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: Seelbach’s

Classification: Straight Bourbon

Company: Black Button Distilling

Distillery: Black Button Distilling

Age: 4 Years

Proof: 94

Mashbill: 60% Corn, 20% Wheat, 11% Malted Barley, 9% Rye

Yield: 120 Bottles

Release Date: November 2021

Single Barrel Club Rollout Schedule

In combination with SBC #49 Pinhook Bourbon Vertical Series “Blaze Year 2”

$25 - Wednesday 11/10/2021 @ 2PM ET

$14 - Friday 11/12/2021 @ 2PM ET

$7 - Monday 11/15/2021 @ 2PM ET

$3, $2, $1 - Wednesday 11/17/2021 @ 2PM ET

For this pick we partnered with Seelbach’s, which was founded by Blake Riber, also the creator of Bourbonr and the Bourbonr Facebook group. An online-only retailer with a twist, we interviewed Riber to discuss how he’s running his shop differently than everyone else. “Unlocking Craft Spirits” he calls it - seeking out up-and-coming craft distilleries and learning about their process and tasting through their products to find hidden gems. Black Button Distilling is certainly an up-and-coming craft distillery that should be on everyone’s short list.

Unlike a traditional single barrel pick, this bourbon is instead a custom private blend. This is a new approach that a few (not many) distillers and producers are attempting in order to engage bourbon enthusiasts on a deeper level than simply selecting a single barrel or pre-made blend. This marks the fourth custom blend we’ve curated for the Single Barrel Club, but with it comes nuances specific to Black Button Distilling’s unique approach, which you can read more about in the company’s press release.

First and foremost, we crafted our blend on site. This allowed us the chance to work through blends with Black Button Distilling’s founder and master distiller Jason Barrett, along with other members of the Black Button Distilling’s team. The Black Button Distilling blending process starts with four base blends, each focusing on a specific flavor characteristic. The blends are called “Spice,” “Sweet,” “Oak,” and finally the aptly named “Base” blend. The names are pretty self explanatory, and even the Base blend is what you think it would be, not pushing the flavor in any particular direction but instead offering a blending component that provides a base structure complementing (and allowing) the other blending components to shine.

We started by tasting each component individually without knowing which was which. Despite some similarities, we were able to identify them fairly easily, a testament to Black Button Distilling’s capability to blend to those specific flavor profiles. From there, we hit broad strokes. Big shifts in one direction or another to get a sense of how the different components interacted with one another.

We had an intention to use all components, and believed each offered something different, so we didn’t try to blend any single component out. Instead, we focused on a particular direction, and then worked the percentages with increasingly smaller tweaks from there. A few times we moved a bit too far in one direction, so we would correct the course and readjust from there. Our end goal was simple - just blend a bourbon that we thought tasted the best given the components we had. After what was probably way too many blends (keep in mind you need to spit the bourbon out for these sessions, you cannot possibly drink that much), we landed on our favorite.

Spice - 21.5%

Base - 17.5%

Oak - 35%

Sweet - 26%

From the percentages we selected, you can see how specific we got with it to zero in on our favorite mix. Surprisingly, small tweaks in one direction or another (when one or more blend percentages go up, one or more percentages have to go down), had a much more significant impact than we had expected. This exercise further solidified our hands on knowledge of how difficult, and how rewarding, blending can be.

While talking with the Black Button Distilling folks, they mentioned a beast of blend they had put together at one time, which they called “Frankenbrew.” It seemed like a perfect fit for a nickname for this project and a sticker concept given the nature of bringing so many bourbons together, and everyone immediately agreed.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Malty | Pie crust | Apricot | Lively with a dollop of rye spice

‍Palate: Caramel | Cinnamon bun | Seasoned oak | Light tobacco | Viscous mouthfeel | Chewy

‍Finish: Oak crescendo | Vanilla | Caramel | Rye spice layers in and holds | Medium length

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!