Bernheim Barrel Proof Batch A224

Cost: $60 for 750 mL bottle (I'm reviewing a sample)

Age: 7 yrs

Mash Bill: 51% wheat, 37% corn, 12% malted barley

Proof: 125.2

After recently reviewing both Bernheim barrel proof batches from 2023, u/khoward7777 graciously provided me with a sample of BBP A224 to try. I hadn't seen it at all in South Carolina the first few months it was released, but within a week of him providing me with this sample, it started popping into local stores. Let's see if it's worth going to pick up a bottle of my own.

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

Appearance: Rich mahogany (1.7) in color, a little thinner looking than the 2023 batches, but still rather viscous.

Nose: There’s a syrupy sweetness to it, kinda like a brown sugar caramel with a little red fruit mixed in. I’m picking up a decent amount of cinnamon sugar spice and nutmeg. I’m also picking up a walnut wood note. That one is really surprising! If you’ve worked with walnut wood, you know it has a very earthy and almost bitter smell to it (can a smell be bitter?). This has that distinct smell. I’d event go as far as to say it also has the bitterness, but it’s largely overtaken by the sweeter notes.

Palate: An extremely average mouthfeel that isn’t nearly as thick as it looks on the glass. I’m getting a lightly salted and buttery, honey wheat toast. That cinnamon sugar from the nose shows up in the palate. There’s a pronounced red fruit note that I think is best described as cherry and maybe a little cranberry. Tannic oak closes out the taste and transitions this into the finish.

Finish: Tannic oak and cinnamon dominate this finish. It’s a long finish too, with that tannin and cinnamon making this really feel like it dries out your palate. There’s a slight sweetness that lingers that feels like it’s tied at the hip to a leather note. They both just emerge from the background fairly quickly and then fade away while the oak and cinnamon remain strong throughout. I’m picking up the ever so slightest hug right in the center of the chest.

Rating: 7.1/10

Overall: It’s sweet, it’s cinnamony, it shows subtle signs of age, and it drinks like 30 proof points less than it is. I can now say there hasn’t been a single Bernheim Barrel Proof batch released that I haven’t liked. For this particular batch, I feel like it was more tannic and drying than the last two batches. While I really enjoyed the nose of this one, I feel like the palate and finish were only a little above average. In general, the BBP batches are not nearly as complex as the ECBP from Heaven Hill, or even the Larceny Barrel Proof batches. And in the end, even if I enjoy a pour, to get to higher ratings with me, 8+, a whiskey will need complexity. This just didn’t quiet get there.

Value: 8.8/10 (this value is based on a ratio of the $/mL to the rating above compared to this same ratio for all other r/Bourbon reviews I’ve made and normalized to 10)

1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Widow Jane Decadence

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, WhistlePig PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08