Barrel Picks

Buzzard Roost invited Chasing Bourbon back to “experiment” outside their standard re-barrel product.

First things first – I think it’s incredibly important to understand how a Buzzard Roost comes to be. They source either 36% rye or 21% rye bourbon from MGP. They re-barrel it in an ISC barrel with a custom toast profile that hits on particular flavor notes. These toast profiles are called the “BZ” number.

My point is that all Buzzard Roost is going to be a bit different unless you know what base bourbon and toast profile it was.

For the record my first was a 36% with a BZ12 toast at 7 years

So back to the experiment. We tired some “new” things they were working on. Specifically a French Oak and the “wave stave”.

French Oak was fantastic. Wave Stave was completely my jam….so I asked Jason and team to French oak the wave stave and let’s see how it evolves over the summer

The result is off the chart. Legit should NOT be a $70 bourbon and probably shouldn’t be a $99 bourbon. Punches way above it’s price category for flavor experience

Total winner. If you have the chance to try one…take it

 

🛢️#1 Buzzard Roost French Oak aka Buzzard Roost 2.0
✳️115.8 proof
✳️ 234 Bottle yield
✳️ Distill Date – Aug 2019
✳️ 60 / 36 / 4 MGP in ISC barrel
✳️ Re-barrel into WAVE stave barrel – Sep 2023
✳️ Re-barrelInto French Oak  – Aug 2025
✳️ Dump/Bottle Date – 10/29/25
✳️ Technically a Tripple Oaked Bourbon
✳️ Price $66.49 (after discount)

One of the Chasing Bourbon members won the Sazerac Barrel Select drawing and gifted his allocation to Chasing Bourbon

Late January 2025 we took a trip to Kentucky to pick a barrel. April was the giant flood that hit and Buffalo Trace Was literally underwater

I don’t think too much about Buffalo Trace picks, however being at Buffalo Trace and hand selecting the barrel, I knew this was going to hit different.

If this was given to you at a bar you’d probably never guess it was Buffalo Trace

🛢️#2 Buffalo Trace
✳️ Gifted to Chasing Bourbon by Joe Kolarz
✳️ Distilled – 12-15-2016
✳️ Dump/Bottle Date 08-23-2025
✳️ Yield – 204 Bottles
✳️ Price $33.25 (after discount)

I chose to follow up the Old Louisville 18yr American with this spectacular Light whiskey from Bull Run. I took a trip to Portland, Oregon met with some great members and we’re at it!!

Like many of these aged stock from Seagrams now MGP the magic in this I believe is honestly the experience from Greg Metze while he was at Seagrams

Bull Run has a ton of unique finish options and plenty diluted to 110 proof to increase yield and reduce price. After trying 10-12 and not being impressed enough to put my name on any, I asked if Lee had any 18-19yr and if so does he have 4-8 barrel we can try?

He pulled one to give me see what I thought, I asked for more to compare, and I instantly knew we’d find one.

 

🛢️#1 – Bull Run: 19yr American Light Whiskey – Cask Strength; Uncut / Unfiltered

“American Whiskey Tango 2”

Details- Distilled and barreled by Greg Metze when he was at Seagrams.

Mashbill: 99/1
Age: 19yr+
Proof: 132.42
Sourced: Seagrams
Price: $79.99 (before discount) + $30 shipping up to 6 bottles
Yield: 120 Bottles

Rare Character Straight Bourbon 8BL

“the Chasing of Bourbon”

Details- Like all Rare Character, it’s super double secret but they will disclose the mash bill. Suspected to be sourced Beam and similar to the PLT just a younger age statement

Mashbill: 78 / 13 9
Age: 8yr 2mo
Proof: 127.06
Sourced: Not Disclosed
Price: $109.99 (before discount) + $30 shipping up to 6 bottles
Yield: 180 Bottles

Last year Jarrod at Barrel King approached me about doing another pick with them. My thought was that given what they do it’s gotta be a blend. Jarrod said I love it, and let’s just have to you do it all….pick the base barrel, pick the finish barrels, blend it yourself. This will be a 100% Chasing Bourbon thing

Sweet off I went to BK to sample a lot of Rye they had gotten in. My mind set was in reference to how I feel Mid Winternights Dram has really fallen off the past few years.

I wanted to make a MWND killer for $50+ less.

I picked 3 barrels I wanted finished, placed them in a white port barrel, a Sine Que Non Blend Barrel, and a Sine Que Non Grenach barrel….now we’re off to the races. Well actually we’re off to wait and see how they mature

Fast forward 6 months and the blending began. My palate is way different than Matt Bunch and our two approaches are way different in how to do the blend.

In the end I made this how I thought it should be, sent the ratios to Barrel King, they made a batch, and let it meld for a few weeks.

Jarrod’s reply when he tried it made me smile from ear to ear

Look for this to be in the Ascots this year and 🤞🏻

 

Bottle details for the new and a refresher for the OG’s
💥 MGP Distillate
💥 95% Rye 🌾 – 5% Malted Barley
💥 9 yr+
🛢️ 47% SQN White Wine finished 9yr 95/5 Rye MGP
🛢️ 33% Grenache Finished 9yr 95/5 Rye MGP
🛢️ 20% Port Finished 9yr 95/5 Rye MGP
💥 117.8 Proof
💰$149

This blend is causing quite the stir! While none of the creators did any research to conclude how this blend came about it’s great to see Barrel King get the attention.

I completely recognize this would have NEVER happened without Jarrod giving me the latitude to do as I wanted and all the effort his team put into shipping samples back and forth and I’m incredibly grateful for that and appreciate the heck out of them

Bourbon Culture Review – click to be directed to the review

Bourbon Hunter’s Podcast – Listen while they compare 2 releases of Midwinter Night’s Dram and this blend of mine. FFWD ~38 minutes in to hear them talk about this pick
– click here to be taken to Apple Podcasts
– click here to be taken to Spotify