Beam - giving the people what they want.....

[flahute]

Thread title chosen to acknowledge that in my year end State of the State post I usually criticize Beam for giving the people what they don't want.

In this case, they absolutely have. Old Overholt rye line extensions at 11yr age statement and higher proofs.

 

https://www.fredminnick.com/2020/03/14/old-overholt-to-release-11-year-and-114-proof-products/

 

Now I'm still scared about the price, because Beam, but they heard us on doing right by this historic brand name and by bringing a higher age rye to market. 

[JCwhammie]

I agree on the pricing comment. The newest Bookers just hit our market. The continuing trend of younger and more expensive continues. 

I was pleased to see they recently release a SiB JB 108 proof that's NCF. I'm almost positive there's no age statement. It's less than $40, 

[Jazz June]

While pricing remains to be seen, upping the quality offerings for this historic brand is great in my book. If OGD 114 is a template, hopefully the 114 is reasonable. It should be great for cocktails. The 11yr might be pricy, but there aren’t many Kentucky ryes with age statements like that on the market.

More honesty on the existing labels and upping the 3yr to 86 proof NCF are also appreciated steps. So way to go Beam. It does seem like Beam now will have two rye lines in competition  each other - OO and Knob Creek - but that’s not a bad thing for consumers.

 

Now do the same for Old Crow!

[TwoFingers]

I will be interested in this.  I liked the BIB well enough but it just seemed to be lacking something.  Higher proof and/or age sounds good to me.  Price will be the key factor.

[Vosgar]

For me, Beam's bourbon needs a lot of time in the barrel to be any good. It'll be interesting to see if I have the same opinion with their 11yr rye.

 

Btw......I love the picture of grumpy Abe 

[kevinbrink]

I'm lazy and can't be bothered to link but Whisky Advocate said the "Improved" NAS and BIB would only be going up a buck a piece so there is hope pricing wise. I also contend that Beam puts out plenty of fair priced regular and LE releases even now. For every Booker's 30th there is a KC Barrel Proof Rye and Beam Distiller's Cut type release. 

[Harry in WashDC]

43 minutes ago, kevinbrink said:

I'm lazy and can't be bothered to link but Whisky Advocate said the "Improved" NAS and BIB would only be going up a buck a piece so there is hope pricing wise. I also contend that Beam puts out plenty of fair priced regular and LE releases even now. For every Booker's 30th there is a KC Barrel Proof Rye and Beam Distiller's Cut type release. 

Speaking of Distiller's Cut and the BIB, I knew the DistCut was a special release and purchased accordingly as I liked its slight edge compared to the BIB.  As Vosgar mentioned, Beam is better with some age, but I found both the DC and the BIB tolerable if a little corny, and the price ($22 a 750) won me over.  While I can understand Beam's decision to keep DC as a special release, I cannot figure out WHY Beam went through a bottle change, a label change, and a year of promotion of the BIB only to make it SO DAMN HARD TO FIND.  Some marketing jerk ought to be fired.  While the BIB was, to me, a homogenized version of the DistCut, it was/is a SUPERB bourbon base in cocktails.

 

Given Beam's extensive rick/warehousing (which rivals Jack Daniels if you check Google Earth), Beam HAS to have sufficient 6+ year old stuff in bulk.  WHY they don't exploit it is beyond my ken.  But then, I just drink this stuff EVERY DAY so I don't know doodoo.

[FasterHorses]

5 hours ago, Vosgar said:

For me, Beam's bourbon needs a lot of time in the barrel to be any good. It'll be interesting to see if I have the same opinion with their 11yr rye.

 

Btw......I love the picture of grumpy Abe 

They did 11 year rye at 90 proof which wasnt excellent. I look fwd to the higher proof though.. always thought the 90 was a miss that couldve been great. 

[fosmith]

22 hours ago, JCwhammie said:

I agree on the pricing comment. The newest Bookers just hit our market. The continuing trend of younger and more expensive continues. 

For me, Booker's is starting to jump the shark, especially with the current pricing.  I had hoped when they cut back the releases to four a year and started raising the price, at least the age statement would go up.  But it hasn't and a number of the recent releases have been less than stellar.  IMO, Booker's was better when they released six or more batches per year (and it was $50). 

[kevinbrink]

2 hours ago, fosmith said:

For me, Booker's is starting to jump the shark, especially with the current pricing.  I had hoped when they cut back the releases to four a year and started raising the price, at least the age statement would go up.  But it hasn't and a number of the recent releases have been less than stellar.  IMO, Booker's was better when they released six or more batches per year (and it was $50). 

All other things being equal, doesn't $50 whiskey always taste better than $80 whiskey. 

[EarthQuake]

Great to see this. Pricing will be interesting, hopefully since it's in the Old Overholt line it will be reasonable ($60 or less would be reasonable in my opinion). KC Rye Cask Strength is about 9 years old and $60-70 or so?

 

Beam has made a number of smart decisions recently. Knob Creek Small Batch getting the 9 year age statement back, and extending the line with a 12 and 15 year releases make a lot of sense. I'm sure we won't be seeing those 12-15 year barrels in the pick program anymore, but honestly that was only a matter of time. Baker's 7 in the new bottle and 13 seem to bit a hit, lots of people posting crotch shots of those in whiskey groups when a year or so ago barely anyone mentioned the brand.

Edited March 15, 2020 by EarthQuake

[Harry in WashDC]

Pikesville 110 (rumored 6+ years) runs around $50 a 750 in and around WashDC, and Ritt 100 is around $25.  A JB Rye at 114 proof and 11 years likely would be more.  We are getting into my "$$$$ for one of these vs. $$$$ for four of these."  It is a puzzlement, especially since my ryes usually go into cocktails instead of neat sippers.