Bourbon barrels not just for bourbon...

The horror continues, and it appears to be spreading…

Certainly, agree. Beer is being marketed as Bourbon barrel-aged.

So is Tequila and Scotch.

Zin can stand up to it, Cooper and Thief made a Tequila barrel aged Sauvignon Blanc, that was…um, challenging, to taste.

http://www.cooperandthief.com/sauvignon-blanc-wine.php

I’m skeptical that Zin can stand up to it, unless the Zin already tastes like bourbon.

But Sauv Blanc? Yikes

How long do you think it’s in the barrel? Can be 1 minute and be called Bourbon barrel aged.

Doubt we will see a Four Virtues 23 year old bourbon barrel aged Zin.

Pappy-aged SQN would cause Commerce Corner to go thermonuclear.

Talking to someone in the industry, the bourbon barrel stuff sells pretty well to entry level consumers. It isn’t going away

Were we not all there at some point when we first got into wine? I was a Stella Rosa fan and Apothic Red was palatable 10-12 years ago for my wife and I when we were 23 and dumb Now? No way I drink the stuff now it tastes like syrup, but who drinks the most wine percentage wise? The top 1% who drink $100+ bottles of wine or the 22-30 year old somethings that like the taste of wine and don’t want to spend more than $15 for it so they can get a sweet buzz on a Friday night? Which is easier to move on the shelves? Marketing? On another point I have never tasted a bourbon barrel aged wine would be curious just to see if it is as bad as it sounds!!

Joe,

Great points - these are not wines that will appeal to most on this board but will appeal to the masses. This is another example of ‘blurring lines’ between wine, beer and other alcohols. And we’ll continue to see this happen - ‘flavoring’ successes in these other industries will lead to more of this. As has been posted before, there is an Apothic now with coffee - how long until there’s a ‘pumpkin spice’ cab?

Cheers.

Mightn’t that be an improvement?

Lol Mike, it would probably be an improvement!

A local source does a very nice maple syrup aged in bourbon barrel - now that makes sense to me. We lacquered a turkey with it one year … yum.

If this becomes a thing, we are holding you responsible.

Back in the 70s a guy I knew used to buy used Bourbon barrels for his wine. He would set the barrels out in the sun and a day or two later collect a couple of quarts of Bourbon. A friend told me he tried making zin in a used Bourbon barrel…the alcohol went from 14 to 17 very quickly.

The idea of pumpkin spice cab reminds me of the Pacific Wine Company cartoon featuring the SammyDavis Jr Manichevitz Decanter…came in three flavors…strawberry daquiri, pina colada and 61 Latour…the folks at Manichevitz did not think it was funny…sent a cease and desist letter quite promptly.

And if it does, I’ll take a % - and laugh all the way to the bank!

Cheers!

Not quite sure what the point of that is, since the maple syrup already has a strong caramel note. I would think that would overpower the barrel tastes.

We are a good three years into liquor barrel aged wines. Yuck.

I’ve had the Mondavi bourbon barrel aged cab several times and found zero notes of bourbon like you’d find in a bba stout or strong ale. My dad buys it by the case so I’m usually drinking that when I visit him. It’s not bad or gross wine, but for under $10 per bottle I like it more than a lot of bottles in that price range.

I found the Mondavi to be undrinkable. While I like brown Spirits bourbon is not my favorite, the new American Oak is just too much for me

Those same barrels are sometimes then used to age beer (Founders CBS for example), making a bourbon/maple barrel aged stout that can actually be very good, if you are into that sort of thing.