24 Month Open-Air Seasoned, Heavy Toast Light Char
Could it be the best bourbon barrel ever?

Over a decade ago Woodinville founders Brett Carlile and Orlin Sorensen set out to establish, once and for all, what kind of barrel would make the best bourbon in the world.

This would not be a quick or typical process. Methods? Everything on the table. Industry norms? Goodbye. Budget? None. Woodinville was still a young distillery then but Brett and Orlin saw this quest as an investment. Since it’s generally accepted that over 70% of the flavor and character of a bourbon comes from its barrel, it seemed to them they’d need the best barrel in the world if they wanted to make the best bourbon in the world.

Woodinville’s partners at Independent Stave Company, the foremost barrel cooper in America, were game. Let’s run a test, they suggested, and see what happens. ISC presented eight different barrel types:

• #1 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
• #2 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
• #3 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
• #4 Char Standard Kiln-Dried
• #3 Char 18-Month Open-Air Seasoned
• #5 Char 18-Month Open-Air Seasoned
• Heavy Toast/Light Char 24-Month Open-Air Seasoned
• Thin-Stave Barrel

Whiskey industry standard is a kiln-dried barrel at #3 or #4 char. Chars #1 and #2 are rarely used in bourbon, and because of the extra time it takes, “open-air seasoning” costs way more than a kiln-dried barrel. Extra time is on-brand for Woodinville, a distillery that refused to sell its flagship bourbon until it was a minimum of five years old, so this open-air method seemed promising. It involves exposing the staves (the planks used to build a barrel) to rain, sun, wind, everything the elements can throw at them. This process promotes a deterioration of the wood polymers, creating smaller molecules that can be more efficiently transformed during charring and toasting. (Non-scientific translation: It basically gives you more of the “good stuff”.)

After ISC’s coopers turn those seasoned staves into a barrel, the careful art of toasting and charring begins. Toasting is the process of setting the barrel cylinder over a fire for 30 to 45 minutes without the fire ever actually touching the wood. During toasting, the inside of the barrel is heated, which caramelizes the natural sugars and creates a “red layer” in the wood. When you take a sip of whiskey and detect notes of vanilla, caramel, and toffee, what you’re tasting is the result of the toasting process.

Charring, on the other, is done by lighting the inside of the barrel on fire for 20 to 60 seconds. This creates a layer of char on the surface of the wood, which acts as a filter for the young whiskey, as well as adding color and notes of dried fruit, oak, and spice.

Brett and Orlin filled the eight test barrels with new-make whiskey and waited. And waited. And waited. Four-and-a-half-years later, the whiskies were ready for analysis by gas chromatograph at ISC. The heavily toasted, lightly charred barrel made from 24-month open-air seasoned staves was found to have significantly higher amounts of whiskey’s favorite core compounds: furfural (sweetness, almond, baked bread), vanillin (vanilla, creaminess), and phenols, namely guaiacol (smoky, spicy) and 4-methyl guaiacol (sweet, candy, clove, leather). But they couldn’t declare their mission complete just yet.

Brett and Orlin noted the whiskey from this barrel had a slight “graininess,” attributed to its light char. (Think of the carbon filter in your fridge’s water dispenser.) They decided if the barrel could be aged a little longer, that grain character would soften and transform into desirable flavor compounds. A little longer meant four more years. For all those who aren’t tracking the math, that’s two years of stave aging, four and a half years of initial aging, and four additional years in the barrel. 2 + 4½ + 4 = 10½ years of work, patience, and hope represented in this liquid, one of the most balanced, complex, refined bourbons you will ever taste.

An 8 Year version of this bourbon with its unique mashbill of 55% corn, 35% rye, and 10% malted barley was released in 2024. In 2025, Brett and Orlin will release the next limited release Woodinville Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 9 years. In 2026, a 10 Year age statement will be released, offering whiskey collectors a unique opportunity to acquire all three editions.

Yellowstone Bourbon Launches Once-in-a-Lifetime Getaway Contest

Iconic bourbon brand shares its connection to America’s first national park with consumers through new adventure experience opportunity

ST. LOUIS (April 8, 2024) – Yellowstone Bourbon announced a contest for consumers to win an all-inclusive trip to Yellowstone National Park in 2024. Consumers can enter the Yellowstone National Park Getaway Contest now through July 15 by submitting a photo and a writeup about their love for the great outdoors – a hiking story, poem or another kind of written expression.

The three lucky winners and their plus-one will experience the ultimate national park adventure September 5-8, 2024, including hiking, horseback riding, sightseeing, curated meals, private accommodations and round-trip airfare. In addition, four social media influencers will join the winners for this trip of a lifetime:
• Dean Unglert, reality TV star and outdoor explorer
• Adam Glick, celebrity chef and adventurer
• Holly Johnson, travel and outdoor content creator
• Patrick Duke, adventure photographer and filmmaker

“For more than 150 years, Yellowstone Bourbon has shared a bond with the majestic Yellowstone National Park,” said Kelly Panzitta, Yellowstone Bourbon brand manager. “This contest gives people the opportunity to experience that connection firsthand and win a one-of-a-kind adventure. It’s part of our commitment to always keep the park within reach.”

Since 2018, Yellowstone Bourbon has donated nearly $500,000 to National Parks Conservation Association to preserve national parks. In 2023, Yellowstone became one of NPCA’s largest annual corporate donors at the $250,000 level.

Yellowstone Bourbon partnered with World Playground to plan the contest itinerary and Under Canvas for the winners’ and influencers’ private accommodations in West Yellowstone. For more information about the contest including official rules, please visit Yellowstone National Park Getaway Contest or YellowstoneBourbon.com. For updates about the contest, follow Yellowstone Bourbon on Facebook and Instagram.

We’re all adults here (or should be if you’re reading a whiskey/whisky blog).

Should anyone be surprised to start seeing domestic offerings at 700 mL versus 750 mL? No, although I’m sure some will feign shock and awe at the prospect.

Am I crazy about it? No, but I’m not backing down from my elation over the change in the Standards of Fill.

Have the floodgates opened with more independent bottlings here in the United States? Maybe not as much as I’d hoped – although supply chain, tariffs, inflation and other factors are likely contributing to that.

Will we see a price break when folks convert bottles from 750 to 700? I’d bet not. But I still think it is the right move as it makes production more efficient and opens up more markets to producers. A smaller producer who can’t afford to buy inventory of two different sized bottles just to be able to sell in other markets now won’t have to worry about that.

In the case of my recent review, one of the first domestic offerings I’ve seen in 700 mL – I’d note that this is a new offering; not a migration of an existing brand that was sold at 750 mL previously. A 6 year, bottled-in-bond rye, at $50. If they kept the ‘price per ounce’ the same and offered it in a 750 mL, it’d be $53.57. Does that difference impact my desire to buy it? Not a chance. I get that as the prices go up – the difference does as well, that’s just math. Essentially for a brand migrating, the customer is losing 1.7 oz in the bargain (and if you’re talking about a $150 bottle, now that gaps is just over $10).

My guess is that given the current inflationary environment, the big brands will start to make that move and keep prices level (which I get is ‘shrinkflation’). It isn’t that I think the big brands are altruistic or any shit like that, but rather that it’s a convenient excuse to make the cut and explain why they aren’t dropping prices when they do (although if you’re the last one to make that move, it might be shrewd to discount and call out the other greedy bastards).

At the end of the day, your daily drinker of $20-$30, you’re talking about a difference of $1.50-$2. Let’s be honest – if (let’s say Jack Daniels, or Jim Beam, or Evan Williams) is your drink of choice, you’re not switching to one of those others over $1.50 difference. That’s not why you’re with that brand.

I do hope that we will start to see more and more offerings here in the States in the not too distant future. Offerings which we could only have dreamt of before (or paid exorbitant amounts to have shipped from the far side of the pond). Again, not because I think the industry is altruistic – but because there’s a lot of money to be made in doing so. Just wasn’t enough to support bottling at 750 mL just for one goofy market.