Barrell Craft Spirits in Louisville, Kentucky has announced the release of its first-ever Barrell Whiskey American Vatted Malt, a blend of exclusively American single malt whiskeys. The distiller partnered with small and large producers from six different states across the country to select whiskeys that express the full diversity of American terroir and style.
Barrell Craft says this release was years in the making, as many of the components in the blend come from startup distilleries that have never traded or sold bulk whiskey before.
Barrell Craft Spirits Founder Joe Beatrice.
“We’re thrilled to announce the release of our first-ever Barrell Whiskey American Vatted Malt,” says company Founder Joe Beatrice. “We chose the name ‘American Vatted Malt’ as an homage to the old Scottish category of vatted malt, which was once the preferred nomenclature to describe a blended whisky made entirely from single malts. Today, the Scots refer to that style as blended malt, but affection for the term ‘vatted’ lives on. In addition to expanding our ever-growing portfolio of spirits, this new project is an important step in advancing our vision of the next chapter of whiskey in America.”
As an independent blender and bottler of unique aged, cask-strength sourced whiskey and rum spirits, Barrell Craft Spirits is often recognized for its blending expertise. The company selects and blends products that explore different distillation methods, barrels and aging environments, and bottles them at cask strength. Every batch is produced as a limited release and has a distinct flavor profile.
What is a Vatted Whiskey?
Vatted whiskey is produced by mixing a number of whiskies together. Each of the whiskies is a single malt whiskey that may vary in age and barrel type. The whiskey may come from different distilleries. When it comes to an age statement the youngest whiskey determines the labeled age.
Where Did the Single Malts Come From?
While some of the information is available some is not. Some distillers are happy to let the world know that their juice is shared and blended by other distillers while others choose to keep that information close to the vest with non-disclosure agreements.
That said some of the information can be found on the label and some of it can be found on their website. Here’s what we do know about the source of some of the single malts.
What States?
The states go from sea to shining sea.
- Arizona
- Indiana
- New Mexico
- New York
- Texas
- Washington
What Distilleries?
Some of distilleries have asked to remain anonymous but the core group of participants that we know include:
- Balcones Distillery, Waco, Texas
- Hamilton Distillers Del Bac, Tucson, Arizona
- MGP, Lawrenceburg, Indiana
- Harvest Distillery, Valatie, New York
- Santa Fe Distillery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Kings Country Distillery, Brooklyn, New York
How Old is the Single Malt?
The bottle label tells this story. It contains a mix on the young side of 1.5 years up to 8 years with no mention of percentages.
Barrell Whiskey American Vatted Malt is bottled at cask strength of 117.5° proof (58.75% ABV) and has a suggested retail price of $89.99 per 750ml bottle. Barrel House Spirit is sold in 43 states.
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Barrell Craft Spirits Barrell American Vatted Malt Whiskey
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