750 mL - ~$20
- Purchased at Total Wine
Background
As promised, today I bring you a look at an old name in the Bourbon world, in a slightly harder to find expression. I actually got this whole “Bargain Bourbon” series started with a look at Jim Beam Double Oak, so it seems fitting that the last entry in the series for a while will be Jim Beam’s Bonded expression. Well…what I expected to be the last entry for a while…more on that later…
As I’ve said in previous Bottled-in-Bond reviews, there is a certain level of quality you can expect from a Bonded whiskey. They will be made at a single distillery in a single distilling season, aged in a “bonded” warehouse for a minimum of 4 years, and bottled at exactly 100 proof. I had not seen Jim Beam Bonded at any of my local stores, so a friend picked up a bottle on his travels…and then I spotted it at my local store, as well. Regardless, the price seems to hover around $20 for a 750 mL bottle.
Beam products from regular Jim Beam to Devil’s Cut to Knob Creek and Bookers all use the same mash bill of 76% corn, 12% rye and 10% malted barley, along with a #4 barrel char (thank you the liquor-dot-com list of mash bills). The differences in all those whiskies comes down to barrel management, individual barrel flavor and lesser or greater aging.
Notes
I poured some Jim Beam Bonded into a snifter glass. The color seemed to be a basically standard amber color, not really extra dark, but not lighter than the average Bourbon, either. It had a pleasantly sweet aroma from the glass, with plenty of honey and vanilla notes. Further nosing of the glass gave up a little oak and floral hints, but when I got too close, everything was overwhelmed by alcohol vapors. After all, it is 100 proof.
I took a sip and held it toward the front of my mouth. The first thing I noted was smooth sweetness and mellow woodiness with a spicy burn coming on later when I let the Bourbon head on down my throat. The very high corn percentage in the mash bill really seemed to allow this to be an exceptionally sweet dram, even with the high alcohol content.
I lit up a La Gloria Cubana Estelí to go with the Bonded Beam. This is a cheap (but good) cigar that paired pretty well with this cheap (but good) Bourbon. What I like about the Beam Bonded is that it is sweet enough to enjoy neat, though flavorful and strong enough that it should stand up well to cocktails.
When I wrote this article, it seemed like it would be the last entry for a while simply because I could not acquire other whiskies from my list readily…but then I did score a bottle of Benchmark No. 8. As for the others on the list, if you are of a mind to help out with any of these, let me know…I’d be willing to work something out:
- Old Fitzgerald Prime (~$14)
- Old Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond (~$12)
- Old Grand-Dad 80 Proof (~$17)
And I will keep an eye out for those on the above list, as well. I’m headed back to California for a week in October and it’s always a good time to check out different selections at different stores.
The point of this whole series was to find something pleasing to drink (and pair with a cigar) without paying an arm and a leg for every bottle. While I never had a doubt that a Cask Strength Single Barrel expression of Four Roses would be amazing (at $65) and I would fully expect for Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond to be the best Bourbon I’ve ever tasted (for $100 MSRP…but likely more than that in real life), I’ve been surprised at how good a $13 to $25 bottle of Bourbon can be. It proof that you can get close to top-shelf flavor, even if you don’t have a top-shelf budget. I’ll post that Benchmark review in a couple weeks and we’ll be one stop closer to having a great collection of Bottom-Shelf Bourbons.
