The fate of this bourbon is written in the stars.
In early 2021, a new constellation of whiskies emerged from a little craft distillery known as Stellum Spirits. Stellum, a play on the Latin word for “star,” is a brand spin-off from Barrell Craft Spirits – the not-so-little craft distillery based out of Louisville, KY. Barrell Bourbon arrived on the scene around 2013 and has been racking up awards ever since. The Barrell whiskies are batched, meaning that each bottle is inherently unique, from unknown distilleries throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. To date, the distillery has released 33 batches, 7 special releases for each new year, and 7 products that are part of an ongoing release like Dovetail, Seagrass, and Armida. However, even with Barrell’s supernova status, Stellum is still in a whole other galaxy.
Unlike its planet of origin, Stellum Spirits focuses solely on consistent releases with consistent flavors. There are a few special releases all with incredibly on brand celestial nods like Equinox and Hunter’s Moon, but the spotlight has been on Stellum Rye, Stellum Bourbon, and the single barrel offerings of both.
All four whiskies are blended together with a bit of a hybrid approach that the founder, Joe Beatrice, refers to as a “daisy chain.” Essentially, the whiskies are blended from multiple sources and then adjusted with a specific recipe to meet the standards of a particular recipe. It’s a sly way to create a standardized line of whiskey in an efficient way, allowing the distillery to churn out products and hopefully compete in an increasingly competitive and saturated market. But does all of that craftiness really put Stellum Bourbon light years ahead of the competition?
For starters, it’s important to note that just like Barrell, Stellum Spirits is sourcing their products from mysterious distilleries from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This maneuver isn’t totally uncommon, but can still raise some concerns about flavor profile, uniqueness, and value if not done correctly. Fortunately though, Stellum bourbon seems to have cracked the sourcing code.
Stellum begins with a very light whiff of oak, licorice, and vanilla before crashing into the taste of cinnamon, clove, more vanilla, and a hot spiciness almost like a dried pepper. The finish is all about thick caramel sweetness and a chillier heat, more reminiscent of rye and black pepper. Added all together, the bourbon does a good job of balancing its sweet and spicy flavors for an enjoyable profile.
The flavor of Stellum even managed to wrangle the bourbon’s 115 proof. Although, with that kind of inevitable proof heat, we can’t exactly call Stellum bourbon an easy sipper. But we would still call it a delicious one.
Stellum bourbon is fairly new in the whiskey atmosphere, but its flavor and proof make it a shooting star we’d like to keep our eyes on.
STATS: Stellum Bourbon
- Price for us: $55 for 750 mL
- Proof: 114.98
- Aged: NAS
- Distillery: Stellum Spirits, owned by Barrell Craft Spirits. Bourbon sourced from unknown distilleries
- Recommendation: Neat
