Beam Suntory’s Newest Annual Special Release
Another month on the calendar is gone and another limited bourbon release to keep you on the perpetual chase.
Booker’s itself needs no introduction. It doesn’t fit in that invented guideline of $10 a year that many seem to follow. You see that 6-year age statement and $99 price tag, and something doesn’t quite add up. Whether you agree with the price-to-value ratio or not, Booker’s has fans who keep extending their vertical with each and every quarterly release.
The schtick with this new annual, limited release is that it’s not just a blend from one day’s production run but instead a collection of barrels across many years from a multitude of warehouses. While the number of barrels used, and also the percentages of the whiskies in the blend are obscured, Beam has given us a small table to see when and where the barrels came from:
The 2024 release spans eight production dates and eight different warehouses, these barrels were aged as follows:
• 8 Years, 2 Months, 12 Days on the 4th floor of warehouse G
• 8 Years, 5 Months, 19 Days on the 5th floor of warehouse I
• 8 Years, 5 Months, 20 Days on the 5th floor of warehouse Z
• 9 Years, 2 Months, 3 Days on the 5th floor of warehouse Q
• 9 Years, 2 Months, 4 Days on the 6th floor of warehouse J
• 9 Years, 5 Months, 18 Days on the 7th floor of warehouse H
• 10 Years, 3 Months, 2 Days on the 4th floor of warehouse X
• 14 Years, 4 Months, 16 Days on the 6th floor of warehouse I
https://vinepair.com/booze-news/bookers-bourbon-the-reserves-2024-release/
The last batch I purchased was way back in 2019 with two of the most sought-after batches at the time. I gave in to the hype and plunked down two bills on Beaten Biscuits and Country Ham. Both are fantastic batches so I decided to use them as a measuring stick against the 2024 Reserves. How do those old batches stand up and does The Reserves warrant the $30 premium over an already premium-priced brand?
Distillery: Jim Beam.
Region: Clermont, Kentucky.
ABV: 62.95%.
Age: 8 Years, 2 Months, 12 Days.
Cask type: New Charred Oak.
Price: $130.
Color: 1.7, Burnt Umber. Natural Color. No chill filtration.
Tasting Notes
Tasted neat in a Glencairn with 15+ minutes of rest. Dilution was added for the second half of the tasting with an additional rest of upwards of an hour.
Nose: An inviting, lovely baking spice and dark caramel nose. Full of vanilla bean, cloves, and cinnamon. Your typical sweet bourbon notes of molasses, graham cracker, and caramelizing brown sugars nearing that toffee-like flavor. Earthy, but not savory, with toasted walnuts and pecans. Musty oak, wet cellar, and dunnage warehouse aromas. An acidic herbal component like lemon verbena somehow sneaks in. It presents a clean yet metallic note, like lemon extract and sanitized stainless steel. Whisps of ethanol hit your nose occasionally, and I’m not going to lie here, but it smells of lemon-scented detergent. You will recognize that familiar note if you’ve ever washed your hands with a stainless steel bar of soap. Thankfully it dissipated after some additional resting. Throwing a splash of water in my glass bloomed the fruit notes that were previously concealed. Medicinal cherry, half-ripened green strawberries, and the vegetal tartness of rhubarb.
Palate: A delightful first sip like a barrel-aged Maraschino cherry amaro. Cola, nocino, and herbescent-adjacent flavors. I typically whine about tannic bourbons but I’m rather enjoying the balance of fruity, acidic cola and mature oak tannins. This tastes older and refined. Mellow heat builds with raw ginger and a pink peppercorn kick. There’s a small murmur of anise or wormwood here too. It’s delicate but I’m stuck on this medicinal and mineral note that pops up at the back of the palate. Adding dilution helped lift those “Alpine” herb flavors and bring them forward more. Orange blossom water, floral chamomile, and aromatic woods.
Finish: The finish brings it all back to those sweet brûléed sugars. Royal icing drizzled over almond bunt cake, specifically those well-done pointed corners I love. Cinnamon sugar candied pecans and Christmas spiced nut mix. Earthy cereals make an appearance like lightly sweetened shredded wheat and multigrain Cheerios. As it sits for ages on my palate, those herbal lozenge notes begin to build again. Luxardo liqueur, iron citrate, chicory, and eucalyptus. Dilution only makes the finish that much richer. Sticky toffee and cinnamon with a robust oak backbone to it all.
Overall
I am a big fan of Beam in general. The older bourbons I’ve tended to gravitate towards have all been from Jim Beam. My tolerance of tannins is lower than average and this bottle’s blend of vintages was spot on for my preferences.
The age difference is immediately noticeable when comparing it to Country Ham. It’s a deeper, more complex sip comparatively. The flavors were exceptionally enjoyable and I kept returning to my glass just to nose it further. Each sip revealed something new to discover, whether it was the herbal notes that drew me in or the tart, acidic fruits that balanced the sweetness of the bourbon. The 2024 Reserves is a fantastic batch that brings more maturity to your standard quarterly release.
Final Score: 93
