Booker’s Bluegrass is the latest in the Booker’s Roundtable releases. If you’re not familiar with the roundtable releases I’ll explain in the next paragraph. If you are familiar, then feel free to hop on down to the Booker’s Bluegrass review below.
The Booker’s Roundtable is an assemblage of whiskey writers, critics, industry veterans, etc. who get together with Fred Noe and taste a bunch of Booker’s casks from different places in the Jim Beam rick house. with the goal of putting out a roundtable release (like this Booker’s Bluegrass). After deciding which ones were the best from that selection a quantity of barrels are selected and mixed together for that release. The age stated on the whiskey is that of the youngest whiskey in the bottle.
Booker’s Bluegrass Info
Region: Kentucky, USA
Distiller: Jim Beam
Mashbill: 77% Corn, 13% Rye, 10% Malted barley
Cask: New charred oak
Age: 6 years, 11 months & 0 days
ABV: 63.95%
Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color
Batch: 2016-01
Price: $65 *
Booker’s Bluegrass Review
EYE
Ruddy caramel
NOSE
Rich caramel, toasted corn, nuts, spice, candied citrus and wood with a light herbal and vanilla underpinning. Really a nice “bourbon nose” on this one.
PALATE
Peanuts, oak, complex dark sweets, candied citrus and spice. Light notes of blackberry compote and brown sugar waft through towards the end. Some interesting and unique qualities to this one.
FINISH
Long herbal saunter accompanied by wood, candy corn and toasted peanuts.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Well balanced with a full round body and a heavy warm feel.
OVERALL
The Booker’s Bluegrass isn’t quite as good as the the Noe Secret from last year, but then that’s going to be a tough act to follow. The NS was one of my favorite whiskeys of last year and continues to be something I enjoy going back to. However, the Booker’s Bluegrass is no slouch. Oaky and sweet it’s a nicely balanced bourbon that delivers across the senses.
As you’d expect from any good Booker’s release the Booker’s Bluegrass is a solid bourbon with a nice array of flavors and aromas that display beautifully at full cask strength. A light splash of water opens it up a wee bit, but I found that it doesn’t take too much water to make it fall apart. It’s a really good whiskey, but in a sense it doesn’t play well with water. So if you’re like me, and enjoy adding a tiny bit of water to cask strength whiskey to help open them up, my advice is to go light. A little goes a long way with this one.
SCORE: 88/100
*Disclosure: This sample of Booker’s Bluegrass was graciously sent to me by the company for the purposes of this review. The views, opinions, and tasting notes are 100% my own.
