Review: DynaBarr Smiling Oak Whiskeys, Complete Lineup

Earlier this year at the Texas Whiskey Festival I encountered a collection of whiskeys bottled under the Smiling Oak label. The curious thing was that they measured their age in weeks, not years — but they tasted surprisingly good.

The man behind the madness is Joe Pelati, a former petrochemical scientist in Houston, who two years ago took a vacation to Kentucky to learn about how whiskey was made, only to be horrified by the “wasteful and unpredictable” nature of the traditional rickhouse aging process. As a result, he did a lot of experimenting on his patio to deconstruct the aging process and come up with a new way of doing the job, one which would result in ready-to-drink whiskey in no time flat.

DynaBarr sources all its whiskey from Giant Texas Distillers just down the road, including two a 90% corn spirit, delivered as new make, and an 85% rye, which comes already in barrel. Both of these are placed into neutral barrels and treated with Pelati’s accelerated aging system until they’re ready to hit the bottle. That system involves purchasing old whiskey barrels, deconstructing them, stripping off the old char, and re-flaming them using a proprietary system. The staves are then essentially cut up and dropped into those neutral barrels, where the magic happens in just a few weeks.

Pelati says that his system provides very consistent and very reproduceable results, helping him avoid the single barrel roulette wheel that invariably leads to some amazing barrels and plenty of junky ones that have to be used in blends across Bourbon Country.

You can find these whiskeys on the dynabarr.net website or in a handful of stores across Texas (especially Total Wines in Dallas/Fort Worth).

Let’s dig into the four expressions DynaBarr is currently offering.

DynaBarr Smiling Oak Whiskey Review

Made from the corn-heavy mashbill, aged with DynaBarr’s custom oak treatment for 3 weeks. Soft but youthful, with a slightly charry Texasness that perks up the nose, evoking a mix of mesquite and menthol. The palate is quite innocuous and lightly sweet with notes of almond syrup and a hint of plum. Light notes of cinnamon would evoke a bread pudding character if the whiskey had more overt sweetness to it. Pleasant but unchallenging, it comes across a lot like a light whiskey, but with a heavier corn focus. 86 proof. B+ / $51

DynaBarr Smiling Oak Paddy O’Barrel Review

A play on “patio barrel,” this is the same distillate as standard Smiling Oak, but it is aged using leftover wood from Smiling Oak firing sessions which are then processed again — so it’s double-charred wood. Aged 2 weeks. Similar overtones as the above, but with a stronger nuttiness throughout that’s noticeable: The almond here is more forceful and roasted in character, though the whiskey is still plenty sweet. Secondary notes of green grass and a smear of tar add a savory edge, with mushroomy toasted corn lingering on the finish. Similar to Smiling Oak but considerably more austere. 85 proof. B+ / $37

DynaBarr Smiling Oak Texas Rye Whiskey Review

Giant’s rye spends about a year in cask before DynaBarr gets it and puts it through its process. Total aging on this barrel is 55 weeks. This is a vastly different whiskey that, indeed, smells and tastes like young rye. The mashbill does the heavy lifting on this one, outweighing the impact of the accelerated aging, giving the nose a bold grassiness and a one-two punch of pepper and baking spice. The impact of the aging is more evident on the palate, which features torched barrel char notes, some coconut, more of that signature almond, and a hint of lingering chocolate notes. The boldly herbal punch of all that rye however pushes through all of that to remain the focus for the duration. 90 proof. B / $35

DynaBarr Smiling Oak Special Reserve Review

Slightly mysterious, the Special Reserve release is made with extra-flamed wood and a combination of different aging techniques, all blended together and bottled at a higher proof. 2 weeks aged. This is the whiskey you want to check out, as it acquits itself the most closely to a standard bourbon and wholly masks the fact that it was aged in just 14 days. Quieter on the nose, with elements of vanilla melding with caramel corn and dark chocolate, the palate offers a no-nonsense blend of rich caramel, gingerbread, baked apples, and chocolate sauce. The extra abv gives the body a sleek silkiness, leading to a finish that blends tobacco, shiso leaf, and more spice. Try it out for yourself and you’ll see what I mean. 106 proof. A- / $59

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