Table Of Contents
The Details
| Rating | 91 |
| Style |
Bourbon American Whiskey Whiskey |
| Produced In |
Kentucky United States |
| ABV | 62.3% |
| Availability | Limited |
| Price | $99.99 |
| Reviewed By | |
| Review Updated | 2024-08-07 |
Booker's The Beam House Batch 2024-02 Review
It’s time for yet another Booker’s release, the second of 2024. Dubbed “The Beam House Batch,” bottling 2024-02 is named for the Noe family home in Bardstown, Ky., which has housed several generations of Beam master distillers. Most recently and currently, it’s home to seventh-generation master distiller Fred Noe; his son and eighth-generation distiller Freddie lives next door. (Fun fact: I grew up about a block away, though my childhood home has yet to appear on a bottle label.)
This particular batch clocks in at 62.3 proof and is aged for seven years, two months, and 22 days. That makes it a few months younger and a tiny bit higher proof than 2024-01. As with most recent Booker’s releases, Beam provided a detailed breakdown of the aging environments for the full blend:
- 14 percent of barrels come from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Z
- 28 percent (the largest component) come from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse 3
- 14 percent come from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse 3
- 19 percent come from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Q
- 25 percent come from the 7th floor of 9-story warehouse H
Let’s see how this latest Booker’s stacks up!
Booker's The Beam House Batch: Stats and Availability
Booker’s Bourbon is released four times a year, and the MSRP is now around $100. (This has gradually climbed from around $50 in recent years.) It’s a nationwide release, and while I’ve seen it on shelves for upwards of $120 in major markets, Booker’s is a bourbon most can find at or near retail with a little looking. (It’s also worth checking online.) Each Booker’s batch is “limited” and unique, but it’s not uncommon — and Beam certainly has the production capacity to churn out quite a few bottles each time!
Booker's The Beam House Batch Review
As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.
Nose
We’re kicking things off with classic Booker’s ethanol heat here, along with some familiar aromas for the brand: cinnamon candy, coarsely cracked black pepper, dry BBQ rub, and mesquite smoke. It’s hotter than some of the more recent batches, but that’s certainly not a turn-off; whereas I thought 2024-01 showed restraint throughout, 2024-02 comes out swinging on the nose and reminds us why Booker’s is a bold boss among cask-strength Kentucky bourbons.
Dry roasted peanuts and macadamia linger below the surface. On the spectrum of Booker’s noses, I often find nuts and spice at two ends of a spectrum; The Beam House Batch leans more toward spice but does find room for both elements.
Dried strawberry and grape fruit leather are up next, leaning more into rich red fruits with the tiniest touch of fresh green apple that comes through after minutes in the glass. Small bursts of stewed veggies and herbaceousness lend a mint jelly quality unique among recent releases.
After the fruit dissipates, it’s all BBQ. Black pepper, molasses, cinnamon, cooked-down tomatoes, and liquid woodsmoke bring a sweet/spicy combo that practically makes me want to drizzle this atop a pulled pork sandwich. Based on aromas alone, this is a Booker’s you’ll want to bring to the cookout.
Taste
Despite that heat on the nose, the palate minds its manners at first sip. It’s remarkably dry — but importantly, not quite drying — with oak and leather up front. Batch 2024-01 kicked things off with syrup-soaked fruits. With The Beam House, we’re more quickly into oaky, tannic territory, which is then followed by an array of spices and mesquite smoke. More black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and clove bridge the first taste to the midpalate.
Another sip or two, and fruit finally brings some sweetness to the party. Again, it’s more dried strawberry and spicy raspberry than apple or pear, though it’s easier to parse more flavors the longer you spend with a glass. (This Booker’s batch isn’t lacking for complexity.) Burnt caramel and just-barely-over cooked vanilla sugar cookie accumulate along the back and sides of the palate, which joins a hefty dose of tannic oak that starts early and sticks throughout the full sip.
That sweetness comes just in time, and perhaps even a tad later than is optimal to balance out the oak. The bourbon isn’t puckeringly sour, tart, or tannic, but there’s a brief moment where the sweet and woody aren’t quite in perfect harmony. That’s a fleeting flaw, though, and the tastes generally achieve balance most of the way through.
This is a Booker’s batch that noses hot but doesn’t overpower on the tongue, bringing familiar notes with enough delicacy to actually pick them apart.
Finish
The finish leans dry — again, not puckeringly so — with an interesting last kick of coffee and cardamom. (Flavors one might find together in a high-end coffee shop’s specialty brew.) I wouldn’t have minded more of those red fruits here in place of some oak, but overall it’s a pretty balanced ending on a solid batch.
Booker's The Beam House Batch Rating
91/100
Recap
Booker’s The Beam House is a little less nutty and a bit spicier than the year’s first batch — which is good! Even with consistent mash bills and a relatively narrow band of aging time, variation is half the fun when it comes to these releases. 2024-02 pulls zero punches on the nose yet boasts a complex and accessible palate, despite a small and barely perceptible mismatch between oak and sweetness at the midpalate. Overall, it gets a thumbs up from me.
*Image retrieved from Suntory Global Spirits
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