Breaking Bourbon Award Winning Single Barrel Club picks are selected by Breaking Bourbon, and whenever possible with the help of Patreon supporters. The bottles are made available to Patreon supporters first by pledge tier. If any bottles remain after all supporters have had an opportunity to purchase, they are made available to the public on a first come, first served basis. Each barrel is sponsored by a retailer partner, who sells the bottles directly to end purchasers.

‍Retailer Partner: Mash&Grape

‍Bourbon Name: Barrell Bourbon

‍Company: Barrell Craft Spirits

‍Distillery: Undisclosed distillery in Tennessee

‍Age: 14 Years

‍Proof: 101

‍Mashbill: Undisclosed

‍Yield: 113 Bottles (SOLD OUT)

‍Release Date: October 2018

This is the Single Barrel Club’s inaugural pick, so we called up the founder of one of our favorite growing bourbon brands, Barrell Craft Spirits’ Joe Beatrice to see if he had some barrels for us to choose from. After locating some great options, we were finally ready to begin.

We chose to partner with Mash&Grape out of New York for this particular pick. Adi Pal, the company’s owner, shares our vision for an increasingly connected world of bourbon enthusiasts. Mash&Grape ships to most U.S. states, an important consideration when trying to make this pick available to as many people as possible. Moreover, since we regularly shop at Mash&Grape, we were happy to partner with a retailer who has served us well over the years.

For this pick we were joined by Dan Melko, a long time Patreon supporter from Chicago. Incidentally, all three of us Breaking Bourbon guys were in the same place at the same time, so we sat for a video chat tasting early on a Sunday afternoon in July.

Each of the barrel samples provided was 14 year Tennessee bourbon, ranging in proof from 101 – 113. We tasted them blind in the sense that no one knew which sample was which proof until after we made our choice. We didn’t fully agree on the extent to which we liked or disliked each sample, but we did agree unanimously on one thing – the nose on the first sample was absolutely incredible. Each sample had different traits, and ultimately, as we eliminated samples by majority sample 1 reigned supreme as the one that we’d bottle. It also turned out to be the lowest proof of the three, a surprise considering bourbon drinkers are often drawn to higher proof options.

Because of its incredible aroma, we lovingly dubbed this barrel pick the “Scent Monster.”

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Distillers, Producers, and Retailers: If you would like to be a part of this program and get your name in front of millions of bourbon enthusiasts, contact us.

‍Please note these bottles will not be sold by Breaking Bourbon, but will be sold by retailers we partner with in order to fulfill the orders and ship the bottles directly to Patreon supporters. Breaking Bourbon will receive no compensation from our partner retailers under these agreements (with the exception of a bottle from each barrel for editorial purposes). If you represent a retailer and ship to consumers and you’re interested in partnering just let us know!