What Makes Whiskey Barrel Coffee Unique?

You don’t choose your passions--they have already chosen you.

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At Whiskey Barrel Coffee, our passions influence everything we do. We believe that the true identity of an excellent cup of coffee comes from attention to detail throughout the entire process. No part of producing the perfect cup outshines another, and compromise is not a word we are willing to use when it comes to quality. True to our passion, we create small batch, hand crafted blends using the age-old art of green coffee melding, before manually slow roasting them in our vintage roaster.

We didn’t create Whiskey Barrel Coffee because we wanted another product to sell. Whiskey Barrel Coffee exists because we were searching for a distinct and unique experience that we were unable to find anywhere else. We wanted to combine our passions for coffee and bourbon whiskey in a way that would enhance the combined experience while staying to true to what makes each enjoyable on its own. We spared no expense in finding the highest quality ingredients and materials, and our process has been perfected over two years of dedicated testing and refining. Every step of the process is performed in a manner that offers the ultimate control, allowing us to ensure that every single bottle of Whiskey Barrel Coffee delivers the distinct experience we have worked tirelessly to perfect.

Once we had achieved the experience we were looking for, we knew we couldn’t just keep it for ourselves. We wanted to be able to share it with people who shared our passions, and who truly appreciated quality and attention to detail through every step of the process.  Whiskey Barrel Coffee is a small batch, hand crafted product that we are proud to stand behind.  We guarantee that the Whiskey Barrel Coffee experience will be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before.

How it All Began

Any coffee experience starts with the green bean. Our search for the perfect quality green coffee to use at the core of Whiskey Barrel Coffee led us through some of the most expensive, highest quality coffees available. After testing a multitude of green coffees and blends, we realized that perhaps what we were trying to find did not yet exist, but was something that needed to be created.

During our testing, the whiskey flavor was overpowering all of the green coffees we aged. We knew we couldn’t achieve the experience we were trying to create without a very unique bean. That was when we stumbled onto a fantastic coffee. We were certain that it was the coffee we needed to facilitate the perfect melding of coffee and whiskey. When we approached the farm about purchasing it, we were told it was only the top 2% of the crop and was too expensive to screen or process. We explained that we were determined to obtain the best possible ingredients for our blend, regardless of cost or convenience. We didn’t relent, refusing to take no for an answer, and finally convinced the farmer. The process to screen this coffee was created exclusively for Whiskey Barrel Coffee. Thus, our Vittoria Estate coffee was born, creating the base of the blend that was soon to become our Whiskey Barrel Coffee.

Process

We learned early on about the importance of barrel quality. Whiskey Barrel Coffee is aged only in high quality bourbon barrels. Bourbon is required to age in freshly charred, white oak barrels. Bourbon barrels are in high demand to brewers and distillers alike, as most barrel aged beers and whiskeys are aged in bourbon barrels. We work hard to secure the highest quality, freshest bourbon barrels for our Whiskey Barrel Coffee. We only place our Whiskey Barrel Coffee blend into bourbon barrels that have been used specifically for bourbon. When bourbon ages in a freshly charred oak barrel, the liquid and the wood play a delicate game. The barrel imparts its flavor into the bourbon, but it also retains around 20 lbs of bourbon within the wood. This lost bourbon is referred to by distillers as “the devil’s cut.” As the green beans age inside fresh bourbon barrels, they slowly absorb the devil’s cut and take on the flavor characteristics of the bourbon. Our exclusive Vittoria Estate coffee is able to absorb the whiskey flavor without its coffee flavors being overwhelmed, allowing both flavors to meld and complement each other in the cup.

Whiskey Barrel Coffee is small batch roasted in our vintage European Roaster. The Vittoria Estate beans age and meld in the bourbon barrels to create a truly distinguished flavor. In order to consistently deliver the experience of Whiskey Barrel Coffee, we knew we had to refine our roasting process. Our vast experience roasting classic coffee blends allowed us to learn the best way to roast Whiskey Barrel Coffee from the beans themselves. Our roaster is operated manually—it has no computer controls or programmed roast profiles. Our master roasters have perfected the process of roasting Whiskey Barrel Coffee the hard way, by roasting it over and over until they achieved the perfect roast. Every small batch is carefully monitored during roasting, and skillful adjustments are made to ensure that each batch and bottle delivers the same flavor and experience. During roasting, the coffee is smelled, watched, and even listened to by our master roaster as he manually guides the process. This process is what allows us to consistently deliver the same experience in every batch and bottle.

Presentation

The packaging of our Whiskey Barrel Coffee is yet another important part of the experience. We didn’t have the heart to bag our creation like it was any other coffee. Whiskey Barrel Coffee’s packaging is a reflection of our commitment to getting it right, and therefore, it’s packaged in a way that is as unique as the product itself. Each bottle of Whiskey Barrel Coffee is hand-filled, hand-labeled, hand-marked with the batch and bottle number, and then hand-dipped in wax to seal in the flavor. This process extends and enhances our commitment to quality—each bottle reminds us why we make Whiskey Barrel Coffee. This unique product is truly a labor of love, and we are so excited to share it with you!