Private barrel selections are becoming the hot new item. These carefully selected barrels are brought into a store and chosen for a particular audience. However, can every one be a winner? Do you trust who picked it? Just because a label said it was chosen by a master distiller, did he really pick it or was it leftovers from other barrel picks? And of course, we have to cover stickers because it's the hotness. It's a podcast that is both fascinating and intriguing and will make you think twice about going into a unknown store to purchase a random barrel pick. Show Notes: This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about family and the new Bourbon Hall of Fame inductees. Ryan, when you go into a store and look for a single barrel pick, what do you gravitate towards? Back on Ep 124 we covered creating a barrel picking group and we've talked about individual barrel picks before but we're going to deep dive today What makes barrel picks more special than their standard bottling counterpart? Are all barrel picks always better than their standard releases? If a store picks samples out of a box, are they all just rejects? Is three samples really enough to go off of? What about stickers that say "selected by the Master Distiller"? Michael Iurato​ asks "I have not had that many store picks but from my experience it seems like the single store pick is usually better than when a major chain or the state run liquor outlet does a pick. Would you agree?" Talk about what it means to have a bourbon group together vs having a store pick for you Is it really possible to pick a barrel based on the tastes of the customers for a store? I mean everyone is different Is having "after market" stickers a good thing? Is there too much hype train on them? Let's speculate. Lets talk about store picks that are no longer available. Is there a false sense of demand or are they trying to play the game? Why can't there be just a few single barrels of Weller 12 or Elijah Craig Barrel Proof per year? Heaven Hill used to plenty of private picks, but now all you see is Elijah Craig. Why are they holding back? Why even continue a single barrel program is the bourbon is going to sell anyway? Frank Mentlick​ asks What is the first taste that turn you off a pick? Sweet? Lack flavor? What makes you excited about picks? Do you do a baseline by sneaking in a flask with the standard offering? Any tips on going on your first barrel pick? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices