Just In Time For Derby: Our First New Era Single Barrels

We close out our week of double-digit age statements with a bang, just in time for the Kentucky Derby.
 
New Era Whiskey & Social Club was co-founded by Zane Brammell and Matt Hobbs, originally starting as a Kentucky-based private barrel pick club in 2022 before evolving into a brand releasing cask-strength, Kentucky-driven single barrels.
 
Built to sit somewhere between a whiskey house and a social club, the focus is squarely on how the barrels drink. After trying a select spread of their lineup, we landed on two single barrels that felt worth bringing in.
 
First up, "Slewmania" is a 10-year bourbon, and perhaps the oldest single barrel we’ve seen distilled in Danville, Kentucky. This is everything we want in a cask strength 10-year bourbon, a layered, fruit-forward profile that avoids going over oaked.
 
The nose is an absolute fruit bomb. Rich, plump cane sugar syrup, honey, and layers of cherries and strawberries. As much as I’d love to go wax poetic, that pretty much dominates the focus.
 
The palate follows suit, dense and oily, full of dark cherry, strawberry, and baked apple, with a beautiful, clean sweetness of caramel and cane sugar. A kiss of ginger and cardamom spice comes in mid-sip, bringing with it a gorgeous sweet oak.
 
The finish brings in just a smidge of candied mint, but continues with a lovely, crème brûlée-like custardiness, a pop of raspberry tartness, a whisper of barrel char, and elegant sweet oak. This offers everything I’d want in a 10-year bourbon and nothing I wouldn’t.
 
Next up, "Run Away Winner" is an 18-year bourbon from Bardstown, Kentucky, and an absolute powerhouse. With a yield of only 60 bottles, this is about as limited as it gets. Long-aged, but carrying a rich profile of buttery, sweet oak.
 
The nose is engulfing, as one might expect for an 18-year bourbon still hanging onto 127 proof. Deep and tightly packed, it begins to open with beautiful cigar box and warming tobacco notes, layered with thick leather and a buttery, sweet, antique oak.
 
The palate is traditional bourbon, reduced. There’s an abundance of heavy demerara syrup, cocoa powder, Big Red soda, sweet leather, and a wave of surprisingly balanced oak, and a lot of it. Gripping, dense, powerful. Underneath, a layer of blackberry syrup and a bit of dried fruit, cranberry and raisin.
 
The finish is bourbon-infused French silk pie, complete with dark chocolate shavings. Rich, slightly smoky, and continuing long with that sweet, antique oak. A sure bet.