New Whiskey: ‘Stellum’ From the Makers of Barrell. It’s $55.

Bourbon

March 28, 2021

From the makers of Barrell Craft Spirits, Stellum Spirits launches this week with blends of straights at cask strength in the bourbon and rye categories.

Single barrels will also be available. The Blends of Straights are from Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee. I reviewed these whiskeys on a recent livestream.

Stellum Bourbon is bottled at 114.98 proof (57.49% ABV) while Stellum Rye is bottled at 116.24 proof (58.12% ABV). Both expressions have an SRP of $54.99 and are available at select retailers in 45 U.S. markets and online via the Stellum website at stellumspirits.com

I hit Barrell founder Joe Beatrice up with some questions. Here’s what he had to say.

What is the age range of these? And will they always be in this range?
The Stellum Bourbon blend is focused on a 5–6-year-old IN/KY/TN profile using 3 different Indiana mash bills and includes barrels from 4-16 years old. 

The Stellum Rye Blend, also at cask strength, rooted in the 95/5 Indiana mashbill but accented with rye barrels from KY and TN. 4-10 year old.

These are NAS and will be blended to consistency but we imagine the formulations will be fairly consistent.

The blends are of the three states Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee. Will it always be this way?

YES, though Stellum is far more Indiana Focuses than BCS is

$55 is drastically less in cost than your other releases. How are you able to get the cost down?
The Stellum products all have an MSRP of $54.99. We feel this price point is where there is a quality break, at $54.99 you have a lot of noise in the bourbon world and we set out to make an outstanding product to compete in this segment. … We are able to deliver this cask strength product at this price point by using solid quality control systems, simple packaging and by working with our distributor partners to get it to the shelf at the right price point.  This is a project we have been building for over two years and invested heavily in quality barrels that would make up the blends and single barrels.

What does Stellum mean? Feels like a heavy metal band name
The name is derivative of the latin word stella for star. Stellium also has an astrological meaning of a group of planes concentrated in a house. 

What’s the ownership of this? Is it a part of the barrell family or is it a new entity entirely with new ownership?
Stellum is wholly owned by BCS and produced by the exact same team [Tripp Stimson included] as Barrell, using the expertise we have learned from Barrell.

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