We had an incredible time recently at Nashville Barrel Company. With so many newer brands coming into the market each year it can be easy to look at whatever might be flashy or new, but NBC really does continue to put out some of the best products of any NDP we have here at Seelbach's.\xa0
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We tasted through 42 barrels in total\xa0 - older MGP bourbons, older MGP rye, Kelvin MGP bourbons, Kevin Tennessee bourbons, a myriad of Kentucky Bourbons, and even Canadian Whiskey. In the end, we picked 11 barrels that really do run the gamut when it comes to flavor profiles in whiskey. We decided to break them down into 4 release, with the first being today's Summer BBQ release.
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This grouping includes our first Tennessee Bourbon from NBC, a 5-year Kelvin barrel that starts all sorts of savory but with a toasty, sweet finish. The second is an 11-year Kentucky Bourbon that starts savory and smoky as well, but in the end reveals a ton of sweetness and lasting oak. (If you put this in a purple top, you could sell them all day at 600 a pop) Lastly, we have a beautiful hickory syrup finished 8-year 21% MGP, made locally to NBC using shag bark of the shagbark hickory trees. The result is slightly smoky and earthy in-and-of itself, but combine that with the 21% bourbon and it just might be my favorite syrup finished bourbon I've ever had.\xa0
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A beautiful off-profile barrel. Plenty of smoked vanilla, leather, and candied bacon jam on the nose here. Underneath that, dark raspberry jam and perfumed oak.
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The palate leads with savory bacon jam, but continues with smoked caramels and vanillas. While fruit isn’t the focus, raspberry and dark cherry do lay low in the foundation of the sips much like on the nose. Continued sips draw out well seasoned oak, and a slight bit of herbal vanilla.\xa0
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The finish carries toasted marshmallows and chocolate, long lasting and continually bouncing between savory and sweet. If you manage to give amp time between your sips, you are rewarded with a long linger of dried oak, \xa0sweet cream puff, and remnants of those more savory notes as an after thought.\xa0
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The nose is a smorgasbord of creamy, sweet sugars, a plethora of ripe fruits, and beautifully buried oak. Raspberry, strawberry, grape jelly, cantaloupe melon, honeydew, fresh honey, maple syrup, vanilla extract. You could honestly pull up a flavor wheel and throw a dart and it’s probably here on the nose. All that, and still grounded with a subtly smoky, earthy, yet sugary antique oak.
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Make no mistake, this is a sweet-forward pour. The palate is as refreshing and is it voluptuous in creaminess. Almost like a pudding in texture, theres plenty of honey dipped melon notes, watermelon candy even seems to slide in, with beautiful, syrupy finishing. While giving all sorts of fruits and sugars, theres still this really nice 21% rye presence hitting against each sip to give structure. All the while, a beautiful kiss of chocolate and oak hold it all in place.\xa0
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The finish, while sweet and syrupy, revisits some of the slightly smoky and earthiness notes first noticed on the nose. Longer linger gives a touch more focus to the age of the whiskey, but don’t expect it to be the main focus. \xa0This truly is a rollercoaster of flavor, and one that I want to use my express pass to ride over and over and over.\xa0
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The nose is all sorts of perfumed oak and spices. Slightly bit of mesquite at first, there’s also some beautiful caramel, honey, even grape candy notes before a lovely presence of oak.\xa0
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The palate begins with a kiss of deep smokiness itself, but after a short time grows thicker, slower, with more pronounced yet elegant spices and plenty of antique oak. Continued sips grow a silky caramel, but never forgetting these beautiful oak notes that really make you slow down and take notice.\xa0
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The finish returns to a flip of drying tobacco and smokiness before long lasting drying oak. The whole sipping experience gives elevated, LE-type profile. I’m not ashamed to admit this is one of my favorite barrels in some time.\xa0
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