Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label 19 Year Old Seagrass Rye Whiskey
Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label 19 Year Old Seagrass Rye Whiskey is a 128.3-proof (64.15% ABV), 750mL cask strength rye — two groups of 19-year-old 100% Canadian rye barrels, one bright with citrus and green apple, the other earthy with spearmint, separately finished in apricot brandy casks, Martinique rhum barrels and Malmsey Madeira barrels, then slowly married, matured in Canada and the US, and crafted and bottled in Kentucky. Whisky Advocate rated it 91 points. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor, San Diego, CA.
Seagrass is Barrell's love letter to maritime rye. The Gray Label edition takes the standard Seagrass recipe — rye finished in rhum, Madeira and apricot brandy — and stretches it to 19 years, an age almost never seen on Canadian rye. Each finished group was pulled the moment its secondary flavors peaked, then married so the grassy rye, the oxidative Madeira nuttiness and the apricot brightness arrive in layers rather than all at once.
Tasting profile: rich golden straw; a savory nose of caraway, fenugreek, dill and mustard seed, rye toast, grilled cornbread and roasted taro, grassy cucumber peel and black olive from the rhum agricole barrels, cigar tobacco, coffee and cinnamon; an extremely oily palate of peanut and coconut oils, cocoa butter, bright lemonade, grapefruit peel, verjus and gravel; a finish bursting with passionfruit, mirabelle plum and banana peel over chalk dust, flint and cedar smoke — the maritime minerality that gives Seagrass its name. Browse the Barrell Craft Spirits brand collection, more rye whiskey, and the full whiskey collection at Del Mesa Liquor.
Serving note: neat, slowly — at 128.3 proof, a few drops of spring water reveal the softer fruit and coastal notes.
Why is it called Seagrass? For the maritime, mineral character the aged rhum agricole barrels and long maturation give the rye.
What casks finished it? Apricot brandy casks, Martinique rhum barrels, and Malmsey Madeira barrels, applied to separate barrel groups and then married.
Where was it made? Distilled in Canada, matured in Canada and the US, blended and bottled by Barrell Craft Spirits in Kentucky.
What is the ABV? 64.15% ABV (128.3 proof) cask strength, 750mL.