Staff Blog
Drink This Immediately: Jim Beam Black
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| jimbeam.com |
At just $14.99 in Pennsylvania Wine & Spirits stores, an ordinary bottle Jim Beam is sadly not a brilliant keystone of the liquor cabinet. Sweet, pale and bracingly boozy, the sour mash bourbon is strictly rail fare at the bar, fit only to mix with diet Coke or spash with ginger for cheap imbibing.
That’s why I was so taken aback by Jim Beam Black, an 8-year aged straight bourbon that retails for $20.99 ’round these parts. Bourbon is American whiskey, originally named for Bourbon County, Kentucky, which has been produced in the U.S. since the 18th century. The spirit must be distilled from at least 51 percent corn and aged for at least two years in new, charred oak barrels to be called bourbon. No place-name rules apply — it can be produced in any part of the country, but 98 percent of bourbon is distilled in Kentucky.
Mr. Beam Black is a sour mash like the usual Jim; that is, the mixture of corn, rye and barley malt (called mash) from a previous distillation is added to the new batch to ensure an even pH across batches. Jim Beam uses 25 percent “set back” mash in each new batch. Corn is what gives bourbon its characteristic sweet flavor and lighter body — much sweeter and softer than Irish whiskey or Scotch. For those new to the brown liquors, bourbon is a good first foray.
The Black is aged twice as long as regular Beam, and it shows. The 8 years in well-charred barrels impart a dark honey color and oaky tones to the spirit. An aroma of toffee and a bit of tobacco is the first impression; while on the tongue grains and toasty nut flavors emerge. A very warm finish is the hallmark of the 86 proof (43% ABV) booze.
Drink This Immediately.
Makes a dandy (if not a tad sweet) Manhattan or Allegheny.
While I agree with most of your comments, I must state that the minimum age for bourbon is 2 years, not 4. However, if a bourbon is to be aged for less than 4 years it must say so on the bottle, or so I have heard.
I also find it strange that you find bourbon “softer” than Irish whiskey. Irish is triple-distilled and often a good portion of it is distilled to a very high proof, meaning that it has more alcohol and less grain flavour, which translates to a cleaner, softer-tasting spirit. Though bourbon is indeed sweet, it tends to be more robust and in-your-face because it cannot be distilled to more than 160 proof.
Anyway, I agree that Jim Beam Black is a great value and a nice whiskey overall.
Mike: You are quite right about the minimum age requirement being 2 years. Most commercially available bourbons are aged 4 years, and I did not make the distinction. Thanks for pointing out my mistake.
As to whiskey being “softer”, I would say it is a perception thing. I find Jameson, for example, to be very burning and coarse-tasting, while something like Maker’s Mark tastes gentler. The height of the stills in distillation matters as well; lighter alcohols will make it over the top of short stills, while heavier are left behind. Also, in most cases higher proof spirits have much more “burn”, from the increased volume of pure alcohol. I don’t subscribe to the notion that alcohol is “tasteless” — as Ralph Wiggum says, “It tastes like burning!”
Thanks so much for your comment