Small Batch Jim Beam and Port

[camduncan]

Has anyone heard of a Small Batch Jim Beam with Port?

I was out of the city visiting my folks today, and the Manager of their bottle shop had just gotten in a case of it. The bottle's not in front of me, but it's an 80 proof bourbon with Port. I'll update with more details once I head back tonight.

[Paradox]

I have never heard of an 80 proof Jim Beam bourbon with port. What I have heard of is a bourbon made by Jim Beam called Distillers Masterpiece that was 20 years old and aged in Geyser Peak port wine casks. Its final proof was 98. It has been out for several years now as has been a 18 year version that was done in cognac casks. Here's a pic of the bottle and neck. Oh yeah, and it sells for big dollars, anywhere from $200 up. If you're lucky sometimes it can be had for a little less...

[jbutler]

That's "Geyser Peak" Mark A winery in Geyserville CA(about 20 miles north of Santa Rosa), probably best known for their "Franzia" brand of box wines. My only regret with this stuff is that I didnt try to weasel my way into that place to get a taste. I knew it was there four years ago.

I wonder if they still have any in the barrel? Time to make a few phone calls!

[Paradox]

Correction made, thanks Jim.

[Gillman]

I have some 15 year old Madeira at home. Inspired by the idea Booker Noe and Geyser had of finishing 20 year old bourbon in port wine casks, I intend to coat the insides of a tumbler with the Madeira and pour two fingers of Van Winkle rye. The rye, no doubt like the 20 year old Bourbon, has a well-aged, slightly tannic edge that I think would marry well with the raisiny, caramel-like wine. Report to follow.

Gary

[Gillman]

Experiment delayed. The Madeira was not quite as good as when I opened it a month ago. While Madeira is famously long-lived, this sample, a Bual (which tends to slight acidity), seemed over the hill. So, I will wait to open a bottle of vintage port I have, I need a dinner party or other occasion to open it. ORVW rye whiskey is top of the line and I don't want to use it except in connection with prime ingredients. I'll go for a Manhattan instead, tonight. One time in New York, seeking vermouth, I bought some red Dubonnet because the small store in SoHo had nothing by way of red vermouth. Dubonnet, a French proprietary flavoured wine, is not quite vermouth but similar. I used the ORVW rye, can't recall now if it was the 12 or 13 year old. We mixed it up in the hotel room and it produced an ultra-fine cocktail. Tonight I'll use Nouilly Prat red vermouth with said ORVW rye. A large bottle of vermouth lasts a long time, so I haven't replaced it with the Dubonnet yet.

That Manhattan in New York, made as I say from ORVW and Dubonnet (plus Angostura Bitters and cherries) was special, I haven't been able to make one as good since the trip. Might have been the particular vintage of ORVW rye I was working with, or the Dubonnet, or the moment - having a cocktail in the great city it was named after, being there and going out after to experience the town - a Who show at Madison Square Garden it was, but it could have been a blues show, some jazz, just a street hot dog and a walk in Central Park (not too late though), beer and pizza at DBA's on 1rst Avenue (between 1st and 2nd Streets) or ... just walking the concrete canyons or one of the many neighborhoods of Gotham. A great city, and I know this, that night not too many people had a better Manhattan cocktail in New York than I did.

I think that would go for any night in the Big Apple, in fact.

Gary

[Tallica]

I have two on my bar see photo, its something that has just appeared down here in Aust in the last few weeks & yes it is 80 proof, but nothing to say just how much port added to it.

Sells for about AUS$44 to AUS$49, where Black Label goes for AUS$ 30 toAUS$38 a bottle down here(DAMM TAXES YOUK NOW)

I have not tried it yet

[Tallica]

Forgot the photo here it is

[Paradox]

Thanks for the photo, interesting to see it. Looks like a knob creek bottle with the wax and writing stamped in it just like knob creek. I'd like to see it available here in the US but who knows... Damn, yet another 'unique' bottling to have to try and get to add to the colection!

[Tallica]

You should try collecting from this end of the earth.

Freedom was one of my easiest additions to get hold of.Most things I have to import as no one distributes the better bourbons.

Even worse is trying to have a nice bourbon at the end of a meal when going out,people down here think bourbon comes in a can & has woodstock writtten on it

While I am rambling, my sister is going to the states later this year, what are the main impedements as far as buying bourbon over there & bringing back to Aus, can you buy in one state & carry it with you over state lines?,Can it legally be posted back here.

[Paradox]

That's odd, I had 2 people from Australia some time ago trying to find me a Freedom and both had no luck. I'd like to collect from over there, how bout' I start with one of these jb and ports, need to trade something?!

As far as your sister picking up stuff here, what are you looking for? Ones to collect or to drink? I am guessing to drink. I always say it is safe to get anything from Buffalo Trace, so anything they make that you cannot get there go for. Take a look at www.greatbourbon.com to see their lineup. It is ok for her to buy in one state and carry it over state lines, but shipping varies from state to state. Shipping from here to Aus and vice versa can be a real bitch. It can be done, but its ease depends on how it is done.

[bobbyc]

With this and the Christmas Jim Beam Black in the Old Granddad 114 bottle it's good to see that Jim Beam has a few tricks up their sleeve. Bring on a Single Barrel Old Taylor, A 10 year Old Crow at something North of 101 Proof, They have Basil Haydens so let Old Granddad rest for now.

[dhooch]

I have red Dubonnet and everything else... I think I will try a Manhattan with those ingredients.

Thanks for the info!

[camduncan]

Beat me to the posting of a picture

Have yet to open my bottle - may do tonight after dinner.

One thing the manager of the bottleshop said - He believed that it was a limited one off release. He's chasing some things for me with the Jim Beam rep and will confirm sometime next week.

Oh, and Tallicaboy, great to see another Aussie here. At least someone will understand the pain of trying track down fine bourbon here in Australia!

[Gillman]

Nice looking package. Interesting that, at least in the export market, a Bourbon is being sold flavored with port wine. In recent years many scotch whiskies and one or two bourbons and Canadian whiskies were finished in barrels that held port, sherry or a spirit such as Cognac or rum. As far as I know, the release in Australia of this "ported" Jim Beam whiskey chosen by the late Booker Noe is the first in which the flavoring is added directly rather than indirectly through maturation in ex-sherry, port or other wine or spirits casks. I would think if a bourbon or scotch is held in a sherry cask for, say, a year, the effect would be different than simply adding port or sherry to the whiskey. There wouldn't be as much (or the same) contact with the wood that had held the port or sherry. But that difference likely is not significant because whiskey and indeed sherry and port are well-flavored, so the effect would approach "de minimus" in my view.

As discussed on these boards some time ago, the addition of such flavorings to whiskey is an old practice. It was done at least from the 1800's onwards to assist in making a palatable blended whiskey. It was also done to help marry and make consistent blends of all-straight whiskey. Chuck Cowdery has speculated that the fruity style of Maryland rye whiskey (now defunct) reflected the use of flavoring of some kind. I agree and while many of those Marylanders were blended, some clearly were straight whiskey blends and (in my view up until 1920 at least) some were single straight whiskies, often a rye whiskey whose taste straight from the barrel was seen as needing improvement.

This new Beam product in my view is an example of the adage, "everything old becomes new again". I hope it tastes good and that other distillers will follow Clermont's example. Whether it is possible to market such products in the U.S. in light of present product specification laws, I do not know. Even if such products will not be sold in the U.S., one can experiment on one's own by adding a little port, sherry or madeira to a glass of whiskey. Most of us here, I suspect, will not give up allegiance to quality straight whiskey taken "as is". Some of us though like to try variations, of which this ported bourbon is an example (in effect it is a kind of cocktail).

Gary

[BSS]

I've had the understanding that the only place you can get Freedom is in a DFS Galleria. And to get one, you buy it at the shop and you don't get it until your about to leave on your international flight. Is this incorrect? If so you couldn't buy it in Austrailla and stay in the country with it. You are required to be leaving on an international flight. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Paradox]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

You are correct in your understanding of how DF works and that Freedom is only sold in DFS but maybe he has 'connections' or something like that. Anything is possible and it is sometimes easy to bend the rules; Even easier I guess once outside the US.

Technically when you buy say JD Silver Select going into Canada you are 'supposed' to consume it there and not bring it back into the US but cmon'...

[TNbourbon]

From DFS Gallerias website info page: "Some products are available for purchase as duty-free merchandise while others are available as non-duty-free merchandise in accordance with Customs laws. An international flight ticket is required to enter duty-free shopping areas and to purchase duty-free merchandise. Non-duty-free merchandise is available for purchase to all customers subject to availability..."

I don't know what the Australia customs laws say about Wild Turkey Freedom, but they need not be the same as they are here.

[BSS]

I know at the New Zealand Galleria shop(which is not at the airport), they require you to show your international ticket to purchase any liquor. You pay for your bottles, but they do not let you leave the store with them. They record the date of your flight and your flight number. When you get to the gate, your bottles are there waiting for you. My brother said in the case of New Zealands Galleria shop, it would be almost impossible to get the bottles and keep them in the country. Pretty much he said, "if your not leaving, your not getting them".

I tried to get him to buy every bottle of Freedom they had and ship them to me from there(because your suppose to only be able to carry one bottle back into the US, but he was able to bend that rule). But they wouldn't let him walk out of the store with them.

[camduncan]

Damm... I saw the Wild Turkey Freedom on my last trip to NZ in February, but decided on a bottle of Woodford Reserve instead...

Considering the Woodford is being found with more reqularity here now, perhaps in hindsight it was the wrong choice...

Oh well, my other half is off to Bankok in a couple of months, so she may be able to find a bottle for me then

[Tallica]

We have three DF stores on the east coast & I think a couple in New Zealand.

Its not hard to find someone going either way when you work in the wine industry over here.

We had a management re shuffle & I got a new Boss , who happened to be going to NZ a couple of weeks after he started , so I hit him up as a courrier & now sing his praise across our working site "As a man who can get the real impotant things done."

[Tallica]

I am looking at collecting & of course driking.

[Tallica]

I finally just bit the bullet & ordered a whole swag from Binny's, by time I have it on my bar it will have become rather an expensive exercise.

I had some Buffalo Trace last night has anyone else picked up a slight aniseed finish in this or any other bourbon

Binny's order below & by the way I found them to great to deal with most helpful.

Ancient Ancient Age 10yr Old Bourbon

Eagle Rare 101 Proof Bourbon

Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Bourbon

Ezra Brooks 15yr Old Single Barrel Bourbon

Hancock's Reserve Bourbon

Old Fitzgerald 1849 8yr Old-80 proof

Old Fitzgerald Very Special 12yr Old-90 proof

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon-2003

Old Weller 7yr Old 107 Proof Bourbon

Pappy Van Winkle 23 yr Old Bourbon

Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel Bourbon

Van Winkle 18yr Old Cask Strength

Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Bourbon

Wild Turkey Russell's Reserve Bourbon

[TNbourbon]

Wow! Great selection -- wheat and rye, younger and older, three (perhaps four, if we assume Ezra B is a Heaven Hill product) different distilleries. Odd -- and irritating -- that you can have them shipped to your door halfway around the world to Australia while Binny's can't ship to Tennessee, which is next door to all those distilleries.

[Tallica]

Perplexing is it not, but have heart I am paying a hefty premium for the priviledge where Iam sure you can enjoy your bourbon without fearing the tax collector & other debtors.