In Bardstown, Chris Leon tasted through ten-year barrels with Master Distiller Drew Kulsveen, moving lot by lot in Rickhouse I before choosing a single cask that wouldn’t let go. Barrel 12474 (Lot 15-E-04) showed the longest, most compelling finish—picked on site and bottled at full strength.

Technical details

• Barrel: #12474

• Lot: 15-E-04

• Age: 10 years

• Mash bill (historic): 72% corn / 13% Rye / 15% malted barley

• Cooperage / Char: Independent Stave, Char #4 (“alligator” char)

• Rickhouse / Floor: I / 1 (lower floor; slow, cool maturation)

• Style: Barrel Proof, uncut and typically unchill-filtered

• Proof/ABV: Final bottling proof as printed on label

• Release name: Willett Family Estate Rare Release ‘Leon & Son 10x10 tnb’

From Chris: 

Drew pulled an intentionally diverse set of rare 10-year bourbon samples. Two-thirds of the samples were from their historic mashbill (72% Corn, 13% Rye, 15% Barley); one-third from a more wheated blend ( 65% Corn, 20% Wheat 15% Barley). All raised in new, American oak  from Independent Stave (Char #4, ‘alligator’ char) for a decade.  Across the table, four distinct distillation lots were represented. Every sample came from Rickhouse “I,” Floor 1, and was barrel proof.

Everything we tasted was excellent and, frankly, far more unique from one another then I could have imagined. The most common thread was actually within the lots themselves. 

Historic mash bill (four barrels across three lots)

• Lot 15-H-05 — Barrel 13268
  

• Lot 15-E-12 — Barrel 12585

• Lot 15-E-04 — Barrel 12463

• Lot 15-E-04 — Barrel 12474
  
  

Wheated mash bill (two barrels from one lot)

• Lot 15-D-23 — Barrel 12318

• Lot 15-D-23 — Barrel 12313

I tasted each one multiple times. I loved the immediacy of the wheated barrels, but I kept getting pulled back by the power and length of the historic (corn-heavy) mash bill. Both 15-H-05 (13268) and 15-E-12 (12585) showed sandalwood and white spice; the two 15-E-04 barrels were more exotic and richly textured. Those were the two I couldn’t stop returning to.

To taste spirits fully, unlike wine, you eventually have to stop spitting. The alcohol overwhelms the finish of any taste when you spit. For the final decision, when I narrowed the choice down to Barrel12463 and 12474 (both 15-E-04), I tasted them again. Without spitting. 

Both of these were stunning; textured, heady bourbons with flavors of bruleed citrus, smoked toffee with waves of deeply cooked warming spices. But, once I swallowed 12474, I knew it was our barrel. Those intense flavors only grew more profound seconds, even minutes, after tasting. 

A second sip confirmed it—this is unequivocally our whiskey. This barrel did what the best wines do: it pushed a tasting from a spectrum of flavors into a full sensory experience, providing that rare sip you taste for minutes and think about for days. Barrel 12474 is truly that special. It’s our 10-year barrel-proof bourbon, and I couldn’t be more proud—or more excited—to have our name on the back label.

The barrel is being bottled on the last week of September (2025) and will be in the Brooklyn store in October (2025).