times in this

podcast all in different contexts but i have had obviously american oak i've had it toasted i've

had it charred. French oak, I've definitely had some expressions that use that. I know I've had

some scotch that's been Misenara cask finished, but I can't recall a bourbon or American whiskey

that has had that oak influence on it. I know a lot of the barrel private selects do different

finishing, including Misenara, so it's definitely not new to them. But the only other one that comes

to mind is like Angels and we did a special release. I know Rabbit Hole did as well. It usually

is the very special releases that are the Mizunara casks. Unless I'm missing something, you guys

definitely let me know on Discord. But yeah, I don't think I've had a straight Mizunara-finished

American whiskey before, so I'll be interested to see if I can tell those notes apart from the

French oak and the American oak. Let's go in and give it a nose. Well, I do smell the wood. There's

no doubt there. This is a very oak-forward bourbon on the nose, but thankfully there's a lot more

there behind it. I'm almost getting a little bit of banana, which is, you know, not something that

I typically get from bourbon unless it's from, you know, Barton, which is a likely component of this

There is some like tropical like bananas, maybe some coconut there as well. But I'm getting some

really lovely spice notes, baking spices. It's kind of reminiscent of some wild turkey I've had

at least on the nose. Now from what I've read, the different casks do have certain flavor profiles

I know French oak is typically associated with spiciness, so that's probably where those spices

are coming from. Of course, toasted American oak gives us those wonderful vanillas, marshmallow

notes. Not necessarily getting that on the nose. I do get some kind of dessert element there

Just can't quite place it on nose alone. But Mizunara casks are one of the most interesting

types of oak. They're some of the hardest to work with because they're so soft, believe it or not

So they have to be dried out for a really long time before they can even be used for barrels

And the oak actually has to come from 200 to 500 year old trees just to be able to harvest and be

in a condition well enough to make a barrel from. So that's crazy old. And I've heard that Mizunara

does carry some fruitier notes. So maybe that's where I'm getting the banana from. It could also

be from the whiskey itself. But on the nose, I do see all those elements coming together. So

I can't wait to give it a try. Cheers. As with the nose, it's definitely oak forward. That's kind of

the most dominant flavor I'm getting here. It's very dry as well. Not necessarily kind of dry in

an older bourbon kind of way, but dry in the fact that the oak is like a dominant flavor here. Kind

of like I've had some experience with some Jim Beam products even at you know nine-ish years old

and on the back end of that oak is that spice it definitely comes through about mid-palette but

it's a lot more subtle than on the nose it's less spicy the oak is definitely front and center

it's interestingly not super sweet I kind of was looking for a bit of sweetness maybe from the

dessert notes that were on the nose of this maybe on the back end towards the finish there like a little bit of a sweetness that kind of complements the spice but it kind of feels a bit hidden by the other dominant notes on this whiskey The spices kind of present themselves differently on the palate than on the nose though

On the nose, I was getting more of like baking spices, a bit of like, you know, cinnamon or nutmeg

but on the palate, it's definitely more of like a peppery kind of spice. I can't necessarily tell if it's like a red pepper or black pepper

but there's definitely a different kind of spice going on on the palate. there is still some cinnamon there but it's not like cinnamon sugar it's definitely more like a

ground cinnamon kind of note it kind of hangs out in the back corners of my mouth it almost kind of

has that reaction that my mouth does when i get like a bit of a sour note kind of like it makes

me salivate a lot then i was looking through the tasty notes they gave just you know on the press

release to see what might be triggering that and they list ginger as a tasty note and i think

it doesn't that doesn't necessarily taste like ginger to me but it kind of the way it feels in

the back of my throat is similar to how like a ginger like you know when you're eating those

like ginger candies I don't know if you've ever gotten them from like an Asian market I used to buy them all the time those do kind of make those same corners of my mouth tingle that way so I

definitely could see why they're getting ginger on that again not as sweet though as I those candies

are it's it's definitely dry kind of through and through it's dry up front mid palate it kind of

lightens up and towards the finish you think it's going to go sweet but it kind of goes back dry

I do like that. It's not necessarily my favorite. I do like when things get a little bit sweeter

But it's definitely a nice, very balanced, well-thought-out bourbon. And I know you guys are probably going to ask, you know, oh, can you taste the different

states distillate in there? Like, can you taste the Kentucky bourbon, the Indiana bourbon, or the Tennessee bourbon

Not necessarily on this one. I can say that I can tell some elements of each of those are there

I think up front, it definitely is more Kentucky-focused mid-palate. It does go a little Tennessee, but of course not as much as Armida, which is I think entirely Tennessee whiskey

This one though, it has some of the drier elements from a Tennessee whiskey

None of the minerality, so don't worry. And in terms of Indiana, it's kind of hard to pick it out

Maybe on the finish, but again, I'm just spitballing here. So really, it's balanced in that aspect and it's balanced in terms of these three different types of oak

It's definitely more oak forward than typical. So when you think of it balanced in that way, not necessarily

It's a little, you know, spiky towards the oak element of it. But if you do like a good oaky bourbon and like a spicy oaky bourbon, I think this is going to be right up your alley

And since this is so oaky and spicy, I think this will do wonderfully over some ice

So I'm going to pour it over ice now. Now on the nose, I've typically not nosed whiskey when I have it over ice

I think, you know, you get the best nosing experience out of a Glencairn

Just neat. I think I've always felt that way. Even, you know, with some water, sure, you can still nose it

But when you have it over ice, I think the temperature change really kind of limits the nose

And that's why I try to encourage people to try it both ways. Because, you know, even though you may prefer the taste of something over ice, you still get the best nose, in my opinion

Just neat and like a tasting glass. I will say it does smell a bit sweeter and toastier on the nose, just in this glass over ice

But yeah, like I said, let's go and give it a taste to really dive in. Cheers. oh wow yeah that definitely calms it down a bit it takes away some of those aggressive oaky notes

up front definitely leans more sweet wow that's so much sweeter with the ice i do think that neat

you know this while the mouthfeel is a bit oily it's not really viscous so i think it was kind of

missing some of that thickness that i've gotten on some other barrel special releases um but on

the ice you know the temperature change does kind of thicken it up a bit um which i think again it makes it more dessert more sweet Oh yeah this makes me want to just sit outside and well not today obviously but on a you know a significantly cooler day but still you know warm sit outside in

a rocking chair sip on this over ice man that makes for a great whiskey now I'm like I want to

try this in old-fashioned because I'm almost getting like some maple syrup notes over ice as well and even though it does mellow out the oak it definitely doesn't you know overwrite it you

still get a lot of those elements to me it really does bring out that that toasty element I'm getting

more of those vanilla, maybe a little marshmallow notes, but instead of marshmallow, it leans more

maple. Now with the ice, it does lose a bit of the finish that was really great about it, neat

but I mean, I think just overall, you know, enjoyment wise, I prefer it over ice, I'll be

honest. So for the first time ever on the podcast, I'm going to give this two scores

one my normal score, which is neat, and then another score on ice. So before I give a final

score to barrel vantage i do want to give a huge shout out to all my patrons including my latest

patron kathy joe from women of whiskeys another great whiskey youtube channel i actually had the

pleasure of meeting her this past week in las vegas she is a ton of fun we went to go see thunder

from down under together it was it was a blast um photos of that will not be leaking um until i get

drunk enough to leak them to you guys we'll see we'll see so now comes the time to rate barrel

Vantage. Again, thank you to Barrel for sending this sample. So y'all always know I give a fair

rating whether I have sent a sample of something or I actually bought it myself. So in the case of

Barrel Vantage, I will give the score to the ROX version first. If you don't know, my rating system

is out of 8 because I love all things 8-bit here. When trying it over ice, Barrel Vantage gets a

7 out of 8. This is a wonderful summertime pour. I just can't wait to enjoy the rest of this bottle

Like I said, once it cools down a little bit, just sitting out on the patio, I think this is

going to hold up so well. Like I said, I think in an old-fashioned even, this would be a really

great bourbon. $80 is a little high for it being a rocks pour. I think that's kind of the reason

that it doesn't get, you know, the ultimate 8 out of 8. I think I would prefer a bit cheaper of a

bourbon to have over ice. So that's the only thing that's knocking it over ice. I think it's really

great. I think that's how I recommend drinking it, actually. So when it comes down to the neat pour

I give Barrel Vantage a 6 out of 8, which is still above average. I do really like this

I think it definitely is for the oak lovers, less of the sweet bourbon drinkers. I think it's spicy

I think it's oaky. And it's a really good bourbon. It just doesn't have the mouthfeel. It doesn't

have the I guess balance in terms of overall experience that I would look for in a neat pour

but like I said over ice it actually does so much better so like I said seven out of eight over ice

six out of eight neat but overall a really great addition to the lineup I can't wait to try it

blind on a flight with the others but always excited to try new barrel releases they've

had some absolute amazing ones spoiler alert seagrass was my number one whiskey of last year

I absolutely love that bottle. So, you know, this could be a contender this year

We'll see how it does blind. You know, if it beats Seagrass, then it's definitely going to be a contender

But, you know, we'll have to wait and see. So I'm going to go enjoy the rest of this pour over ice

But until next time, this has been the Bourbon Bites Podcast. Cheers, and I'll talk to you next episode