Benchmark Single Barrel

[bunghole]

So, here's the $64,000 question: Does anybody here have empirical knowledge of any "single-barrel" bourbon out there which contents is NOT from a single barrel?

I agree with Tim.

I'd have to see either video or a series of stills from someone I trust to believe otherwise. Or the master distiller's say so.

ima

[gillmang]

Here's an idea: Single Field Bourbon, in which the corn, rye and barley malt were harvested from one field each. It doesn't need to be single barrel, as long as a batch is made from barrels each entered with whiskey distilled from one patch of grain for each grain type used. I'd buy that because you would get a certain unity of grain effect that way, and also, the earliest whiskies made on farms would have been made that way.

Gary

[BourbonBalls]

Whoops! I think we just tipped over into absurdity!

[bunghole]

I say yes simply because "single barrel" has no legal meaning and, therefore, it can mean whatever the producer wants it to mean. There is no "single barrel authority" to stop them from calling anything "single barrel." Truth in advertising laws only cover outright falsehood and leave a wide berth for "fluffery."

All true enough. Blanton's was the first successfuly marketed single barrel, and from their box states "The Finest Bourbon In The World Comes From A Single Barrel. And it is never blended with whiskey from any other barrel."

While not a legal deffinition, it does set the standard. We do expect any bottling that states on it's label that it is a single barrel to be exactly that. To be otherwise would surely ruin a distillery's reputation, and might garner them a class action law suit from angry consumers.

ima

[bourbonv]

I agree that most single barrels follow the concept of all the whiskey from a single barrel. I did a review of the Eagle Rare 10 yo from a bottle that was given to me by the distillery and it is better than any I ever drank at d Marie's. There should be some difference in taste with single barrels, even if it is a small difference, because every barrel is unique. There is one single barrel (I am not naming names) that does seem to taste the same, bottle after bottle, with no unique flavor tones and that makes me wonder if they might have decided to define single barrel their own way. I could be wrong and they just have a lot of barrels that are the same everytime, but I have to wonder. As Chuck says, there is no legal definition of "Single Barrel".

Mike Veach

[bunghole]

Well Mike ima not a mind reader, but to me the most consistant single barrel is Blanton's! I think that it is the product of the magic of warehouse 'H'. The Blanton's flavor profile is just the one this warehouse produces the most of, and most relieably. Not only that, but Blanton's most likely tastes just like Col. Albert B. Blanton's private stock as the mashbill is the same. Hell the still may even be the same. The fermenter's certainly are.

Don't be so pessimistic. Question Authority - Not Blanton's!

ima

[bunghole]

Here's an idea: Single Field Bourbon, in which the corn, rye and barley malt were harvested from one field each. It doesn't need to be single barrel, as long as a batch is made from barrels each entered with whiskey distilled from one patch of grain for each grain type used. I'd buy that because you would get a certain unity of grain effect that way, and also, the earliest whiskies made on farms would have been made that way.

Gary

Hey Gary! Don't forget about "single tree" barrels!

[bunghole]

Whoops! I think we just tipped over into absurdity!

"just"

ima

[BourbonBalls]

well, at least by law we know that all bourbon is "Single-barrel, barrels". Only used a single time!

[jbohan]

Possibly Julian or any other true insider on this site can weigh in on this discussion. Or Mike Veach could send a request to all distilleries on behalf of all the regisetered users of bourbonenthusiast.com asking them to tell us what they mean by single barrel. We can speculate all day long, but why not see if we can get the industry to tell us what they really do.

[gillmang]

As to those skeptical of the concept of single field bourbon, I won't take the easy way out and say I meant it tongue in cheek.

I don't see the idea of single field as any more absurd than the idea of single barrel, or, for that matter, single tree (good catch there, Lynn). Why does it sound absurd, because it is different?

Had someone suggested single barrel as a marketing concept in 1970 I'll wager some people would have said it was absurd...

Anchor Brewery has occasionally released a beer made from barley harvested from one trip to its fields in the north of California. This was mentioned laudably in Michael Jackson's segment on Anchor in his acclaimed video on breweries, Beerhunter.

Fritz Maytag's ideas aren't absurd, evidently, since he's made them pay big time in brewing. I don't claim none of mine aren't, but this isn't one of them.

Gary

[bunghole]

Gary, I hear what you are saying. We would just call that "single farm" whiskey. In the great tradition of farmer-distillers they would distil their crops ("single farm") in small pot-stills. Yes their barrels might very well have been "single tree". The product of the farmer-distiller's labor & skill would be sold by the barrel. A single barrel. Sure someone might buy or barter for several barrels, but they would all be several 'single barrels'.

Shit! I need to copywrite this straight away! Someone will come out with "single tree" barrels tomorrow! Chuck! Help!

imasmarterthantheaveragebunghole

[gillmang]

You got it.

Single Farm, Single Tree, I like those. Who knows what might fly in the bourbon world?

Gary

[BourbonBalls]

Well guys...we could only hope for a "single best bourbon".....not possible, but we'll all gladly continue the quest!

[bourbonv]

Linn,
I agree that Blanton's is pretty consistant, but I have had it the Whisky Magazine tastings, and it is even better than most bottles off the shelf. The bottles off the shelf do vary some in my experience.

Mike Veach