Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label Dovetail (2022 Release)

Barrel has been releasing top notch bourbons and their craft has only been improving their craft. The standard Dovetail is quite good. Seagrass is funky joy ride. I have heard good things about Gray but I have not had the good fortune to experience for myself, until now. N: Initial nosing immediately after pouring is a heavy dose of ethanol. This definitely needs time to breathe. After about fifteen minutes it begins to reveal itself. Fruity peach, strawberry and fresh orange mulled together. But what brings this forward are the baking spices mingled with the fruity nose. Nutmeg and cinnamon. Deep down, traces of sweet grapes, toffee and chocolate coffee round the nose. These aromas due take a fair length of time to come out. About forty minutes of breathing and nosing ot took to discern the aromas. P: The arrival is anesthetic, creamy and sweet. Milk chocolate, more on the creamy sweet side, coats the palate. Chewing on it exposes dark roasted coffee, black cherries, butterscotch. Sweet and earthy. Surprisngly sparse in unique flavors given the nose had more. At least what I could detect. W: With a good touch of water the nose blooms with sugar sweetness of cotton candy and caramel apples. With the added water, the sugary attributes also carry on the palate. The grape notes are amplified but the earthy notes do become muted. F: The finish is pins and needles, Concord grapes, black and white pepper, and chocolate that seems to last indefinitely. Oaky tannins near the end of the long finish tie this up with a bow. A nice, long journey. O: The dram is simply complex. The aromas and flavors are accessible, rich and authentic. All this discerning does take time and patience which makes this a great time escaping pour. Sipping this with haste will minimize the full experience. The contained amount of aromas and flavors, though rich, restrains this dram from greatness. A immensely enjoyable pour. Thank you @PBMichiganWolverine for a generous sample. [90/100][Tasted: 11/4/23]

Barrell might be the king of American blending. What surprises me is why did it take so long for us Americans to blend whiskey? Scots have been doing it for ages. Japanese have been as well. It’s not like we didn’t have plenty of producers, from KY to TN to CA, and now even TX and NY. We might have been late to the game, but we catch up real quick. And these folks at Barrell might be the best in American blending. This one here is there ultra premium grey label ( which was $250, but recently cut in half to $125ish). It’s an older version of their regular Dovetail, so a blend of Whiskey finished in rum, port and Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Barrels. I believe the age is 20yr, which is quite on the upper end for its three regional components ( KY, TN, and Canada ). Nose is sweet. Grapes, jam, strawberries. Palette : dry leather, oak, sweet jam and maple. With water, it really takes away the complexity. I’m getting astringent oak, and some barrel spices. Have this without water. Okay, so this is good. But, I actually prefer the regular Dovetail. It was a bit more rugged, which I think worked well with the wine sweetness. This older version has more elegance and silky texture, but I feel as it is a tad too sweet for me. Your mileage may vary depending on your sweet tooth…for me, this was more than I prefer.

The nose is quite pleasant. It's got some heat, but not as much as you'd expect for the proof. Caramel, apricot, berry. The palate is brown sugar, pineapple custard, coconut, strawberry jam, with some cinnamon and tobacco leaf going into the finish. I had a small sip of this blinded sample a couple months ago and wasn't prepared for the heat. It had me coughing and burning, and hesitant to come back to this for a while. But after preparing my palate with a small dram before this, I'm rather pleased and really glad now that it came in a larger-than-normal medicine bottle-looking sample from @PBMichiganWolverine - thank you for sharing so generously! Really fun whiskey once you're prepared for the heat, or even better, add a little water. I finished the sample with some water, and it really opened up quite nicely - seemed to bring out more of the red wine notes for me.

This was the first whisk(e)y I’ve had from Barrel Craft Spirits, and it didn’t disappoint. There was a lot to chew on in this dram with plenty to enjoy including layers of spun sugar, caramel, oakiness, and a lovely composed edge. It truly was delicious; however, the cost to value of such a bottle just seems disproportionate. A single dram of this is as much as some bottles I thoroughly enjoy, and while I love an adventure and this was very fun, the product simply doesn’t merit such a cost.

Very strong whiskey, both in flavor and alcohol. For my taste, it's just too strong alcohol wise. Had to ice down for 15 minutes just to enjoy. Unfortunately, this watered down flavor too much. That being said, it was still ok at that point. Point of my review: don't buy if you don't like super strong whiskey! I had to try though... 😂

The nose is light, can't place the aroma. Maybe congac? The flavor definitely has some congac sweetness to it but so much else. Layers and layers of flavor that open up into the tail. My palate isn't good enough to pick out all that's in here but it's absolutely fantastic. I could drink this forever.