Warm caramel | Stewed berries | Amaretto | Maple | Rich oak

Orange rind | Roasted barley | Baking chocolate | Barrel char

Milk chocolate | Amaretto | Rich oak | Lingering rye spice | Savory

2Bar Spirits is located in Seattle, Washington, and was founded by Nathan Kaiser in 2010. The first distillery in Seattle to produce bourbon, Kaiser named the distillery after the family’s 5th generation Kaiser 2BAR ranch in South Texas. Their all-female production team has steadily improved their bourbon over the years, and that is on display with this particular single barrel.

Right from the first sip, Barrel #991 features a taste all its own. It takes what is more muted in their Bottled in Bond Bourbon and ramps everything up, but also turns it on its head. The aroma is quite surprising in its potency and exemplifies its warm caramel, stewed berries, amaretto, maple, and rich oak to incredible results. It doesn’t stop there, as the palate is steeped in orange rind, roasted barley, baking chocolate, and rich barrel char. Not to be outdone, the finish layers on milk chocolate, amaretto, oak, and rye spice, resulting in a satisfying and savory ending.

2Bar bourbons feature a six grain mashbill, with 34% of the malted barley coming from four different barley grains. You’d expect the bourbon to taste overly malty, but that isn’t the case. Some of the overly rich oak is likely the result of being aged in 30 gallon barrels, but how Kings County Distillery has used the smaller barrel size to great effect, 2Bar seems to have done something similar. I can see why the company is calling out this particular single barrel and selling it on their website. It's a true showcase of how far they come and a testament to the new heights that they are now reaching.