Apricot | Apple | White grape | Crème brûlée | Toasted oak

Vanilla cream | Honey | Toasted marshmallow | Toffee

Cocoa powder | Toasted oak | Green grapes | Browned butter | Cinnamon spice

Barrell Craft Spirits continues to expand their Black Label Series, which are limited releases with smaller batch sizes, allowing the company to do more experimentation. The three releases in 2025 - Decades, Triple Rum Cask Finish, and Toasted Dovetail - have all had a similar tasting base whiskey component: corn or light whiskey (depending on the distillery they were sourced from). This has given each of the whiskeys a noticeable sweet composition, which allows the finishing aspect to play off of rather than fight against.

The standard Barrell Dovetail, along with the Gray and Gold Label editions, are flavorful affairs with three very different finishing barrels blended into one whiskey. Barrell Toasted Dovetail has more in common tasting-wise with the Gray and Gold Label releases, except with the added toasted finish. This addition gives the whiskey an extra layer of soft oak and cinnamon notes. Barrell Toasted Dovetail also pulls back on some of the standard edition's boldness, resulting in a more tempered and sophisticated sip. Its toasted finish keeps from adding an unwanted bitter note that can sometimes creep into toasted finished whiskeys.

Overall, the flavor profile works in conjunction with an even flow rather than sudden jumps in flavor. The aroma’s apricot, apple, white grape, crème brûlée, and toasted oak can all be sensed throughout the rest of the sip, but an array of vanilla cream, honey, marshmallow, toffee, cocoa powder, and green grapes helps expand the flavor profile as it goes. Though the whiskey is quite sweet, and some of the standard Dovetail intensity is pulled back, it's hard to argue against what it achieves in the end. Barrell Toasted Dovetail is a thoroughly enjoyable sip that continues Barrell’s Black Label Series’ commitment to one-of-a-kind whiskeys.