A Barrel for What's Next

AUBURN, Ala. Three glasses sat in front of eight tasters Saturday morning at one of Auburn’s most established bourbon tailgates.

Nobody knew the warehouse. Nobody knew the barrel numbers. Nobody knew which sample Charred Oak Spirits might ultimately put its name on.

They knew only one thing. All three were Old Forester 100 Proof.

By the end of the tasting, one barrel had separated itself from the group. Getting there took a tie and one question.

The private barrel selection was organized by Charred Oak Spirits through an opportunity with Brown-Forman and Old Forester and hosted by the Ambush, a longtime Auburn tailgate known among its members and friends for an extensive bourbon setup on football Saturdays.

Greg Powell, an Ambush member, longtime Charred Oak client and friend, helped bring together the eight-person tasting group. Powell is president and owner of Fi Plan Partners and a major annual sponsor of BourbonHam. When Charred Oak presented the opportunity, Powell and the Ambush quickly embraced the idea.

The tasting took place ahead of Auburn’s evening game against Southern Miss.

Three Barrels. No Labels.

The process was intentionally blind. The eight tasters knew they were evaluating three Old Forester 100 Proof single barrel candidates, labeled only A, B and C, but they were given no information that could influence their decision.

Sample A eventually fell behind. The decision came down to B and C.

Sample B had more bite, and several tasters considered that part of its appeal.

Sample C offered something different. It was complex, but remarkably smooth and approachable. The more the group returned to it, the more difficult the decision became.

Then came the vote.

Four voted Sample B. Four voted Sample C.

A tie. The group went back through the glasses. Still four and four.

Eventually, the conversation changed. Instead of asking each person which barrel they personally preferred, Charred Oak posed a different question:

"Which one would our customer want to buy, take home, pour into a glass and enjoy?"

That changed the room. The group returned to Sample C with that question in mind. Its complexity was still there, but so was the characteristic that ultimately separated it from the other barrel: it was exceptionally easy to enjoy.

The tie disappeared. All eight moved behind Sample C. And this time, they stayed there.

Then They Turned Over the Card

Sample C had a name.

Warehouse J8. Barrel C578.

The Old Forester 100 Proof barrel will become the first private barrel selection made by Charred Oak Spirits since the store came under new ownership in July 2025.

For Krishna “Chris” Sanghani, the selection carries considerably more meaning than simply adding another bottle to the shelf. It also established a philosophy Charred Oak intends to carry into future selections. The store does not want its barrel program to exist solely around the preferences of its owners. It wants the people who actually drink the bottles involved.

“The owners don’t pick the spirits. The people who drink them do.”

Chris Sanghani

For this selection, that meant handing the glasses to eight clients and friends and trusting the room.

More Than One Barrel

C578 also arrives at an important moment for Charred Oak. For roughly the past year, the store’s new ownership has been quietly planning and curating a different vision for what Charred Oak can become in Auburn. Some of those plans are already underway.

The store is preparing for a significant redesign and expansion that is expected to double its space, triple its inventory and introduce a more curated selection alongside new shopping technology.

The full vision is not being announced yet. But C578 will likely arrive around the same time Charred Oak begins showing Auburn what it has been working on. That timing is not lost on Sanghani.

“We’ve spent the last year thinking about what we want Charred Oak to be. There is a lot we haven’t shown yet. This barrel feels like an appropriate bottle to have waiting for us when that next chapter begins.”

Chris Sanghani

The bottles are expected to arrive in winter 2026 or early 2027. Until then, Warehouse J8, Barrel C578 remains quite literally a taste of what is coming next.

For Charred Oak, the first barrel of its new era was not selected in a boardroom or behind the counter. It was selected eight glasses at a time, under an Auburn tailgate tent, by the people the store hopes will eventually take it home.

And it took a four-to-four tie to find it.