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: CJS Beverage Corp.

Distillery: MGP Ingredients, Inc.

Age: 8 Years

Proof: 116

Mashbill: 75% Corn, 20.5% Rye, 4.5% Malted Barley

Yield: 184 Bottles

Release Date: December 2023

Anyone that’s into whiskey knows, as it ages in a barrel, it changes over time. Outside the relatively few who are part of the process of making it, not many whiskey drinkers get to taste this ongoing metamorphosis. Most notably, Orphan Barrel attempted to capture this with Rhetoric, a bourbon that was continually aged and released each year that attempted to showcase how a whiskey changes over time. The main issue with this endeavor was the inaugural release was already a 20 year old bourbon. At that point the majority of the whiskey’s most drastic changes had already taken place. Rhetoric was already heavily oaked at 20 years and at 25 years old (the final release in the series), didn’t leave it very much room to change.

Now that we’re approaching 10 years old, these barrels are really starting to find deeper, more oak-driven flavor profiles. All of the barrels we tasted had similar undertones, but one in particular offered a delicious brown sugar and caramel base that set the stage for a more developed pour. On the nose accents of butterscotch and light mint over brown sugar make for a fragrant introduction. It shifts towards caramel on the palate, with barrel-driven flavors of dry leather, aged oak, and slight earthy and mint accents on the backend. A slurry of baking spices washes over the start of the finish, with nutmeg, black peppery spice, caramel, and butterscotch in complement. It leaves behind a gentle lingering heat.

Much like our Pinhook Rye Vertical Series club picks, we’re lucky enough to be one of only a handful of groups who will be able to follow this series from start to finish by picking a new barrel in the series over 8 years. In typical fashion, we went all out with our Single Barrel Club sticker for this special set of releases. With each Pinhook release featuring a different horse, we ran with that idea and created an 8-part sticker series that, when combined, creates a beautiful panoramic picture of galloping horses. We’re really excited about this latest single barrel release and we hope you will be too.

Tasting Notes:

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Nose: Brown sugar undertone | Butterscotch | Light mint | Sweet | Fragrant‍

Palate: Caramel foundation | Dry leather | Aged oak | Earthy accent | Light mint‍

Finish: Baking spices | Nutmeg | Caramel | Butterscotch | Black peppery spice | Gentle lingering heat


About Seelbach’s

‍For this pick, we partnered with spirits retailer 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.

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!