Review #488 - Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon
Barrell Craft Spirits is known for their premium blends of American and Canadian whisky, especially blends involving exotic finishing casks. While most of their blends are bottled at cask strength, they've more recently started a new series - a core range, bottled at 100 proof, which comes at a more approachable price point.
This Double Barrel version of their Foundation series is the second entry, after the original Foundation bourbon, which didn't use any finishing barrels. Both have 5 year age statements, though Barrell is transparent about the blend - they give us a list of the components online:
8 year Kentucky bourbon
5 year Indiana bourbon
6 year Indiana bourbon
9 year Indiana bourbon
8 year Tennessee bourbon
5 year Maryland bourbon
6 year Maryland bourbon
They also give us an overall derived mashbill, which consists of 73% corn, 23% rye, and 4% malted barley - quite a bit going on, then. This Double Barrel version has a secondary maturation period in another set of new American oak barrels - how will this double-oaked version compare to the original?
Disclaimer: This bottle was provided by Barrell Craft Spirits for review at no cost. All opinions expressed in this review are our own.
Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon
USA - Bourbon
Current Locally Available Price: USD 50 (2025)
Age Statement: 5 Years
Strength: 50% ABV
Cask Makeup: Finished in new American oak barrels
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 1 month; bottles 100%, 70%, and 60% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Starts out bright and citrusy, but soon we get decent oak influence - toasted oak, a bit dusty, just a hint of smoked maple. Toasted marshmallow and banana add creamy notes, while a subtle blackberry and orange add fruit; with time, we get stronger rye influence - rye bread, grain.
Palate: The mouthfeel has a medium thickness. It's quite rounded, creamy, full of toasty flavors - toasted oak, cracker jacks, soft tannins. Cinnamon tea, brown sugar, and toasted almonds combine for more depth; there's a bit of fruit, too, like dried cranberry or a bitter cherry.
Finish: Butterscotch, toasted marshmallow, and warming barbecued oak. This begins to mellow out, leaning slightly sweet, with caramel and vanilla added to the fray. In the aftertaste, we find coffee, chai tea, and banana; it's a medium length finish.
Final Note: This is a very nicely rounded whisky - decent toasty oak influence, but it's never bitter; nice fruit notes, but they aren't too sweet; a wide array of baking spices, which add plenty of interest. The 50% strength is high enough to give this decent complexity and a moderate mouthfeel, but that proof point isn't overwhelmingly hot. Quite cohesive overall - very easy, almost dangerously easy, to sip.
Value is good - we can get this for about $50 in our area now, and it stands up well to the competition at that price point. This doesn't offer quite the same flavor bomb that many of the cask strength Barrell products with exotic finishes do, but this is a nice rounded bourbon for a more approachable price point.
Our Average Rating: 7.0 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 7.60
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
