Blue Run’s Glimmer Bourbon was Finished in Gin Barrels

Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.

I cover a lot of cask-finished whiskey for this column, so at this point it’s pretty rare that I come across one that has never been done before, or at least one that’s pretty uncommon. But that is the case with this new release from Blue Run: Glimmer, a straight bourbon that was finished in barrels previously used to mature gin. That might seem like an odd combination of flavors for a variety of reasons, but the results are actually pretty impressive.

Blue Run was founded in 2020 and achieved success pretty quickly over the past few years. Coors Spirits Co. acquired it in 2023, the same year that division of beer giant Molson Coors was launched to handle spirits. (Coors started its own whiskey brand, Five Trail Blended American Whiskey, in 2021, and Barmen 1873 Bourbon two years later.) Blue Run is a non-distilling producer, but the brand is planning on opening its own distillery sometime in the next few years (although exactly when seems a bit uncertain at this point). In the meantime, the company sources its whiskey from Bardstown Bourbon Company, Castle & Key, and another undisclosed producer. Shaylyn Gammon is the head of whiskey development and innovation, and Bourbon Hall of Famer Jim Rutledge (the former Four Roses master distiller) is the distillery consultant and “liquid advisor.”

Blue Run’s core lineup consists of some pretty standard whiskeys: bourbon and rye produced in small batches, as nebulous as that term is, that are pretty decent but haven’t always stood out for me. The Flight Series, which is in its third iteration, is a bit more interesting—”micro batches” of bourbon-rye blends with colorful names. But the new Glimmer expression is by far the most interesting whiskey from Blue Run that I’ve tried. It’s a straight bourbon that Gammon finished in gin barrels–specifically Barr Hill Tom Cat Gin barrels that were toasted and charred and previously held that gin for seven to 12 months. Barr Hill is made at Caledonia Spirits in Vermont, a distillery that usese honey and juniper as its flavoring botanicals.

Finishing a whiskey in gin barrels is not a totally novel concept, but it’s unusual. Other examples include a very-limited Double Rye! release, as part of High West’s Barrel Select series, and WhistlePig’s rye whiskey collab with Formula 1 Racing, which was given a secondary maturation in Finnish gin barrels from driver Valtteri Bottas’s brand. The straight bourbon that is the base of Glimmer shines through with notes of oak, vanilla, caramel, and stone fruit that pop on the palate. But the gin barrel finish has imbued this whiskey with a range of fascinating botanical notes—cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, and just a hint of juniper and black pepper. Plus, it comes in a cool-looking bottle that admittedly shimmers more than it glimmers.

This is not going to be an everyday drinker for most people, myself included. But this experiment works, and the final product is well balanced and has a definitive point of view. In other words, it tastes like a bourbon finished in gin barrels, as it should, but it has not gone overboard and lost the thread. If you’re open to trying something a little bit unusual, and don’t mind some floral notes in your bourbon, you won’t be disappointed.

Score: 88

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