Filibuster 15 Year Single Barrel Bourbon (Modern Liquors Charity Barrel)

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It is not an uncommon thing in the bourbon world to find a distillery or group putting together a charity auction of a single barrel of whiskey.  Typically, the bottles are sold at a much higher price than retail and the profit goes to a charitable organization.  Back at the start of 2020, I received word of a charity single barrel that was released by Filibuster Distilling that was sold through Modern Liquors to the tune of $200. 

The most unique part about this barrel was the fact that it was 15-year-old MGP-sourced bourbon which would’ve put its time of distillation squarely into the timeframe of when Pernod Ricard owned the Seagram’s plant in Indiana.  It was also bottled at cask strength which came out to be 114.1 proof. Not too shabby for being 15 years old!

Charity Barrels

Charity barrels are a kind of catch-22 to review because even if they’re bad, most enthusiasts will never say so.  We want to see them them succeed and help the foundation they’re supposed to help.  But on the flip-side, if a charity organization puts their good name on a bad product often enough, they could find themselves without many buyers.  But what I’m really looking at today is the rarity of ever seeing a 15 year old single barrel of bourbon, let alone from MGP.  This could be one of the oldest single barrels that’s come from MGP’s warehouses in the last 2-3 years. 

So with that in mind, let’s see if this is a special barrel that can stand up to the hype.  I sampled it neat and in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Fully expecting to be hit with a ton of oak, I’m surprised to find the first notes are sweet fruits like baked apples and pears along with cherry pie filling.  There is still plenty of oak along with lots of baking spices like cinnamon stick and clove.  The scent also has an unusual scent of melted butter in a saucepan, adding some nice depth.

Palate: Oaky tannins with a pinch of dried tobacco leaf lead the way.  Spicy red pepper flakes, black peppercorns and shaved ginger root kick up some heat (which I wasn’t expecting at this age).  However, there are plenty of sweet red berries swirling around molasses to keep the balance.  The rye in the mash bill adds a little bit of herbal and minty flavors that show extra layers.  The balance here is that the spiciness and sweetness never overpower each other throughout the session, keeping everything in check.  In my opinion, this tastes slightly younger than it is. This makes me wonder if it was chill-filtered due to the lack of an oily mouthfeel that I consistently get with other MGP bourbons.  

Finish: A drier affair with plenty of cinnamon, allspice, and a dry oakiness.  There are some sweet notes much like toffee and some telltale rye notes in the form of black licorice that seem to hang around for a while as well.  

Score: 7.7/10

I’ll be blunt with my assessment of this bottle: there are many more MGP single barrels that are much younger that are much better than this.  Nancy Fraley once talked about how aging bourbon is much like a rollercoaster in terms of going in and out of the liquid’s “Sweet Spot.”  A barrel of bourbon may be absolutely beautiful when it is 7 to 9 years old, but then will decline in quality for the next 2 or 3 years before coming back in to another sweet spot where the liquid is top notch. 

I am assuming this is what happened here.  The barrel’s age was certainly a large factor why it was chosen, but I think it was either going into or coming out of one of its low points.  The sweets on the nose and palate are really appealing, totally concealing the fact that this is 15 years old.  But the finish falls off a bit and forgets about the nose and palate. 

Final Thoughts

Most charity single barrels I’ve purchased have not lived up to price that is being charged. This is the case here. Most people would argue that’s not the point of a charity barrel, but I am already skeptical at the thought of exchanging money for goods in the name of charity. True charity would be to just give your money out. But if you’re making people buy something, it needs to be top-notch. Most enthusiasts I talked to that purchased this exact bottle were let down by the contents inside proving that not every single barrel out there is a good one.