Bulleit Nicholas Single Barrel Reserve #1 Bourbon

I’ve been trying to snag a single barrel of Bulleit for the last few years. But with their new distillery under construction, landing a barrel pick up until recently has pretty much been an impossible talk.

You know the moment they opened up I was angling to get in first. Their new place is insane. Bulleit must have been making a fortune over the last few years to afford this place. I’m telling you a tour of this place is 100% necessary if you’re ever down in Kentucky. (I included some shots from my trip on the product page, check em’ out.)

Bulleit uses multiple mash bills & yeast strains (pictured in the gallery) that they blend together to make their bourbons. I was lucky enough to get to taste through the entire lot of them blind & then pull my top five barrels to pick from.

Crazy thing is all 5 barrels were yeast strain 4 & Mashbill E. What can I say, I like what I like. Mashbill E consists of 75% Corn, 21% Rye, 4% Malted Barley. They use yeast strain 4 to add a leathery spice characteristic to the blend & Mashbill E to give a sweetness. To me it makes for the absolute perfect single barrel. This single-barrel beauty is 7 years old & was bottled at 104 Proof. On the nose I got fresh cut oak, vanilla & brown butter. On the palate, freshly baked banana bread, burnt orange creme brulee & graham cracker.