Brian Haara
Bourbon. Law. Author.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition
After the success of Booker’s 25th Anniversary Limited Edition, the feverish anticipation for the Booker’s Rye Limited Edition, and growing popularity of Knob Creek’s private barrel program (with some astounding selections, like the 15 year “Unicorn” from Liquor Barn), a Knob Creek Limited Edition was inevitable. The “2001” in Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition refers to the year that Booker Noe distilled and barreled the three batches that make up this limited edition. At 14 years old, it is well past the nine-year age statement of standard Knob Creek.
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Bourbon:
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Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Batch 1; Bottle No. 10,675)
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Distillery:
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Jim Beam, Clermont, Kentucky
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Age:
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14 years
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ABV:
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50% (100 proof)
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Cost:
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Suggested Retail: $129.99 (750 mL)
My cost: $139.99 (gift shop price)
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Disclaimer: The brand managers kindly sent me a sample
for this review, without any strings attached.
Thank you.
Tasting Notes
Appearance:
Golden amber.
Nose:
The aromas are all warm – gooey caramel, the vanilla you remember from mom’s kitchen, baking spices, leather, and comfortable oak, along with honey and a slight aroma of polished furniture.
Taste:
Consistent with the aromas, Batch 1 lands on the sweeter side, especially on the first impression. Although far sweeter than any standard or private Knob Creek I’ve had before, as expected from any Knob Creek, it is not one-dimensionally sweet; it transitions to cinnamon, clove, roasted peanuts, and oak. I will need to compare the three batches, but Batch 1 has great balance and will be hard to beat by the other two batches.
Finish:
Warm and long, lingering with drying oak and far less of the sweet flavors. This is a barrel-focused finish showing its age, but it is nowhere near over-oaked. The balance is outstanding.
Bottom Line
While it would be interesting to have tried Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition at 120 proof (like the private barrel program bottlings), or better yet at barrel proof, I can’t really imagine this batch being better than the 100 proof selected by Fred Noe. It’s the right proof, the right balance, and the right amount of oak, so stick with drinking this one neat. Kudos to Beam Suntory for another great Limited Edition, but please, please, please continue to offer longer-aged barrels for private selection.
The price is high when compared to some of the excellent Knob Creek private barrels in the past 12 months, but I still give it a “buy” recommendation (it would be a “back up the truck” recommendation at $90). There should be plenty of Knob Creek 2001 since there are three batches, so everyone should be able to find this at retail. Thanks to a friend who was in the right place at the right time, I was able to get a bottle of Batch 1 at the Jim Beam Gift Shop, allowing me to evaluate Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition beyond the sample, and dig in enough to score. I waffled between 3.5 and 4.0, and landed on the higher score because of the finish.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 4.0
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Swill. I might dump the bottle, but will probably save it for my guests who mix with Coke.
2 – Hits the minimum criteria, but given a choice, I’d rather have something else.
3 – Solid Bourbon with only minor shortcomings. Glad to own and enjoy.
4 – Excellent Bourbon. Need to be hyper-critical to find flaws. I’m lucky to have this.
5 – Bourbon perfection. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Sipp’n Corn Review – Booker’s Rye “Big Time Batch” Limited Edition
After being bummed out about the cost when pricing was released a few months ago, as time passed, I transitioned to thinking about how Booker’s 25th Anniversary was outstanding, and I didn’t want to miss out on lighting striking twice. Then I learned that Booker’s Rye was not distilled with Beam’s normal Rye mash bill (which reportedly barely qualifies with 51% rye grain), instead using a reported 70-80% rye grain, and that – as expected – it would be uncut and unfiltered, in the tradition of the Booker’s line. At 13 years old, it’s also a rare find for aged Rye Whiskey, truly qualifying it as a limited release with exclusive company.
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Rye Whiskey:
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Booker’s Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey – “Big Time Batch”
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Distillery:
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Jim Beam, Clermont, Kentucky
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Age:
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13 years, 1 month, 12 days
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ABV:
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68.1% (136.2 proof)
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Cost:
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Suggested Retail: $299.99 (750ml)
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Disclaimer: The brand managers kindly sent me a sample
for this review, without any strings attached.
Thank you.
Tasting Notes
Appearance:
Velvety, dark amber shifting to brown.
Nose:
Whoa that’s impressive. The aromas hit strong, even from a distance, with fantastic black pepper, cinnamon, leather-bound books, tobacco leaf, clove, and oak. The high rye grain is absolutely evident. Give this one some air before aggressively appreciating the aromas because it’s hot.
Taste:
Whoa that’s intense both in flavors and blazing heat; again, a little air helps clear out the heat and just the balanced intensity remains. The most prominent sweet flavor is brown sugar, and while there’s also some rich caramel and dark, ripened berries, the focus is spice – rye, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, and baking spices. A single cube increased the creaminess, but muted some flavors. There’s big oak too, of course, and it’s balanced wonderfully. Booker’s Rye is a robust beast that should be tried neat, but then after a few sips, add a splash of water for an appreciation of more subtle flavors hidden by the heat.
Finish:
Whoa that’s long. There’s a little more caramel sweetness as it lingers, but the huge swell defines this spicy, drying finish with a hint of mint.
Bottom Line
Booker’s Rye is serious, and I suspect that it will be talked about as a contender for “Whiskey of the Year.” Some of that talk might be the result of the fascination developing over the past few years for robust, barrel-strength whiskey, which in some cases has meant that consumers sacrifice refinement and complexity. For my preferences, Booker’s Rye was the third-best Rye that I’ve enjoyed to date in 2016, although, to be fair, neither of the other two was released this year, and the best was a practically unattainable 12-year bottling sourced from the Medley Distillery. But if Booker’s Rye is going to be in the discussion for such high accolades, it has to stand up to other highly-acclaimed whiskies.
I can’t make the call yet where Booker’s falls in the grand scheme of Rye Whiskey, and while I’m thankful for the sample because I might not find a bottle at retail, my sample size did not give me my normal opportunity for enough tastings to provide a score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale, either. I’ll be looking, that’s for sure, and will update my post. If the price doesn’t shock your conscience, you should be looking too. Despite the cost, my recommendation is a strong buy.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Four Roses Elliott’s Select 2016 Limited Edition Single Barrel
I have never hidden my affinity for Four Roses or the two (out of ten) recipes using the “K” yeast, so when I learned that after skipping 2015, Four Roses would release a springtime Limited Edition single barrel using the OESK recipe, I was thrilled. For a more in-depth discussion of what “OESK” means, please check out my post (Link Here) that covers all ten recipes. The most distinguishing aspect of this release, of course, is that it is the first solo release of new Four Roses Master Distiller, Brent Elliott, after the retirement last August of long-time Master Distiller, Jim Rutledge. Four Roses has confirmed to me that 95 barrels were selected for the release, which resulted in 10,224 bottles.
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Bourbon:
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Elliott’s Select 2016 Single Barrel Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
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Distillery:
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Four Roses, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
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Age:
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14 years
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ABV:
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58.4% (116.8 proof), but will vary for each single barrel included in the release
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Cost:
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Suggested Retail: $124.99 (750 mL)
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Disclaimer: The brand managers kindly sent me a sample
for this review, without any strings attached.
Thank you.
But I also bought my own bottle from the Four Roses Gift Shop.
Tasting Notes
Appearance:
Golden amber.
Nose:
Sweetness and more sweetness. Aromas of caramel, vanilla, corn pudding, and sweet, ripe fruit.
Taste:
Caramel, peach cobbler and other sweetness of honey and vanilla, but whereas the aromas were all sweet, the flavors are balanced with pepper spice, baking spice, ripe fruit (the “K” yeast shining through), and oak, with complexity and balanced intensity. The elegance of this OESK is a fantastic contrast to the brute force that some distillers shoot for with barrel-strength limited editions. Like so many other Four Roses Limited Edition single barrels and small batches, Elliott’s Select nails the interplay between having character and remaining civilized.
Finish:
Long with a great swell that lingers and ends with fresh mint and lingering warmth.
Bottom Line
I hope that this release means that Four Roses intends to keep a spring Limited Edition Single Barrel as a permanent feature of its line. While I always look for the “K” yeast, past Limited Edition Single Barrels have certainly shown that I need to broaden my horizons with the other eight recipes. In the meantime, this OESK Limited Edition is a Bourbon that I highly recommend. I plan to hound the Gift Shop and stalk my favorite local store until I have a bottle or two, and then I’ll update my review with a score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale.
Update with my own purchases
Regardless, my bottle numbers are QN-53-2D (52.5% ABV) and QN-47-2Q (52.2% ABV). Each bottle of Elliott’s Select was aged on the north side of Warehouse Q, but you’ll be able to find variations based upon precise barrel location. Both of my barrels were stored on the second row, so the lower barrel proof was expected (and it’s something that I look for in Four Roses Single Barrels). Rack 53 is eight racks away from the exterior wall, on the interior section, and this barrel was stored only four barrels deep. Rack 47 is just one rack away from the exterior wall, also on the interior section, and at “Q,” this barrel was 17 barrels deep.
Update with my own purchases
As a single barrel bottling, my bottles are bound to have differences between each other and the media sample. While it can be fun to compare and find nuanced differences (and sometimes much greater variations), dissimilarities can also be frustrating when a new bottle doesn’t meet expectations. That might be why many people have commented that they’ve had better OESK private barrels than Elliott’s Select, for $30-$50 less. In reality though, I think that it is a high complement to Four Roses that private barrel selections can compete with Limited Edition selections.
Regardless, my bottle numbers are QN-53-2D (52.5% ABV) and QN-47-2Q (52.2% ABV). Each bottle of Elliott’s Select was aged on the north side of Warehouse Q, but you’ll be able to find variations based upon precise barrel location. Both of my barrels were stored on the second row, so the lower barrel proof was expected (and it’s something that I look for in Four Roses Single Barrels). Rack 53 is eight racks away from the exterior wall, on the interior section, and this barrel was stored only four barrels deep. Rack 47 is just one rack away from the exterior wall, also on the interior section, and at “Q,” this barrel was 17 barrels deep.I picked up a lot more oak on the nose in both of these bottles, sometimes prickly, but mostly the old library oak sensation. The taste was still elegant like the sample, but both had bigger nutty-chocolate candy flavors. Consistent with the seemingly heavier barrel influence on the nose and palate, the finish was also dryer and oaky. Both of these were classic examples of the OESK profile.
I’m a fan of OESK and OBSK; nothing new there. I’ve been lucky enough to have tried nearly 100 OESK single barrels either in bottles or in barrel selections, and even though I’ve liked them all, some really stand out. Elliott’s Select is solidly in the top of those OESKs, but behind the 2012 Limited Edition Single Barrel, and there are one or two OESK private selections within the past three years that are on par with Elliott’s Select. This sort of age is not available with private selection barrels, so especially if you enjoy the greater influence of oak, Elliott’s Select is a must-have Bourbon.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 4.0
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Swill. I might dump the bottle, but will probably save it for my guests who mix with Coke.
2 – Hits the minimum criteria, but given a choice, I’d rather have something else.
3 – Solid Bourbon with only minor shortcomings. Glad to own and enjoy.
4 – Excellent Bourbon. Need to be hyper-critical to find flaws. I’m lucky to have this.
5 – Bourbon perfection. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Bulleit Barrel Strength (at the Pimento Cheese Social 2016)
After years of consumers calling for it, Diageo’s Bulleit Bourbon has entered the barrel proof show with an immediate go-to contender. I got an advance tasting at this year’s Kentucky Derby week Pimento Cheese Social, held again at the historic Stitzel-Weller distillery in Shively, Kentucky. Tom Bulleit told me that Bulleit Barrel Strength comes from the same source as the standard orange label Bulleit, and it shows.The 5th Annual Pimento Cheese Social was a hit too, with live music from Billy Goat Strut Revue and inventive pimento cheese creations from area chefs. Overall and compared to 2015, the 2016 chefs were the clear winners. Garage Bar prepared smoked cheddar pimento served in small cheese cones with chipotle sauce that were outstanding; The Hub prepared pimento cheese stuffed, bacon-wrapped dates that might be the only way to ever eat dates again; and Monnik Beer Co. prepared a pimento cheese spread paired with fresh bread.
My favorite combination, however, was from Feast BBQ and Royals Hot Chicken: fried pimento mac-n-cheese balls alongside fried spicy chicken with pimento cheese pepper jelly on fresh buttermilk biscuits. Under the tent at Stitzel-Weller, with Billy Goat Strut playing in the background, it was a perfect evening.
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Bourbon:
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Bulleit Barrel Strength Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
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Distillery:
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Unknown
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Age:
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No Age Statement
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ABV:
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59.5% (119 proof) [expected range for future editions: 118-125 proof]
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Cost:
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Suggested Retail: $49.99 (750ml); $29.99 (375ml)
Price I found in Louisville: $54.99
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Tasting Notes
Appearance:
Typical amber with an orange / copper hue.
Nose:
There’s some untamed heat evident in the nose, but then it sweetens up with caramel and honey, also with clear pepper and cinnamon. I would not call it “complex,” but has a nice balance of aromas.
Taste:
There’s also a great balance here between sweet (caramel, brown sugar, graham cracker), spice (black pepper and cinnamon again), and oak. These flavors are combined with some rough fire that should be expected from nearly 60% ABV, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend a novice of cask-strength Bourbons drink this neat. But if you are already comfortable with cask-strength, Bulleit Barrel Strength will be smooth and enjoyable neat. After some air and time, there’s a slight nuttiness, so my recommendation is to try this neat and drink it slowly.
Finish:
Medium-long finish, creamy, sweet toffee, but overall dry with a focus on oak and spice.
Bottom Line
Non-chill filtered and barrel strength will now reach the masses between Bulleit’s release (even though it’s currently Kentucky-only) and Maker’s Mark’s nationwide release last year. I liked it well enough that I bought a bottle within a week, and it’s been a great bottle to enjoy as we enter the summer outdoor season. As good as the standard Bulleit is in cocktails, I expect Bulleit Barrel Strength to be better, but so far I’ve only had it neat and on ice. This one deserves some more experimentation.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 4.0
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Swill. I might dump the bottle, but will probably save it for my guests who mix with Coke.
2 – Hits the minimum criteria, but given a choice, I’d rather have something else.
3 – Solid Bourbon with only minor shortcomings. Glad to own and enjoy.
4 – Excellent Bourbon. Need to be hyper-critical to find flaws. I’m lucky to have this.
5 – Bourbon perfection. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Sipp’n Corn Bourbon Review – Barrell Bourbon Batch 006
I’ve read and heard many glowing reviews of Barrell Bourbon, but for some reason I was resisting the temptation to jump aboard. Maybe it was because I had felt burned by a few other merchant bottlers. Or maybe it was because the $90.00 price tag for eight year old Bourbon distilled in Tennessee didn’t make sense to me when I could get Elijah Craig 12-year Barrel Proof and all kinds of Four Roses private selection Single Barrel options at barrel strength, both of which have known provenance and a proven track record. Still, I was curious, and all it took was seeing a sale price at Kroger. Now that Batch 007 and private selections have landed, it’s time for a review.
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Bourbon:
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Barrell Bourbon Cask Strength Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Bottle 4076 of 5460.
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Distillery:
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Unknown, but distilled in Tennessee
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Mash bill:
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70% corn; 26% rye; 4% malted barley
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Age:
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8 years, 6 months
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ABV:
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61.45% (122.9 proof)
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Cost:
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$76.99 (sale price)
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Tasting Notes
Appearance:Rich caramel amber with a hint of orange.
Nose:
Enticing aromas of brown sugar, warm caramel, and a nutty, sugary desert. I was pleasantly surprised.
Taste:
There’s some fire initially, but it is tamed down with some air, and you’re left with complexity beyond what I expected, especially with a splash of water. It’s buttery with a nice transition from vanilla and caramel sweetness to cinnamon, baking spice, pepper, and big charred oak. Other than a slightly distracting green wood flavor, I really enjoyed it.
Finish:
Long, not from a high-proof burn, but from a wonderful, warm swell of corn and brown sugar sweetness, lingering cinnamon red hots, and plenty more oak. This finish is the real deal.
Bottom Line
Limited releases and distinct batches are tough to predict. I’ve been wrong about some that I made herculean efforts to find, and I’ve passed over others, only later learning that I had missed out on a remarkable Bourbon. Barrell Bourbon was one of those that I shouldn’t have waited so long to try.
Score on The Sipp’n Corn Scale: 3.0
The Sipp’n Corn Scale:
1 – Swill. I might dump the bottle, but will probably save it for my guests who mix with Coke.
2 – Hits the minimum criteria, but given a choice, I’d rather have something else.
3 – Solid Bourbon with only minor shortcomings. Glad to own and enjoy.
4 – Excellent Bourbon. Need to be hyper-critical to find flaws. I’m lucky to have this.
5 – Bourbon perfection. I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.
Brian Haara 