[Bourbon Review] Booker's Batch 2018-01

So it's been a while since I've done a review for a bourbon on this blog so I decided to get back into the spirit (literally) and go back to an old classic that unfortunately has changed not necessarily for the better.

Booker's is a small batch bourbon brand made at Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky which is the highest alcohol content selection in the Jim Beam bourbon portfolio. Because of it's proof and of it's quality it's become one of the go to bourbon selections in the United States and across the bourbon enjoying global sphere especially given its relatively affordable price along with whiskies like Stagg Jr. but lately this fact has changed a little bit.

In the past since Booker Noe, the grandson of Jim Beam and easily the distillery's most famous creator of the good ol' American spirit, released Booker's as a small batch vatting of uncut and unfiltered bourbons from selected barrels the cuts were generally selected at just over 7 years old and not a single bottling has generally not been lower then 60% ABV. While the latter fact has not changed, since 2017 the age statements on Booker's have dropped below 7 years old while rumors of a price increase to $100 USD brought a fury of online rage by bourbon enthusiasts across the internet on sites like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. Fortunately for most the price didn't increase to $100 but new retails for above $80 started to pop up across the United States, which I noticed when I was at a specialty whisky store in New York State a year ago.

So today I'm happy to try a bourbon before the change-up which is the 2015-01 batch. It's aged for 7 years, 2 months and 16 days and is bottled at 64.35% ABV. Let's see how this older batch does!

• Colour:Amber
• Nose: Heavy woodspice and baking spices, apple, caramel, cherry peel, clove, lemon citrus, roasted corn
• Palate: Silky toffee apple, cocoa, vanilla pudding, apple jam, sour lemons, oak tannins
• Finish: Medium to long with toasted oak and apple chutney

I've previously had a 2016 edition of Booker's before I tried this one and when comparing the two from memory this 2015 batch definitely has more of a richer caramel quality. The jam and citrus qualities really push this bourbon into a satisfying territory for what I'd pay for a good strength bourbon. While I'd put the Stagg Jr. Batch 10 above this, although that batch was allegedly better then some lesser quality years of George T. Stagg to be quite frank, but this is still a very good bourbon especially when it was $60 USD. I have a similar year Stagg Jr. that I'll hopefully be reviewing later to compare so hopefully that'll be a fun time, until then I was very happy with this bourbon and you should definitely give this one a look or maybe a buy!

86 pts

 

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