WHAT IS A SINGLE BARREL WHISKEY PICK?
A single barrel pick — sometimes called a single barrel selection or a private barrel pick — is when a buyer chooses one specific barrel from a distillery's inventory to bottle under their own label. Rather than receiving a standard blended product, the buyer tastes through multiple candidate barrels and selects the exact one they want.
The barrel is then bottled to order, labeled with the buyer's name or brand, and the barrel number, distillery, age, and proof are often noted on the label. No two single barrel picks are ever identical — even from the same distillery, same mashbill, and same entry date. The variables of aging make every barrel unique.
Single barrel picks are purchased by liquor stores, restaurants, bars, corporate buyers, and — at Nashville Barrel Company — by guests who come in specifically to do the experience themselves.
WHY DOES EVERY BARREL TASTE DIFFERENT?
This is the question most people ask first, and the answer is actually straightforward once you understand a few things about how bourbon and rye age.
The short version: A barrel is a living environment. The whiskey inside it expands into the charred wood when the warehouse heats up, and contracts back out as it cools. Over years, that cycle pulls out different compounds from the wood — vanilla, caramel, spice, dried fruit, tannins — at different rates depending on exactly where the barrel sits and how extreme the temperature swings get.
Two barrels filled on the same day from the same still, placed on different floors of the same rickhouse, can taste dramatically different after eight years. A barrel on the top floor of a Kentucky or Tennessee rickhouse sees more heat in summer — it expands more aggressively into the wood, extracting more flavor and pushing more proof. A barrel on the lower floor stays cooler and ages more slowly and gently. Neither is better by default. They're just different.
That variation is exactly what makes the barrel pick worth doing.
THE FOUR THINGS YOU'RE EVALUATING IN A BARREL PICK
Proof tells you how concentrated the spirit is. A barrel-strength pick comes out at whatever proof the barrel reached during maturation. Higher proof barrels tend to be bolder and more intense. Lower proof barrels can be rounder and more approachable. Neither is objectively better — the question is which matches what you're looking for.
Age matters, but it's not the whole story. A 6-year barrel from a hot rickhouse can taste older and more complex than a 10-year barrel that aged slowly in a cool environment. At Nashville Barrel Company, no barrel is ever bottled under 5 years. The age statement tells you how long it's been in wood — your palate tells you what that time produced.
The nose is everything you detect before the spirit touches your palate. Common bourbon notes: vanilla, caramel, baking spice, dried cherry, oak. Rye: pepper, dill, mint, grain, leather. The nose gives you a preview of what's coming — and sometimes the palate tells a completely different story. Trust both.
The finish is what lingers after you swallow. A long, warming finish — where heat and flavor stick around for 30 seconds or more — is generally a sign of quality and age. When picking, pay attention to whether the finish evolves or fades quickly. The best barrels tend to get more interesting as they go, not less.
THE MASHBILL — WHAT'S THE GRAIN RECIPE?
The mashbill is the ratio of grains used to make the whiskey before it goes into the barrel. For bourbon, it must be at least 51% corn — most are 65–78% corn, with rye, wheat, or malted barley making up the rest. For rye whiskey, it must be at least 51% rye grain.
The mashbill sets the flavor foundation. A high-rye bourbon (18–35% rye) tends toward spice and pepper. A wheated bourbon is typically softer and rounder. A high-corn mashbill pushes toward sweetness. Knowing the mashbill helps you understand what you're tasting and why — and make a more intentional selection.
HOW NASHVILLE BARREL COMPANY PICKS BARRELS
NBC's co-founder James Davenport — the Single Barrel Samurai — has spent over a decade picking single barrels. He picks them the same way every time: nose first, taste neat, taste with a few drops of water, evaluate the finish, and never decide in isolation. The pick only counts when you've tasted at least three other candidates side by side.
NBC's standards are strict. No barrel under 5 years. No barrel that doesn't show distinctive character. Those barrels have earned NBC Best in Class at the world's largest spirits competition and put Nashtucky at #2 and #4 on Fred Minnick's Top 100 American Whiskeys of 2024.
Every barrel NBC bottles is a single barrel. There is no blending to a standard. What came out of one barrel is what goes into the bottle — and what goes on the label.
THE SINGLE BARREL EXPERIENCE AT NBC — DO IT YOURSELF
Nashville Barrel Company offers a Single Barrel Experience at both Nashville locations where you do exactly what's described above — on a smaller scale, with a guide next to you the whole time.
You taste four award-winning single barrels side by side. Your guide walks you through the nose, palate, and finish on each one. You compare, discuss, and pick your favorite. That barrel is then bottled on-site and labeled with whatever you want on it — your name, a date, an occasion, whatever matters to the moment.
The whole session takes about 60 minutes. It's the closest most people ever get to understanding what actually makes one barrel of whiskey different from another — and you leave with a bottle that's yours.
PICK A BARREL IN NASHVILLE.
The Single Barrel Experience at NBC — taste four award-winning Nashville bourbons and single barrels, pick your favorite, leave with a custom-labeled bottle. Available at both Nashville distillery locations.
