Beam Distillation Proofs

[cowdery]

I toured Jim Beam, Clermont, on Friday and learned something interesting. They are now bringing the different expressions off the still at slightly different proofs.

Originally, they made two bourbons, regular Jim Beam and high-rye Old Grand-Dad. The Old Grand-Dad juice was used for OGD and Basil Hayden and the JB juice was used for everything else. For the small batchers, except BH, a barrel didn't become Baker's, or Booker's, or Knob Creek until it was dumped.

Then they started to do wood management. It was the same juice off the still, but they barreled and put away according to brand, so the whiskey was Knob Creek (for example) as soon as it went into the barrel, and it was put away according to where it would age best in nine years, into a whiskey with the Knob Creek profile. Ditto for the other expressions.

Now, not long ago, they have started to actually bring the spirit off the still at different proofs, according to what brand it's going to be. Bookers and Baker's come off at 125 proof, Knob comes off at 130, and Jim Beam white and black come off at 135. Booker's and Baker's have no water added and go into the barrel at 125. Knob and Jim have water added so they too can go into the barrel at 125.

Ditto OGD/BH, which comes off at 127 and gets diluted slightly to 125 for entry.

So what? Lower distillation proof means more flavor.

[MJL]

Very interesting information. In particular I like the bottom line. So lower barrel fill proof means more taste. So why barrel at a higher proof to begin with?

[OscarV]

So why barrel at a higher proof to begin with?

To make more money, if you water down a 140 proof out of the barrel, down to 80 proof that will fill a heck of a lot of bottles.

[jeff]

Chuck,

Thanks for the info. Approximately how long have they been doing this? What's in the bottles now, and how long before this "custom distilled" product hits the shelves?

[ILLfarmboy]

Jeff, you took the words right out of my mouth.

[cowdery]

Very interesting information. In particular I like the bottom line. So lower barrel fill proof means more taste. So why barrel at a higher proof to begin with?

[cowdery]

Chuck,

Thanks for the info. Approximately how long have they been doing this? What's in the bottles now, and how long before this "custom distilled" product hits the shelves?

[mozilla]

So, how much more can someone expect to pay for this new proof managment?

[cowdery]

So, how much more can someone expect to pay for this new proof managment?