Jim Beam bourbon undergoes distillation at lower temperatures and is distilled to no more than 62.5%, the White label is aged for four years and has quite a high percentage of rye in the mashbill.
Quite sweet with gentle notes of vanilla and cut hay, a touch of fresh corn fields and a little cereal sweetness, like the bluegrass fields of Kentucky.
Good body with notes of toasty oak and all the requisite notes of vanilla and crème anglaise, a little spice and pepper with an acetone note.
Toasty oak and resin with a some sweetness.
My favorite as a mix in my Manhattans and Rusty Nails. Just makes them taste so much better.
I've tried a lot of the non-single barrel bourbons this month courtesy of some friends with expense accounts (!). On my desk I have: Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select, Buffalo Trace, Knob Creek, Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack (yes I know but including for sake of supermarket sweepness) and Maker's Mark. Woodford is bloody vile. Its bottled at 43% and boy can you taste that extra 3%. Too much booze kills the normally sweet mouthfeel and leaves you reaching for ice. Which then does a JWB and it falls apart completely on the rocks. Astringent, wood but new wood not pleasant at all. Overpriced shyte! Buffalo Trace is great on the rocks but I feel again its too full blown. Too much of everything (very American I guess). Its nice enough but not something you want to drink just the one double. Knob Creek was just a huge disappointment. Granted its the entry level one. But still. Almost undrinkable. Booze, booze and more booze. Nothing much else. Maker's Mark was far more enjoyable; loads of oak and corn sweetness and plenty of 'spice'. Now this was a huge surprise to me too but Jim Beam White Label. On ice (4 smallish cubes) + three fingers. A minute to settle. Its just the best of the bunch. A perfect balance between sweet, booze, oak and a yeasty freakiness that just hits all the right bits of your tongue. I can't understand why a £15 bottle of mass produced 'filth' is the best 'cheap' bourbon you can pick up from Asda or the ilk. But it is. If you like to be blown away a-la-mouthwash then get some Trace. But if you like a sweet/sour/oaky apperatif of an evening then Jim Beam is a great product. Unpretentious and highly affordable. 10 from me.
This is the only whiskey there is where i get a hangover from after 2 glasses
Overall its decent and cheap obviously there's better in my opinion but for the price good choice
I lay, struggling, staring at the half finished glass of Jim Beam from the night before. Every second the clock ticks, I question my manhood more and more. I know I'm better than that - to leave a half empty glass of whiskey - and sadly the glass knows I am too. It begs me to imbibe it's sweet venom, but I can't, can I? On a Sunday morning? Blasphemy! Society would never understand. I try to move on, but the game of cat and mouse continues. I struggle to clean, emptying half finished beer after half finished beer, but I simply can't bring myself to pour out what's left of my fallen friend. Playfully it bats its eyes, and nudges me to take control...I know what it wants, and part of me wants it more. I can't do this! The pressure grows! "Why have you forsaken me?" I scream to the heavens. It's at that very moment I realize this is my destiny. I succumb to the sweet calls of the siren and place my lips upon the glass of (now warm) melted ice and sweet nectar of the gods. Memories of college apartments, black mold, wrapping paper on the walls, and faded glory flash before my eyes. The smell of molasses and sour mash take over. My tongue dances fancifully as the layers of smokey flavors take me on a path to total Nirvana.
