Review: Barrell Rye Private Release from The Podcaster Yak Attack

Media mavens are increasingly getting into the private whiskey release biz, but this release is one of the most ambitious we’ve seen to date. Two podcasters — the Whiskey Ring Podcast and This is My Bourbon Podcast — collaborated on a single private barrel of Barrell Craft Spirits Rye which was finished in an Armagnac cask.

The resulting whiskey (a typical Barrell blend of MGP and Canadian stock) is called The Podcaster Yak Attack. We get it. We tried it. Thoughts follow.

The nose doesn’t let on much about the Armagnac casking; this is a bold, aggressive rye that is bursting with traditionally grain-forward elements, spicy, peppery, and rich with herbs. There is however a butterscotch quality that tempers the herbal heat with some sweetness, plus a steady undertone of char.

More sweetness emerges on the palate, perhaps the brandy cask showing its face more clearly. Still, the major push forward is biting, peppery rye grain, very bready at times. With time in glass and perhaps some water, more curiosities come into focus — banana, nutmeg, and some citrus peel, followed by a bracing, unexpected menthol note. The finish is weighty but clean, offering a somewhat rustic quality that evokes both the western frontier alongside the hardscrabble funk that you can only get with Armagnac.

120.14 proof.

B+ / $100 / whiskeyinmyweddingring.com

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