Six Grain Bourbon

[bourbonv]

I suspect that the reason this is not sold in the U.S. is that Beam wants to avoid legal problems with Brown-Forman. Old Forester Signature is not sold overseas, thus the Jim Beam Signature does not conflict with the U.S. Trademark.

Mike Veach

[OscarV]

I suspect that the reason this is not sold in the U.S. is that Beam wants to avoid legal problems with Brown-Forman. Old Forester Signature is not sold overseas, thus the Jim Beam Signature does not conflict with the U.S. Trademark.

Mike Veach

[cowdery]

Beam has a rationale for the name, though it's the same as BF's, since in both cases the products have long carried the founder's signature on the label. So did many other brands. Signatures were an early form of trademarking. Trademark protection was weak but forgery was considered a serious crime. It was hard to prosecute someone for copying your product name and label, but you could get them for forging your signature if your signature was part of your package.

[TNbourbon]

If this one gets good reviews and sells well, I expect we'll see it in larger production in the future...

Doubt it. Unless they recognized its quality at the time, they'd have to start production anew, with the appropriate lag time. So, maybe 6-8 years down the road?..

Whiskey doesn't grow overnight.

[p_elliott]

This is very interesting how they did this, I would love to try a bottle of this.

[ErichPryde]

That still reads like "we don't want the people who know about bourbon getting it."

[ILLfarmboy]

Or maybe it was "we don't want the people who think they know exactly what bourbon should taste like getting it." It is an experimental, and if it doesn't taste like bourbon, that doesn't immediately make it bad, simply "not to your taste." Look at the incredibly negative feedback that the Brown-Forman experiments have recieved from this site- Four Grain is probably the bourbon most of our members hate the most, with other bottlings of the Master's collection not being too far behind. The seasoned oak finish received very mixed reviews, with some people finding it undrinkable and others liking it. I tried it and fell into the "what the heck am I supposed to think of this?" category- It didn't taste like what I expect bourbon to taste like, but it wasn't bad. It was just different.

The overseas market is much, much more used to drinking scotch. I would gamble that many overseas bourbon drinkers are also fairly equal-opportunity scotch drinkers, having "grown up" with decent versions of both bourbon and scotch readily available at equally high prices. Stateside many of us developed our palates on our own native spirit first. Some of us may have avoided scotch because of the increased cost due to taxation. Whatever the case, we feel that we know what bourbon should taste like, and a lot of us are sticking to it.

Very well put, Erich.

[DeanSheen]

Or maybe it was "we don't want the people who think they know exactly what bourbon should taste like getting it."

This is one of my theories on why a favorite of mine, 4RsmB is not very well received in these parts.

[cowdery]

What's next? I know there is something coming from Knob Creek and the rumor is that it's a single barrel, which Beam has never done before.

[cowdery]

Beam will neither confirm nor deny the rumor.

They did tell me that, "innovation in Bourbon is one of our primary focus areas," so I know that will be comforting to eveyone.

[SBOmarc]

What's next? I know there is something coming from Knob Creek and the rumor is that it's a single barrel, which Beam has never done before.

That would be something that I would be wanting to try...now.

[wku88]

Scheduled to go to Germany last of August. I just hope there is still a bottle in the Stuttgart Duty Free.

[shoshani]

What's next? I know there is something coming from Knob Creek and the rumor is that it's a single barrel, which Beam has never done before.

I thought Booker's is/was/started out as a single barrel bottling, no?

[cowdery]

I thought Booker's is/was/started out as a single barrel bottling, no?

Barrel proof, never single barrel.

[Bourbon Boiler]

Definitely something I'd lke to try if available. As long as innovation avoids things like Red Stag, I'm all for it.

[jburlowski]

What's next? I know there is something coming from Knob Creek and the rumor is that it's a single barrel, which Beam has never done before.

Beam is doing a single barrel program of KC (as evidenced by the recent releases in VA and elsewhere). It's like the programs offered by HH & BT in the sense that it features a retailer-specific labeling. The big difference from the other distillers' programs is that KC selects the barrels. This has turned off some retailers since they have no assurance that the bottling will be significantly different / better than the standard-isue KC.

[silverfish]

John Hansell tasted the Six Grain Signature against JB Black.

[AVB]

Well, I just got one from a friend in Germany as a Christmas present so I've got to spend the next 45 days just looking at it. Might just save it for New Years. Anyway, here is a pic if you haven't seen it.

[camduncan]

I haven't written any tasting notes yet, but we were lucky enough to share some of this with Fred Noe on Tuesday. Thanks to Scott (Hightower) for sharing one of his bottles. :cool:

Tasting notes to follow....

[cowdery]

I'd be curious to know what Fred had to say about it.