Table Of Contents
The Details
| Rating | 92 |
| Style |
Bourbon American Whiskey Whiskey |
| Produced In |
Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Maryland United States |
| ABV | 50% |
| Availability | Year Round |
| Price | $55.00 |
| Reviewed By | |
| Reviewed | 2025-02-18 |
Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon Review
Since 2013, Louisville-based Barrell Craft Spirits has released a wide variety of blends, single barrels, and finished whiskeys. Perhaps most famous for innovative (and evocative) concoctions like Seagrass and Vantage, it’s a company that never shies away from additional cask aging.
Barrell’s latest nationwide offering is reflective of that mentality. Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon builds on the original Barrell Foundation release, this time finishing the blend in a second new oak barrel. Notably, Barrell’s Foundation line is also the company’s first series to be bottled lower than cask strength, a step the company took after nearly 11 years of purely uncut offerings.
Like many Barrell bourbons, this expression is a blend of whiskey across a variety of ages and states of origin.
- 8-year Kentucky bourbon
- 5-, 6-, and 9-year Indiana bourbon
- 8-year Tennessee bourbon
- 5- and 6-year Maryland bourbon
The derived mash bill is 73 percent corn, 23 percent rye, and 4 percent malted barley. Like its predecessor in the Foundation series, this is bottled at 100 proof. As with all its releases, Barrell has not disclosed the exact proportions of the blend.
Barrell Craft Spirits markets the Foundation series as whiskeys equally suitable neat and in cocktails. Today, we’re trying this double barreled version on its own. Let’s dive in!
Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon: Stats and Availability
Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon carries a suggested retail price of $54.99 per 750-milliliter bottle, which is around what the original Foundation Bourbon retails for. It’s available in 49 U.S. states in addition to Australia, Canada, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
This release will likely be widely available in physical retail and online, so don’t expect to see it go for much more than MSRP.
Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon Review
As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.
Nose
There’s pronounced oak to kick off the nose; anything else would almost be a letdown given the additional barrel aging. It’s got plenty of oak tannins in the classical bourbon sense, with an undercurrent of curing tobacco throughout. But even more pronounced are the sweeter aromas coming from that additional wood: toasted coconut, cinnamon sugar, and milk chocolate that comes almost shockingly close to an unwrapped Hersey’s kiss.
Spiced apple cider wafts out of the glass a couple minutes later, along with dark peanut brittle and monkey bread. That initial sweetness gradually moves away from chocolate into cooked orchard fruit and caramel-drenched desserts with plenty of baking spices.
Overall, Barrell’s latest take on Foundation features a composed narrative on the nose, with each act showcasing different wood influences on the sweeter side. Tiny elements of acidic notes (including apple cider vinegar) provide some needed balance. Save for the Hershey’s kiss and monkey bread, no specific smells reach incredible heights — but at the same time, nothing overpowers or dominates.
Taste
I’ll hand it to Barrell Bourbon: even when playing below cask strength, the blenders know how to craft a whiskey with both body and depth. Foundation Double Barrel slides across the tongue and carries a near-perfect mouthfeel for its proof. It’s plenty thick for flavors to develop, but also silky in a way that prevents oak influence from languishing heavily on the tongue. That’s especially important with double-barreled products, and many can otherwise taste like bourbon with added wood extract. In an ideal world, that second barrel adds flavor without compromising too much balance, but it’s easy to lose the plot based on mouthfeel alone. Foundation Double Barrel avoids that pitfall.
Back to the early flavors, which are eminently quite traditional: Dark pan caramel, vanilla extract, and more toasted coconut lead. Gradually increasing oak transitions into char-tinged marshmallow and the top of a Dutch oven apple cobbler, the filling leaking out and fully caramelized right along the edges. Next up are apple butter and candied ginger, both layering on waves of spice to cut through the initially sweet notes.
Cherry cola builds toward the midpalate, the point richest in red fruit, cinnamon, and allspice. That cherry note never fully dissipates, but rye is the real star of the back palate, with lingering notes that weave between peppery and herbal.
Finish
Pepper builds even further on the finish, along with dense gingersnaps and coconut cream. It’s a lengthy and fitting end to a dram that punches above its proof.
Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon Rating
92/100
Recap
Barrell Foundation Double Barrel Bourbon builds on the original Foundation bottling, then kicks the sipping experience up a notch. Transparently, I had some hesitations on the nose; few dominant scents can sometimes (but clearly not always) indicate a milquetoast palate. Here, Barrell’s blending team has created a whiskey that builds on itself, with flavors that more than hold their own. It’s hardly the richest or most decadent blend I’ve sampled from Barrell. But it’s a truly solid workhorse bourbon the world would be silly to ignore. It’s tough to imagine a scenario in which I’d turn down a pour.
As of 2024, VinePair no longer participates in any affiliate programs. All links included in our content are as a convenience to our readers, not for earning commission — we receive no monetary value from them. Learn more about our tastings & review department here!
Related Reads
Learn About Bourbon
Related Barrell Craft Spirits Reviews
Barrell Bourbon New Year 2025:
Barrell Bourbon’s annual New Year release is one of the most captivating oddities in American whiskey. It’s a blend of nearly ...
Barrell Bourbon New Year 2024:
Barrell Bourbon’s New Year blend is one of the boldest annual projects in American whiskey. In 2022, the blend featured distillate from ...
Barrell Foundation Bourbon:
For roughly a decade, Barrell Craft Spirits built its reputation on intricately blended cask-strength offerings, often with novel finishes. ...
Related Bourbon Reviews
Eagle Rare 17 Year-Old Bourbon 2024:
Eagle Rare 17 is one of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection’s most sought-after bottles. That said, I’ve personally found it one of ...
Featured Bourbon Articles
The Ideal Age for Bourbon, According to 9 of America’s Top Whiskey Pros:
In the post-bourbon boom, buyers at home and abroad are clamoring for older American whiskey, but how old should bourbon really be?
The 50 Best Spirits of 2024:
Read on for VinePair's authoritative list of the best 50 spirits of 2024! These are 50 of the best spirits you can buy. See them all now!
Going, Going, Gone: These Collectible Spirits Will Be Unicorns Before You Know It:
As more distilleries continue to open and more brands emerge, more companies continue to try to capture taters' attention and dollars.
A Bourbon Spiked Upgrade for Your Salted Caramel Brownies:
For those with cravings that bounce between sweet and salty, these salted caramel brownies are sure to delight. See the recipe here!
