Baker's Single Barrel

There's a dwindling bottle in the cupboard that hasn't been written up yet, so it's time for a review. I'd gone back and forth on whether or not to write this one up, as it's from a distillery I've written about before, but the bottle is interesting enough to spend some time with. Soon I'll need to branch out again and do something I'm entirely unfamiliar with.

This one is Baker's Single Barrel, a more premium expression from Jim Beam Distilling Co. I wrote about the company when reviewing the Knob Creek Single Barrel a couple years ago (also see OGD 114) and gave my quick thoughts on visiting the distillery after my wife and I went there on our trip to Kentucky this April. I won't be spending much more time on Beam, outside of placing this bottle specifically.

Beam has four brands of small batch, craftier Bourbons. There are a bunch of Knob Creeks (including Ryes), a favorite of mine since I started with American whiskey, including a (typically 9 year) 100 proof small batch and a 120 proof single barrel. The Basil Hayden line are all easy sippers at the minimum 80 proof. Booker's, a semi-annual release, is on the other extreme, very small batch and full barrel strength, with the most recent at 126.6 proof. Finally we have Baker's, kind of a Goldilocks just-right, 7 year single barrel Bourbon at 107 proof. (I don't think) There are no other versions of this one, though each should be unique.

Baker's had for a while been a whiskey I was curious about but hadn't pulled the trigger on. It has a nice looking bottle and cool cork topper and wasn't too expensive at about $60. But whiskey is all about comparables and I just wasn't going to spring for a different bottle of Beam when Knob Creek had a single barrel that was cheaper, high proof and was one I already knew I loved. The market is always changing, however, and those Knob bottles (at least the store pick single barrels) have risen to the mid-to-upper $60 range while Baker's has stayed steady. Booker's is now like $100 retail so that's in a whole other echelon if you care. The point is Baker's has become potentially the value pick here, if it's good. My wife bought one for me, and here we are.

The brand is named for Baker Beam, grand-nephew of Jim Beam and cousin to later master-distiller Booker Noe, the whiskey's creator. It looks as though Baker is still alive today and in his 80's. According to the whiskey's website, he was known for an independent spirit and 38 years of hard work at the distillery. The whiskey made in his honor debuted in 1992 and became a single barrel offering in 2019. As a single barrel whiskey (i.e. the bottle was filled from from only one barrel), slight variation is expected bottle to bottle. A fun aspect of this whiskey are the details provided, with a barrel date, age to the month and warehouse where it matured on the label. You can even enter a serial number into the website and find out more, with an interactive (if silly) page where you roll a barrel (by scrolling) and see the actual location of the warehouse on a map, the high and low temps during its maturation and more. It's a fun addition.

Stats:

ABV - 53.5% (107 proof)

Mash - 77%. corn/13% rye/10% malted barley

Maturation - new charred American oak

Age - 7+ years (mine is 8y3m)

Location - Clermont, KY

Price - ~$60

Tasting Notes:

Nose - Booze, burnt wood, orange?

Color - Pretty dark caramel

Taste - Very woody, some char, delicate bits of fruity sweetness/vanilla/spice

Finish - Medium length, well-balanced, easy to drink

Final Thoughts:

Once again I'm glad I did this, as I'm figuring out this bottle only really though an intimate look. This is probably the woodiest whiskey I've ever had. It doesn't overpower the rest of the flavors but it's easily the strongest one present. I'm undecided on what I think of that.

I'll say this, it's a solid, well-made whiskey and probably a good buy at its current price. It has all the flavors you'd expect from a Bourbon, it's just tilted in favor of the wood. This separates it from the spirit made, for example, from Buffalo Trace, which tends sweet, and Wild Turkey, which tends spicy. I'll still favor Knob Creek when drinking Beam, but I don't regret giving this one some time either.

For tonight, cheers!