Nashtucky 9 Year Single Barrel Hi-Proof Pick – Kelvin Barrel #9038 130.4 Proof

NASHTUCKY 9 YEARS

130.04 PROOF

KELVIN BARREL.

SOURCE FROM OZ TAYLOR ( 75/21/4 )

BARREL # 9038

Some barrel picks take months of emails, sample shipments, and scheduling. This one took a single afternoon and a lucky question.

On June 29th, we walked into Nashville Barrel Company unannounced. NBC has one of the best tasting bars in Tennessee, and whenever we’re in town, we make a point of stopping in for a pour. We weren’t there to buy anything. We were just there to drink good whiskey.

Somewhere between sips, we asked: Any plans to bring Nashtucky to California?

As it turned out, they had finalized California distribution just days earlier. Before we could even react, James offered to pull a few barrel samples for us right then and there. No appointment, no paperwork, just a genuine offer to share what they had.

We didn’t need to be asked twice.

James poured three samples. All three were excellent, but one was the clear favorite around the table. The vote was unanimous: Barrel #9038.

It’s a nine-year-old bourbon distilled at O.Z. Tyler in Kentucky on a 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley mashbill, bottled at a full 130.04 proof. It was aged in a barrel from Kelvin Cooperage, a Scottish family-run cooperage in Louisville that still toasts and chars every barrel by hand over open wood fires, with no gas jets and no timers. That old-school approach gives the whiskey a depth you can taste.

We didn’t ask for more samples. We didn’t say “let us think about it.” We picked it on the spot.

After years of barrel selections, this is the first pick we’ve ever made as a walk-in. Sometimes the best barrels find you when you’re not looking.