Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is the top selling bourbon in the world. However, the finest whiskeys in the Beam catalog might be the Knob Creek and Booker’s offerings. If you’re a bourbon fan, you don’t look for the lightest option available to you. Big bold flavor and something you can taste is your mission.

Booker Noe’s grandfather is Jim Beam. This family has been producing bourbon since 1795, almost as long as the U.S. has been a country. For the Knob Creek project, they wanted to make bourbon in the vein of those that Beam himself talked about existing before Prohibition.

Binnys Single Barrel Select Knob Creek 10yrs, 120 Proof

Bourbon is a uniquely American product. In 1964, Lyndon. B. Johnson, a Texan, proclaimed that bourbon was to be the official spirit of these United States. He saw the U.N. bestow that honor for Cognac in France, and the same for Tequila in Mexico. Americans always historically drank bourbon, so it was claimed as our official spirit. During prohibition, Mexico and Canada also produced a version. We had been making it for 200 years, so to claim it as ours meant that President Johnson was finally defining it.

Knob Creek is distilled at 130 proof. It’s important to note because barrel entry maximum for bourbon is 125. Water is the only thing you can add to a distillate before it’s barreled — water, wood, grain, yeast, time and love.

The innovator of the small batch collection at Jim Beam in Clermont, Kentucky is the sixth generation Master Distiller, a gentleman by the name of Booker Noe. Booker’s, is the namesake of his bold unfiltered whiskey. He also created the Basil Hayden brand; they’ve been making small batch whiskey for 30yrs in Clermont.

Every Ep Of The Pod Is Recorded At The Afro Beer Chick Studios

Booker Noe’s son Fred is responsible for the Booker’s brand. The story is that Booker would gift these bourbons, aged 6-8 years from the center of the warehouse as Christmas presents.

The release schedule was six times a year, in recent times that number has been reduced to four. On this week’s episode of The Neat Pour Podcast we spotlight what many consider the peak of the 2019 collection, batch three - Country Ham. Aged 6yrs, 4 Mo, 2 Days and bottled 124.7 proof. It was named after Booker’s passion for curing Kentucky Country Hams in his smokehouse. They would hang 50 at a time and cure them for 18 months.

Sweet vanilla, sugar cookies and toffee are the dominate flavors in Country Ham, it doesn’t disappoint. We wanted to understand the difference between a high proof Knob Creek pick and Booker’s so the Binny’s Single Barrel Select was added to the show. Where the nutty dessert qualities of Country Ham are the star of that show… orange marmalade and apple spices dominate the palate on the Knob Creek. They aren’t similar at all. Knob Creek is a single barrel and the Booker’s is a blend of barrels from different warehouses. It’s interesting how vastly different they are even though they are the same mash bill, same distiller and roughly the same proof.

—The Neat Pour

From Fred Noe, Beam Family’s 7th Generation Master Distiller

Other Notes:

-The breakdown of barrel storage for Country Ham is: 51% came from the 7th floor of 9-story warehouse H, 5% came from the 3rd floor of 7-story warehouse P, and 44% came from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse P. It has a mash bill of 77% corn, 13% rye, and 10% malted barley.

-A cigar dinner encounter with Goose Island Brewmaster, Greg Hall and Booker Noe is what led to Goose sourcing Jim Beam Barrels to age their batch 1000.. a beer that later became known as Bourbon County Stout.

-The other 2019 releases were Beaten Biscuits, Teresa’s Batch and Shiny Barrel.

-Binny’s Barrel Select Knob Creek comes in 8, 9 and 10 year variants.

-Cocktail of the Week is Growing Pains: combine Booker’s, Hendricks Mid Summer Solstice Gin, Ginger Snap Lemonade, Fresh Lime Juice, Lime Zest and Shredded Coconut in a shaker with ice. Strain and serve with a Lime Peel.

-Basil Hayden, and Bakers are the other brands in the Jim Beam Small Batch Bourbon Lineup

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