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Knob Creek Small Batch
Distillery: Beam Inc . Deerfield , IL
Age: 9 YR
Proof: 100
Nose: Apricots, apples & toast
Palate: Grilled meat & Chilli pepper with a long cinnamon finish.
Color: Russet
Notes: Knob Creek is one of the 4 premium bourbons put out by Jim Beam. The others are Booker’s, Baker’s and Basil Hayden (which a longer aged Old Grand-Dad) and I’ll getting tackling them soon enough. Knob Creek takes it’s name from Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home in Kentucky and is quite a good bourbon. Maybe I’m just an old tyme romantic, but I also like the story they weave about it being created to represent a style of whiskey that existed before mass production and supposedly “embodies the look, feel and taste of pre-prohibition bourbon”. Which might be why it’s so damn good in pre-prohibition cocktails.
At nine years Knob Creek is aged for longer than a lot of Bourbon brands out there, but age isn’t everything. As true with whiskey as it is in life, age is just a number and it’s maturity that really matters. This is where Knob Creek steps to the plate and, for the most part delivers with taste and texture that can only come from a mature bourbon. Knob Creek may not be the most complex bourbon out there, but it’s a solid full bodied bourbon with classic flavors and a smooth finish that’s easy to drink. It’s delicious neat, on the rocks or in a cocktail and it’s robust flavor is why it’s one of the bourbons I like to keep on hand.