Blackwood Single Barrel Bourbon For BAXUS

A single barrel expression of bourbon whiskey sourced by Blackwood Distilling Co in Lexington, Kentucky that was hand selected by the BAXUS team. After meeting the Blackwood team at their Lexington location, the BAXUS panel assessed a wide range of bourbon samples straight from the cask. Zach and Guinness, the masterminds behind the Blackwood project source their bourbon from a Kentucky distillery and then finish the whiskey in toasted American oak barrels. The team tried almost a dozen samples, each offering a different flavour profile, vintage or style of toasted barrel finishing. We settled on barrel #7, a 120 proof bourbon that exemplified everything we love about the chewy marshmallow goodness that toasted barrels impart. We're exceptionally proud of this pick and the Blackwood team are committed to sourcing only the tastiest spirits available. This is a genuine single barrel offering as this cask was dumped and refilled into a secondary toasted barrel without the liquid being topped up from another barrel. Thus, this has remained a true single barrel its entire life and as a consequence has yielded just 150 bottles total. The bourbon used for their blends were distilled in 2017 and a minimum of 8 years old, sourced from a large Kentucky producer. This 8 year old whiskey is then finished in secondary barrels from Kelvin Cooperage. These are custom made to Blackwood's specifications. They use a trio of barrels, one medium toast barrel with no char plus a char 2 and char 4 with medium toast heads. The Single Barrels tend to be from Medium Toast or Char 4 barrels. The batches are Medium Toast and Char 4 heavy with a touch of Char 2 added. The barrels are only used once by use before sending back to Kelvin. The batch used for our BAXUS single barrel was re-barreled in November 2024. Then left to finish anywhere from 9 weeks to 3-4 months. Barrels are tasted frequently to identify when the toasted finish has reached its peak.