Merlot cask finishing has been popular with many distilleries hoping to pair bourbon with wine. The rich fruitiness of the merlot wine tends to be bold providing ample legs against bourbons typical vanilla, caramel, and oak.

The nose starts off quite well providing the red fruit sweetness youd expect. The palate is packed with a good deal of stone fruit notes that never goes overboard with sweetness. But its this whiskeys finish that completely derails the entire sip. Tannic, over-oaked, and off-tasting, it simply doesnt work. Id suspect the issue stems from this being over-finished in the merlot casks. Barton offers a 2-4 year time frame the bourbons finishing time and anything going over two years was probably too much. The finish is downright bad, which is a shame since the nose and palate set this whiskey up so well. Perhaps giving it some time to open up will help even it out, but I worry the damage has already been done and theres no hope of saving this whiskey.