KNOB CREEK SiB BOURBON
a barrel from Warehouse F, Floor 4, Rick 2, selected by Ace Spirits (2020)MASH BILL – 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley
PROOF – 120
AGE – 15 years 3 months
DISTILLERY – Jim Beam
PRICE – $62
WORTH BUYING? – Oh so yes
Uncorked and tasted in The Year of No Buying (The what? 🔗 here.)
Not too long ago, Knob Creek fans experienced a magic moment in time, wherein Knob Creek single barrels aged around 15 years were popping up as store picks in shops all over the country. The phenomenon had started in 2019, lingered into 2020, and then ended. During that brief window, I managed to collect five such bottles. After this current bottle, only one of those five remain, and then that’s it…
Jim Beam itself now puts out their standard release 15 Year and 18 Year with some annual regularity. I’ve not had the opportunity to sample either. They are bottled at 100 proof, not the hefty 120 that is standard for the single barrel releases. They also cost a heck of a lot more than this 2020 SiB store pick did, and that current picks do—all aged roughly 9 years these days. Knob Creek single barrels, always quality stuff whatever their variations, remain a great deal in these bourbon boomed times.
Such great deals are my favorite “unicorn” these days: quality bourbon, appropriately priced, and relatively available—as demonstrated in this case by my being able to find five in a year’s time without terribly much effort. That’s a satisfying old school bourbon hunt.
By contrast, Weller in any incarnation can’t even bore me to tears at this point. I have no tears for Weller. But a well aged Knob Creek single barrel? That’s a bourbon I’ll still shed a tear for. A tear of joy as I sip it. A tear of nostalgia when I pour this bottle’s final ounce.
And even though I know that when my last bottle is done, that’s it, still there are all those 9-year Knob Creek single barrels currently out and about, and they’re great too. And with so many brands now and so much competition, someone somewhere will always be putting out a good bourbon aged ~15+/- years, priced within a range of what can be considered “decent.” Calumet has done it. George Dickel does it. MGP, and quality blenders like Barrell and Bardstown Bourbon Company, often come close to doing it, mixing it with younger whiskeys. So I have faith that the bourbon bubble’s gradual leak will regularly supply us with that species of unicorn that is good well-aged bourbon at a fathomable price.
So here we are, just over three weeks after uncorking and a good handful of pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using both a simple brandy glass and traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – deep and vibrant fire oranges, with dark brass and cherry highlights
NOSE – cinnamon baking spices, dusty and refined oak, thick cut caramel, a dark vanilla syrup, milk chocolate, a light dusting of finely ground black pepper, very faint orange peel and cherry
TASTE – thick and syrupy, the caramel is richer here, the cherry leans forward just a bit, darker chocolate, a solid dusty and refined oak note under it all
FINISH – wonderful old oak, dark chocolate, dark caramel clinging in the lingering syrupy texture, light black pepper, light baking spices
OVERALL – about as classic a Kentucky bourbon as it gets, mature in the best ways, a serious and cozy pour that’s way too easy to drink at 120 proof…!
Well this is kinda ridiculous. This might be a flawless pour. What does that even mean? The balance. The classic Kentucky bourbon notes—oak, caramel, chocolate, baking spice. The age bringing refined maturity rather than tottering imbalance. This is bourbon that compels me to sigh, lean back, and relax.
And the price! One could pay twice as much for whiskey half as good, easily. And though the average age of Knob Creek SiB store picks today is 9 years or so, who knows, Jim Beam has a history of surprises. Who would have anticipated the 2019/20 window of picks aged ~15 years? It could happen again. Or was that indeed a passing anomaly, a product of the distillery developing their standard 15 and 18 Year lines?
Who knows.
The moral of this story is not, I would say, to lean into FOMO when such things come around. Nor is it to bunker as much as you can when you find something you like—or that social media declares you should like. As I’ve suggested elsewhere, there is no such thing as “rare” whiskey. We’re now in a time of excess. Great bourbon is everywhere all the time. Fashion and popularity contests will unfold as they do. But for the serious whiskey enthusiast, the hunt is much more interesting now, much more nuanced. With so much whiskey being produced, the consumer has options. We can afford to wait for what appeals to us most. And we can trust that more will come around, under whatever label.
So although I may not find another Knob Creek SiB store pick aged 15+ years again, I’ll be able to find something that offers what this bourbon does—coziness, refinement, nuance, familiarity, complexity without complications, reflection without forgetting, a solid sense that much can be right and balanced in the world if we just slow down to consider it, without any of the fast-talking bs to distract us. That’s good bourbon.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 