Single Barrel vs. Small Batch Bourbon: What’s the Difference?
Single barrel bourbon is bottled from one barrel, start to finish. Small batch bourbon is a group of barrels (sometimes a pretty big group) dumped together and bottled as one. That covers the basic difference. The trouble is the labels. One of those terms is fairly literal, and the other gets stretched by just about every brand that prints it. We make bourbon out in Sewickley Hills, a short drive from downtown Pittsburgh, and people ask us about this at the tasting bar more than almost anything else, so we figured we’d write down what we tell them.
What is Single Barrel Bourbon?
Walk down the bourbon aisle and most of what you see is blended from a lot of barrels. A single barrel bourbon isn’t. The distiller tastes through barrels, finds one good enough to go out by itself, and bottles only that. Once it’s empty, so is the release. Blanton’s usually gets credit for starting the trend in 1984. Now it’s hard to find a bourbon maker that doesn’t have one.
What Does Single Barrel Mean on a Whiskey Label?
Exactly what it sounds like: one barrel. It works the same way for single barrel whiskey and single barrel rye. Check the label and you’ll often find a barrel number, maybe a fill date and a bottling date too. Same barrel number on two bottles means the same whiskey. A different number means a different barrel, and it’ll taste at least a little different, even if both barrels were filled on the same day.
Why Every Single Barrel Bourbon Tastes Different
A lot of it is location. Barrels stacked near the top of a warehouse sit through the worst of the summer heat, and the spirit moves in and out of the wood more up there than it does down by the floor. Pennsylvania weather doesn’t keep things even, either. We get muggy Julys and January cold snaps, and the barrels feel all of it. Then there’s the oak. Every stave came from a different tree, and the char inside a barrel is never perfectly even.
Size plays a part as well. A small barrel has more wood touching less whiskey, so it pulls flavor faster. Anybody who’s used an age your own bourbon kit with a 2.5 or 5 gallon barrel has watched that happen in a matter of months.
What is Small Batch Bourbon?
Small batch bourbon is a blend too, just a smaller one. A distillery pulls a group of barrels, empties them into the same tank and bottles what comes out. The pitch is that a tighter group means more care went into picking them.
Small Batch Bourbon Meaning: Why There’s No Legal Definition
The rules for bourbon are pretty strict. The federal whisky rules spell out the 51% corn minimum, the new charred oak and the proof limits. You won’t find “small batch” in there anywhere, though. Each distillery decides for itself. At a craft distillery, a batch might be a few barrels. At some of the big Kentucky outfits it’s a couple hundred, which is small compared to the thousands in their everyday bottle and not much else. So read it as a description, not a promise.
Why Distilleries Blend Small Batch Whiskey
Mostly so the bottle tastes the same next year. Barrels don’t age alike, so a blender mixes a sweeter barrel with a spicier one, maybe a younger one with an older one, until it lands on the flavor people expect. That’s what a good small batch whiskey is going for. The bottle you keep rebuying because you know what’s in it? Pretty good odds it’s a blend.
Difference Between Single Barrel and Small Batch Bourbon at a Glance
| Single Barrel Bourbon | Small Batch Bourbon | |
| Barrels in the bottle | Exactly one | A limited blend, no set number |
| Legal definition | None, but the meaning is literal | None |
| Taste from bottle to bottle | Changes with every barrel | Steady and familiar |
| How many bottles | A few hundred per release | Larger, ongoing runs |
| Price | Usually higher | Usually lower |
| Best for | Special bottles, gifts, collecting | Everyday sipping, cocktails |
Put simply, the difference between single barrel and small batch bourbon is whether the distiller is after consistency or after one barrel’s personality.
How Many Bottles of Bourbon Are in a Barrel?
A standard bourbon barrel holds 53 gallons, enough for about 267 bottles at 750ml if nothing were lost along the way. Something always is. The wood soaks some up, and a bit evaporates every year (distillers call that the angel’s share). Once it’s aged a few years and cut with water to bottling proof, most barrels end up somewhere around 200 to 250 bottles. Older barrels give less. Cask strength bottlings give less too, since nobody’s adding water to stretch them. And a smaller barrel starts out with less to begin with.
So when a single barrel release disappears in a weekend, that’s usually why. There were only ever a couple hundred bottles.
Is Single Barrel Bourbon Better Than Small Batch?
It’s not a ranking. Single barrel tells you how the bourbon was bottled, not how good it is. Pick a great barrel and you’ve got something special. Pick an average one and you’ve got an average bourbon with nothing blended in to round it out. Blenders have more room to fix things. So is single barrel bourbon better? Depends what you’re after: a bottle with some personality, or one you can count on. If dependable sounds right, our small batch bourbon is a good place to start.
Single Barrel vs. Double Barrel Whiskey and Other Label Terms Explained
People see single barrel vs. double barrel and assume one is the opposite of the other. Not really. Double barrel usually means the whiskey got moved into a second barrel for extra time and flavor. It has nothing to do with how many barrels ended up in the bottle. Some other label terms that get tangled up:
- Barrel proof or cask strength: No water added before bottling, so it’s stronger and usually bolder.
- Straight bourbon: At least two years in new charred oak, with nothing added for color or flavor.
- Bottled in bond: One distilling season, one distillery, four years minimum in the barrel, bottled at 100 proof.
- Single batch bourbon: Not an actual category. It’s usually someone mixing up small batch and single barrel.
Single Barrel or Small Batch: Which Bourbon Should You Buy?
For a bottle you’ll keep on the shelf and mix with, small batch makes more sense. It’s reliable and usually cheaper. For a gift, a birthday, a promotion or a night when you want to open something you can’t get again, go single barrel. Better yet, grab one of each and pour them next to each other. You’ll pick up the difference faster that way than from anything we can write.
Single Barrel and Small Batch Bourbon at McLaughlin Distillery
Everything we sell gets mashed, distilled, barreled and hand-filled here in Sewickley Hills. At a distillery our size, small batch is just how we work.
Heritage Barrel Bourbon: Our Single Barrel Release
Heritage Barrel Bourbon is our single barrel. It’s a barrel we set aside because it stood out on its own, not something we make on a schedule, and it sits at the top of our range.
3799 Bourbon: Our Small Batch Everyday Pour
3799 is the one we pour for first-timers. The name comes from our address on Blackburn Road, and it’s the easiest way to get a feel for how we make bourbon.
Cask Strength Baby Barrel Bourbon: Small Barrels, No Water Added
This one ages in our small-format barrels and goes into the bottle at full barrel strength. It runs fuller and hotter than our regular pour. Add a few drops of water and it opens right up.
Single Barrel vs. Small Batch Bourbon: The Bottom Line
So, single barrel vs. small batch: one barrel, or a small blend of them. If you want the same good pour every time, go small batch. If you want something you might not find again, go single barrel. There’s room on the shelf for both. To try them back to back, book a distillery tour and tasting near Pittsburgh, call us at 412-737-1840 or email info@mclaughlindistillery.com.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Below are some commonly asked questions to consider:
Why does single-barrel bourbon cost more?
There’s less of it, and it takes more work. Someone has to taste barrel after barrel to find the few worth bottling alone, and each of those only fills a limited number of bottles.
Can you buy a whole barrel of bourbon?
Often, yes. Plenty of distilleries run barrel programs where you pick a barrel or put your name on one, and a few will let you take it home. Just ask at the tasting room.
Is small batch bourbon the same as craft bourbon?
No. Craft is about the distillery, usually a smaller independent one. Small batch is just a label term, and some of the biggest names in bourbon put it on their bottles.
How do you taste a single barrel bourbon?
Use a glass that narrows at the top and let the pour sit a few minutes. Smell it before you sip. Keep the first sip small, then take a second one. If it’s barrel proof, add water a drop at a time and notice how it changes.
