As alluded to in our last few Nulu emails, we picked a gaggle of new Nulu barrels. This picking experience at Nulu was liken to a Starlight pick – there are so many different products and finishes being worked it’s easy to go in with something in mind, and walk away with a handful more. We aren’t saying that’s a bad thing – Nulu has continued to do well on Seelbach’s. Bringing in a few new, different finishes from what we’ve brought historically only adds to a better experience for you all while still knowing that quality of what to expect.
Today we are bringing you our final Experimental bourbon releases, and they are delicious. While we previously released a different toasted honey barrel, there were two we tried that day that we couldn’t decide between. The first had great balance and sweetness, and this one tasted just like a honey stick.
Could this be my favorite finished Nulu barrel? Possibly.
The nose has gobs of fresh floral-kissed honeycomb, vanilla bean ice cream melting over a warm blondie brownie, and softly spiced, toasted chocolate ganache.
The palate is a beautiful mix of well charred oak and raw honey, leather, nutmeg, toasted vanilla bean, and heavily cooked caramel.
The linger is creamy and long, like a perfectly crafted mocha with honey drizzle and marshmallow on top with a long linger of charred oak.
Lastly we have a maple brulee blend. For this product, ex-maple syrup barrels are shipped to a Canadian cooperage. They remove the heads, and brulee the inside of the barrel resulting in a dark, bruleed maple syrup in the staves. They re-cooper the heads, and ship the barrels back to Nulu.
We tried two different maple brulee barrels, a 75/21/4 toasted bourbon and straight 60/36/4. While both had attributes we liked, we wondered how they would taste together and the rest is history.
This two-barrel blend is quite the amalgamation of flavor.
Immediately you notice the depth and potpourri of spice common in a toasted bourbon as well as luscious, heavily toasted and slightly smokey maple notes. Spiced raisins, charred vanilla, pancakes with dark maple syrup.
The palate is enveloping right away. Syrupy, charred dark fruits like plum and raisin slightly drying on the palate before deep and resonating campfire marshmallows.
The finish lingers buttery with oak tannins and well-toasted maple.
If you want the syrupiness and mouth-coating profile that generally comes with maple finished bourbons without the intense sugary sweetness, this is a beautiful marriage of flavors.
