Knob Creek 25th Anniversary

[miller542]

Full details just announced on Knob Creek's Twitter page and Huffington Post article, this summer will see the release of Knob Creek 25th Anniversary.  Unfiltered, cask strength, 12-13yrs old, single barrel, $130 msrp, seems to hit all the right notes for a limited these days.  Breaking Bourbon targets this for a June release.  I'm looking forward to this one and betting it will sell better than last year's 2001 release.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58bf29efe4b070e55af9e8bc

Edited March 15, 2017 by miller542

[jvd99]

Or is this just the rest of the 2001 they can't move

[bourbon4all]

I was having some of the 2001 the other day and thought to myself "this would be so much better at cask strength"

[berto]

300 barrels yielding only 10k bottles is quite a bit gone to the angels.

 

I didn't think the 2001 was worth the upcharge over some store picks so it will take some convincing to get me to spring for this.

[bourbon4all]

23 minutes ago, berto said:

300 barrels yielding only 10k bottles is quite a bit gone to the angels.

 

I didn't think the 2001 was worth the upcharge over some store picks so it will take some convincing to get me to spring for this.

I won't be after this one. I hope it's delicious for all those that do purchase it though.

[dcbt]

I hope this comes out closer to Booker's 25th than KC2001.  For that matter, I'd be 100% on board if they forever scrapped all other LEs and focused on an annual Booker's LE that approached the quality of the 25th.  That was simply outstanding stuff.

[Hop]

Having had the opportunity to taste KC straight from a barrel I even got to open myself during a tour I'm inclined to want to get a bottle of this and with 10,000 released it shouldn't be too tough to find in "the wild".  I admit I'm a little skeptical with the poor performance from the 2001 and how good some of the KCSB store picks are with even more age that what this is going to come out at for considerably less $$$ makes me second guess myself.  

[kevinbrink]

How does everyone seem to know the age of the store picks they buy is it just by talking to the retailers? At least in my area none of them seem to know what they picked and there is nothing on the label that gives it away as far as I can tell.

[Hop]

^^^ many of them will take their notes from the tasting where they picked the barrel and pass that along to the consumers - at least that's what I've found

[Kyjd75]

I have participated in several barrel selections with Eric for Packages & More.  The barrels will have on them somewhere the date that they were filled.  One of us always photographs that information and generally, if not always, Eric will post the actual age of the barrels chosen somewhere on his display of those bottles in the store.  I have seen other stores do likewise, but if they don't, generally if you ask someone should know the age.

[OldFitzWithTheGoldLabel]

I read the article earlier today and I love this father and son exchange between Fred and Booker.

"And it’s funny, one day in Alaska, he asked me, ‘Why do you always order Knob Creek?’ I said, ‘Well, I like it!’ And he said, ‘Booker’s is for men, Knob Creek is for boys.’ I was 37 years old, drinking 100 proof bourbon, and he was calling me a boy!” But Fred thinks Booker would enjoy the 25th Anniversary bottling. “You get that uncut, unfiltered bourbon — Dad always said that’s the way it used to be, that’s the way it’s meant to be.”

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[flahute]

22 minutes ago, kevinbrink said:

How does everyone seem to know the age of the store picks they buy is it just by talking to the retailers? At least in my area none of them seem to know what they picked and there is nothing on the label that gives it away as far as I can tell.

As others have said, If you participate in the pick and know how to read the barrel head, the date of the fill is there.

If you don't know know, the people conducting the pick almost always tell you. (They have that information on their sheets)

Smart retailers will publish this information somewhere because most consumers equate more age with higher quality.

Some retailers however don't go to Beam for a pick. A rep comes by their store and they taste from three sample bottles and pick their favorite. Barrel info can get overlooked when a pick is done this way.

[dcbt]

This part of the article could not be more false, however: "...but the fact that it’s straight from the barrel sets it apart from the 2001-vintage bottling which came out last year and disappeared soon after it hit the shelves. "  Actually, they are still on just about every shelf in the country.

Edited March 15, 2017 by dcbt

[kevinbrink]

Just now, flahute said:

As others have said, If you participate in the pick and know how to read the barrel head, the date of the fill is there.

If you don't know know, the people conducting the pick almost always tell you. (They have that information on their sheets)

Smart retailers will publish this information somewhere because most consumers equate more age with higher quality.

Some retailers however don't go to Beam for a pick. A rep comes by their store and they taste from three sample bottles and pick their favorite. Barrel info can get overlooked when a pick is done this way.

I'm going to guess this is generally the case in my area, most liquor store folks here are not particularly knowledgeable about bourbon. Sorry for the digression.

[OldFitzWithTheGoldLabel]

This part of the article could not be more false, however: "...but the fact that it’s straight from the barrel sets it apart from the 2001-vintage bottling which came out last year and disappeared soon after it hit the shelves. "  Actually, they are still on just about every shelf in the country.

Yeah, I still see a lot of those bottles. If the price would drop down to around $100, I'd get a bottle; but $150 is too high for me.

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[CardsandBourbon]

When we were doing our Beam distillery tour I asked our guide if there was ever going to be a barrel proof KCSiB.  He just smiled.  Later he showed me a picture on his phone of the 25th anniversary bottle.  Having tasted KC straight from the barrel I will probably pull the trigger and get a bottle of this.  It's more than I usually spend but as much as I like KC I almost have to do it.

 

P & M generally knows the age of every store pick and they'll let you know the age.  Makes sense to me.  If you're going to do a store selection and you know the age is in excess of what is on the label you'd be a fool to not let your customers know.

 

Although the way I heard it is that it will be 125 proof, so not necessarily barrel proof, just higher proof than the regular single barrel.

[flahute]

1 minute ago, CardsandBourbon said:

 

Although the way I heard it is that it will be 125 proof, so not necessarily barrel proof, just higher proof than the regular single barrel.

If this is true, it's a really, really stupid move on their part. Only 5 proof points higher than standard? When there's already a ton of 12-13 year old single barrels out there?

I have to believe someone gave you wrong information. Then again, they blew it with the 2001 so who knows, maybe the marketing people are that dumb.

 

Even if they do bottle this at true cask strength, it's going to have to be an exceptional batch to justify that price. If it comes in close to 140 proof it will be an almost guaranteed sellout because enthusiast love those high proofs. We will see.

[Paddy]

^^^^Steve, I agree with everything you said, but I don't think they have much at that age with any more proof on it than that. 

 

Hell, many of the standard KCSB dumps don't even come in at the 125 proof points (noted above) at barrel proof.  The one I'm drinking now only had to be dropped 3 points  (from 123) for the bottle. 

 

 

[JoeTerp]

18 minutes ago, flahute said:

If this is true, it's a really, really stupid move on their part. Only 5 proof points higher than standard? When there's already a ton of 12-13 year old single barrels out there?

I have to believe someone gave you wrong information. Then again, they blew it with the 2001 so who knows, maybe the marketing people are that dumb.

 

Even if they do bottle this at true cask strength, it's going to have to be an exceptional batch to justify that price. If it comes in close to 140 proof it will be an almost guaranteed sellout because enthusiast love those high proofs. We will see.

Has anyone seen the label from TTB?  That could give a clue if they have a rounded number as proof or something odd which may indicate barrel proof. It's possible that a barrel proof offerin may be indicated as a ch on the label too. 

[miller542]

18 minutes ago, JoeTerp said:

Has anyone seen the label from TTB?  That could give a clue if they have a rounded number as proof or something odd which may indicate barrel proof. It's possible that a barrel proof offerin may be indicated as a ch on the label too. 

 

Here

https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=17031001000063

[flahute]

29 minutes ago, Paddy said:

^^^^Steve, I agree with everything you said, but I don't think they have much at that age with any more proof on it than that. 

 

Hell, many of the standard KCSB dumps don't even come in at the 125 proof points (noted above) at barrel proof.  The one I'm drinking now only had to be dropped 3 points  (from 123) for the bottle. 

 

 

Fair point. I misread Cards post to mean that they were proofing it down to 125 as a sort of "fake cask strength" like "full proof". Since the Beam folks will tell you they can't do KC at full cask strength because of TTB label approval complexity it didn't take much for me to leap to that conclusion.

Re-reading the article, they say it will be single barrel and that proof will vary between barrels but they expect it to come in around 125 proof.

They must be pulling most of these from the mid to low mid floors for the proof to be there in the mid 125's. 

It's still a stretch at $130 I have to say. I put water in mine at 120 proof so I'm not compelled to pay that much more only to add water to bring it down to where I usually drink it.

[flahute]

27 minutes ago, JoeTerp said:

Has anyone seen the label from TTB?  That could give a clue if they have a rounded number as proof or something odd which may indicate barrel proof. It's possible that a barrel proof offerin may be indicated as a ch on the label too. 

 

8 minutes ago, miller542 said:

 

Here

https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=17031001000063

TTB shows 125 proof, but the photo of the bottle in the article shows it handwritten in red as 100 proof, 50% which is of course just a filler for example purposes. 

I guess they found a way to get around the TTB label issue they always used as an excuse. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic)

[Paddy]

^^^I drink my KCSB at around 115 proof, and don't see any reason to change a thing.  Most of the private selections around here are already in the age range for this release, so you already know what I'm gonna do...

 

...keep buying KCSB. 

 

 

[flahute]

1 hour ago, Paddy said:

^^^I drink my KCSB at around 115 proof, and don't see any reason to change a thing.  Most of the private selections around here are already in the age range for this release, so you already know what I'm gonna do...

 

...keep buying KCSB. 

 

 

You sir are a wise man. 

I have a 12 year here locally so I'm going to do the same.

[JoeTerp]

2 hours ago, miller542 said:

 

Here

https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=17031001000063

Thanks