Honeycomb | Floral | Sweet dough | Raspberry | Whipped cream | Sweet corn | Pleasant

Burnt sugar | Agave | Toast | Earthy smoke | Touch of ginger

Caramel | Peppery spice | Earthy smoke | Light cantaloupe

Broken Barrel Whiskey Co. gets its name from the company’s use of barrel staves to finish each of their releases. The percentage of various staves used is what the company dubs their “Oak Bill,” and it’s featured just as prominently on their label as the whiskey’s mashbill.

For their latest limited release, they’re working off of their 2022 release of Honey Smoke Rye. This time though, they switched out the rye for a 99% corn, 1% malted barley American whiskey. The Oak Bill consists of 50% honey barrel staves and Texas Sotol barrel staves. By design, this successfully gives the whiskey a sweet and smoky contrasting element to it.

The nose opens with a potent honeycomb scent that is steeped in floral and sweet dough notes. A brisk raspberry and whipped cream scent flows in before being replaced with dominating sweet corn. The palate begins with burnt sugar and agave notes before toast and earthy smoke roll in. The smoke is very tempered and almost tastes held back in a way. This isn’t a campfire in your mouth, but more like a campfire you can smell burning a mile away and are tasting hints of it. Because of this, the sip is quite effective, as it doesn’t beat you over the head with what it's trying to say. The finish ramps up the caramel sweetness before a rush of peppery spice rolls in. Some lingering earthy smoke continues to linger before a minor but welcome cantaloupe note pops in.

Broken Barrel Honey Smoke Reserva American Whiskey joins Broken Barrel Whiskey Co.’s other memorable releases after Broken Barrel Americana and Broken Barrel x Los Angeles Distillery Collaboration, and showcases their ability to fine-tune their barrel stave finishing technique.