Barber Lee "The Wine Country Barrel Pick" Heirloom Corn Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Petaluma, California

The Wine Country’s first ever Single Barrel Bourbon pick comes to you from Barber Lee Spirits in Petaluma, California. With a Mashbill of 80% corn (using the heirloom varieties Hopi Blue and Bloody Butcher) and a 20% combination of malted barely and rye and aged for 3 years this single barrel has so much flavor and richness, it’s hard to believe you’re close to 120 proof. Rich apple fruit coats the palate and brings a fresh juiciness to the Whiskey. Brown sugar combines with a flavor profile I can best describe as peach compote to create a balance of sweetness and fruitiness. Butterscotch adds some more richness and more weight on the palate while bright cherry fruit lightens up the finish.

I was first introduced to Barber Lee Spirits during a trip to Tahoe in January of this year at an awesome place called Stateline Brewery & Restaurant and Whiskey Lounge. Now while it was the third thing they listed, the most impressive part to me was their Whiskey Lounge. There I sat in front of a remarkable wall of Whiskey that reminded me of being at Hard Water in San Francisco or a Seven Grand location. As my eyes scanned over the copious number of bottles, one stood out to me more than the rest. A rectangular shape with a leather pressed label that read “Barber Lee Single Malt Rye.” At that time, I was on a big Rye kick and given that I had seen few Single Malt Ryes (Old Potrero and Arbikie came to mind) before, I asked our very nice bartender for a neat pour of the Petaluma based spirit. I was blown away by the flavor profile and made sure to send myself an email so I could remember the Distillery.

When I got back from my trip, one of the first things I did was look up who distributed Barber Lee Spirits. And to my luck it was a distributor I have a very good relationship with so it wasn’t hard to ask our Representative to bring in samples of what they have from Petaluma. While I really wanted to try the Rye again, to make sure it wasn’t just my Vacation Taste Buds that enjoyed the Single Malt spirit, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by their Bourbon as well. The depth and elegance wasn’t a surprise given what I had experienced with the Rye, but the flavor profile almost knocked me out of my chair. From that moment on, I knew we’d be carrying Barber Lee Spirits in this store. And then in August of this year my Representative from Barber Lee’s distributor told me that Michael Barber, owner of Barber Cellars and Barber Lee Spirits would be in town and wanted to stop by the store.

When I got to sit with Michael I was so impressed with his focus and dedication to making craft spirits. Michael and his wife Lorraine started Barber Cellars 10 years before teaming up with Aaron Lee to create Barber Lee Spirits in 2017.  Everything made by Barber-Lee is done in house, making them a grain to barrel distillery that does everything by hand (meaning no computers making the spirits for them). While sitting with Michael and learning more about the Distillery he mentioned to me “If you’re interested, I have a few samples of some Single Barrel projects we have available right now.” Since our release of our first Single Barrel project with Kaiyo Japanese Whisky, I was on the hunt for another unique product like that. While I was hoping to find a Bourbon that would blow people away, the search was harder than I expected. And then Michael came into the store with Barrel #6. And while the rest isn’t history yet, it is on its way.

Featured on this episode of Sipping with Jeremy.