Small Batch vs Single Barrel

Confused between small batch and single barrel?

A Practical Example

Let us say you receive three barrels of Whisky, filled with distillate from the same batch.

You decide to store one barrel in your basement, the second on your main floor, and the third one in your attic.

Assuming you have no central heating, air conditioning or insulation, it is expected that you will experience a temperature variance between the 3 levels.

You leave the 3 barrels in their unique locations for 12 years, tasting them at different intervals.

Single Barrel

Do you think that over those 12 years, when you tasted Whisky from those barrels and compared them, that they might taste a little different from each other?

Of course they would – and that’s what Single Barrel is.

 Small Batch

If we mingled a little bit of those same thee barrels together each time we tasted, we would get a similar taste to each other from bottle to bottle – and that’s Small Batch.

That’s the difference between Single Barrel and Small Batch distinctions.