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BOTM, 6/05: Knob Creek


jeff
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Well, you can always move to Sweden. Here, prices are all the same and always expensive! grin.gif

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Yep, I agree, that puts a good description on what I find a little negative about KC, a bit rough. If I am in a bar and they have KC and Maker's, which are the 2 "high end" bourbons a lot of bars around me stock, I'll usually go for the Maker's which I find equally complex but friendlier to my taste buds.

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I personally like the Knob Creek. I like other bourbons better. I do not dislike the KC. I like the taste. The Maker's Mark, in my opinion, is not complex. There is very little there. Little taste or body.

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Interesting, actually I've never owned a bottle of either, only had them in bars, and never side by side. I'll have to try them side by side sometime and carefully compare them.

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The Maker's Mark, in my opinion, is not complex. There is very little there. Little taste or body.

No intention of hijacking this thread but what is complex about Maker´s (and I assume that we are discussing the red seal here) is actually the finish which, in my view, is unbelievable

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I've been toying with buying a bottle of this stuff for over a year having had quite a few pours of it in a local pub. Nice but it's got that Jim Beam licorice edge, which puts me off ever so slightly. It's on the to 'get list' but not high up.

In the UK 'Knob' is slang for a man's 'little guy', which makes ordering a 'large Knob Creek' nigh on impossible smile.gif

How much is KC in the UK?

I'm glad you clarified the "knob" reference. I remember reading an interview with Ewan McGregor (Scottish, yes? But probably same slang?) in which he commented about the rudeness of the brand name "Knob Creek" - in jest, of course. I think the interview took place in a bar, which prompted the comment. Where were the overseas marketing guys when they were naming the brand? Speaking of marketing...thought it was kind of interesting how the "Knob Creek Network" sort of replaced the "KY Bourbon Circle." Obviously, the marketing push for this brand is big within Beam.

Where is Knob Creek anyway? The KC propaganda I have seen says it's the childhood home of Abraham Lincoln. Can you visit it?

As for the whiskey itself, it was a better buy when it was a little more reasonably priced in VA. The quotes I see of ~$20 elsewhere would be more in line with current WT, EWSB and VG 90 prices here. At that price, I like it a little more.

Prompted by its selection as BOTM, I am drinking it right now - thus making this post straddle two threads! I get a combination of floral and leather aromas, some mint and licorice on the palate and a lingering finish. Somehow unique in the small batch collection yet still quintessentially Beam.

BOTM - this is a great idea, Jeff! toast.gif

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...Where is Knob Creek anyway? The KC propaganda I have seen says it's the childhood home of Abraham Lincoln. Can you visit it?...

Lincoln's Boyhood Home, an historical site with some period (though not original) buildings, a picnic area, and a nice split-railed meadow on the site where the Lincolns lived, is between Hodgenville (where Lincoln was born) and New Haven. I stop every time I go by it -- there's just something about communing awhile with a location so closely related to such a towering figure. The Knob Creek homestead was the earliest one Lincoln remembered, by his own account. And, it was from Knob Creek itself that his boyhood friend Austin Gollaher saved 7yo Abe from drowning.

edited to avoid looking any more ridiculous for not looking at the map.

post-367-14489811952049_thumb.jpg

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between Harrodsburg (where Lincoln was born) and New Haven.

Actually Knob Creek is where Lincoln was born and Hodgenville is the site of the birthplace park. It was a farm Tom Lincoln bought when young Abe was 9 or so. The cabin on display there is thought to be a model of a cabin from Abe's boyhood period that saw it's days moved about in carnivals, maybe. But certainly no one claims it to be the actual cabin.

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Yeah -- that's what I meant, but I'm not local, and didn't have my map in front of me. I can drive there, even without knowing where I'm going.

Hodgenville. banghead.gif Go where I mean, not where I say.

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Abraham Lincoln's Boyhood home is located right beside Knob Creek in LaRue County, Kentucky. There is a very small one room log cabin on the site and a very large log cabin, that was used for refreshments/bar/souvenirs/ and lots of historical facts about Lincoln...I have always called that area Knob Creek and the large log cabin, Lincoln's Tavern grin.gif

For official records, I talked to the folks at the Lincoln Museum in Hodgenville...I asked them, what is the actual location, is it Athertonville or Knob Creek?...I was told, neither...and given the location as being between Hodgenville and Athertonville. She said Knob Creek is the name of the creek that runs nearly right beside his boyhood home. The actual mailing address is Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Bobby stated, the old log cabin is not the actual home that young Abe spoke about----Abe has said that his happiest days of is life were at Knob Creek---There are two log cabin's on this 200+ acre farm. The other log cabin was the party place for years and years. That's how it was tagged "Lincoln's Tavern" by all the local's...In the 40's, 50's and 60's you could go there and dance, and party all the time. It was "the place" to have a good time.

It was privately owned by the Howard family from Hogenville for years. Several years ago, it was purchased by the State of Kentucky and now is a official "State Park" grin.gif

We have had many "Beam Reunions" at that park. I have waded thru Knob Creek many times catching crawdads and tadpoles". I leaned to swim not far from that place grin.gif The local "Boy Scouts" used the farm quite often for camping.

Young Abe's Daddy worked at a Distillery (Boone Brother's) just a few miles north (Athertonville) from their Knob Creek log cabin. It's states in "The Nelson County Record" (1896) by Sam Elliot, that young Abe would walk to that distillery to bring his father his lunch...Young Abe worked for the Boone Brother's Distillery for a short time grin.gif

I know this is drifting abit but it still relates to Knob Creek (the subject) and Bourbon grin.gif This story of Abe and Lincoln's Tavern is one of my favorites grin.gif...

Bettye Jo

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Before it is too late I want to get my two cents in. I like Knob Creek. Sometimes it burns a bit going down but that is more a function of my palate that day than the whiskey, I think. Tonight it is smooth with just a bit of bite. This is only my second bottle of KC, I have a lot of open bottles competing for any one nights drinking, so that means I am getting round to it fairly frequently since I started drinking whiskey seriously. When I think about it and try to pick out the flavors that others find in it I see that they are all there, the maple/honey sweetness, the hints of what I think of as cookie spices, cinnamon, etc. Maybe a little a little orange peel. Sometimes licorice, sometimes not. Today not so much. Somehow the hint of orange peel is switching back and forth with the hint of licorice like one of those pictures that is either a vase or two people about to kiss. The time I was really hit with licorice was when I had been drinking one or another of the Wild Turkey expressions, probably Rare Breed. I think I will have a very small pour of that and see if that happens again. Well, the Rare Breed is tasting pretty nice! A little, not much more, licorice tonight. More maple if anything. My finally rating, for tonight anyway, is it makes my 'Have a bottle around though it probably won't get drunk a quickly as some others' list.

Ed

Oh, and thanks for the pictures and info about the local Knob Creek. And as to price, here in Sapporo, Japan, at the discount it is something like $25 US. Nearly $50 in some other places. Not worth the later, worth the former.

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I haven't had KC in a bit, and probably won't by the end of the month, but I largely agree with you, Ed. Pretty much everything's in there; lots of flavor, maybe on the sweet side, but spiciness makes itself obvious too. Smooth enough, but with some kick always there. Obviously, marketing has helped its success, but so has a good, middle-type profile.

And I don't know that I will be "real-time" tasting next month's BOTM either; I just closed out bottles of OF 86 and 100. Y'all have me bringing so much into the house that I can't get to, I'm running out of room.

Actually, I guess in the spirit of BOTM, I need to be working on the bottle at the time. So maybe I need to hit the store.

Bob

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I just nosed last night's empty glass. That usually brings out leathery, oaky notes in other bourbons, but not with KC. More maple sweetness. Fresh smelling.

Ed

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I ran out of KC a while back and only recently got back to the store for some more. It's good stuff, as everyone here has basically said already, but I would like to touch on one aspect that hasn't been discussed: packaging. Does anyone else find the label design a little off-putting? It's kind of artsy (or at least it was when it came out), but I think KC is of sufficient quality that it deserves something a little classier. At some point the current design is going to look dated.

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When it first came out there was an argument it was a bit contrived since it looked like the kind of package that might have been put out a long time ago by a smaller company, one not conscious of the marketing potential of labelling and packaging. Ironic, since that was precisely the intent of the KC package. But that's okay. It is a good whiskey and has maintained its quality although I don't think it is quite as good as when it first came out.

Gary

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I’ve enjoyed reading all the posts about Knob Creek in this thread. I don’t have anything original to contribute, but here, in no particular order, are my reactions to some of the posts.

Bamber, I tried to detect the licorice edge that you mentioned, but my palate wasn’t up to the job.

Jeff, I’ve been eagerly awaiting an opportunity to use the following emoticon. iagreejeff.gif During the last few years I’ve drunk three-plus bottles of Knob Creek. During that time it seemed to change from rough to smooth, perhaps too smooth at this point. It never occurred to me that it was the bourbon that had changed. I assumed my taste buds were becoming hardened. As to the maple flavor being in all JB bottlings, I recently tried KC and JB Black side by side. They were less similar that I anticipated. The JB Black seemed to have floral, honey-like nose and palate. I had never detected these flavors when drinking it alone. I didn't get the maple flavor that I thought I remembered.

TrueBarrel, the “bold, spicy, full-bodied taste†that you found reminds me of the way I perceived KC a couple of years ago. Now I would use less intense adjectives to describe it. I still wonder how much it has changed and how much I have changed.

Dane, your “middle of the road†description of KC pretty well sums it up for me. It’s comforting to see it on a shelf in a bar with limited choices of bourbon, but I would never seek it out. My only disagreement is in regard to your ranking Booker’s at the head of the Small Batch class. I’ve really tried to enjoy Booker’s but without success. I’ve tried it neat and at proofs from 110 down to 80 by tens. At high proofs it overwhelms me and at lower proofs the flavors are unappealing to me. When I finish my current bottle, purchased at least three years ago, I don’t plan to replace it. I'll probably replace my Baker's, unless I hear that its flavor has been diminished akin to Knob Creek's.

Gillman, I agree with your assessment. As I’ve implied above, I believe there was a more noticeable char component when I bought my first bottle.

Hedmans, your post will inspire me to look for the flavor elements you mentioned as I near the end of my current bottle of KC. However, I stopped and reread your comparison to Hirsch and Pappy 20 to make sure you really wrote what I thought I had read. While I’ve yet to open my lone bottle of Pappy 20, I’ve tried three bottlings of Hirsch, and, IMO, none of them invite comparison to KC. I will try to keep an open mind in that regard, but it will be difficult.

Tim (TN), “burnt caramel†is a good description of the flavor that I formerly found too harsh. Now I miss it. To me anything is better than “blandâ€. (Thanks for posting the photo. It’s all the more appealing to me now that I live in predominately brown, dry Arizona. We do have gorgeous sunsets here, though.)

Tim (AL), no fair doing a tasting with The Grateful Dead as a backdrop. Would your findings be different if you were listening to, say, The Canadian Brass? While watching a Bond video? Regardless, you and I are pretty much on the same page.

Mike1, when did you buy your bottle of KC? Your description of it reminds me of my impression of KC of old.

Edward_Call_Me_Ed, the Knob Creek you describe reminds me of the Knob Creek I used to drink. That’s a drink worth having on the shelf, even if, I as I once thought, it might be overpowering at times.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

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Hedmans, your post will inspire me to look for the flavor elements you mentioned as I near the end of my current bottle of KC. However, I stopped and reread your comparison to Hirsch and Pappy 20 to make sure you really wrote what I thought I had read. While I’ve yet to open my lone bottle of Pappy 20, I’ve tried three bottlings of Hirsch, and, IMO, none of them invite comparison to KC. I will try to keep an open mind in that regard, but it will be difficult.

Dave, I spoke not so much of a similarity of flavours as rather a sense of refinement that I think all three share - something that is perceived to be luxurious. The Bourbon equivalent to Swiss milk chocolate, perhaps?

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Hello Dave,

I might be drinking older bottlings here in Japan. Then again it might be that I am approaching the KC with a less experienced palate. I have been playing catch up this year. It is safe to say that I have tried more whiskies each month this year that I did in my whole life before December 2004. Not that I didn't drink much whiskey in those days. I just didn't cast my net as widely as I do now, nor did I go after the really big fish back then.

Ed

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