It has been one thousand, nine hundred, and thirty four days since I last reviewed Baker’s Bourbon. In that time the brand has gone through some changes. It got a new bottle design, which I LOVE! But more importantly, it was revamped to be a single barrel product.
I’ve always liked Baker’s. If Knob Creek wasn’t super cheap a short walk from my house, it would be my go to product from Beam. When I first heard of it last year, I was a little nervous about the switch to Single Barrel, but also excited. Would they change it? Would it be better? Worse?
Of course, the roll out to the new product was super slow in my neck of the woods. I’m guessing that retailers were looking to sell out of the old Baker’s before they put the new one on the shelves. And this past weekend, I walked into the liquor store and finally saw it on the shelf.
I immediately noticed a couple things about it. One was the word “minimum” in the age statement. The other was that this particular bottle was aged over 8 years. My nervousness evaporated and my excitement took over. Unlike most producers, not only did Beam keep the age statement, in the case of this bottle they actually increased it.
Baker's Single Barrel Bourbon
Purchase Info: $46.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN
Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.13
Details: 8 years, 3 months old. Barreled in 10/2011. Aged in warehouse CL-Z. 53.5% ABV
Nose: Dusty oak, peanuts, brown sugar,
Mouth: Sweet and spicy with peanut, cinnamon, honey and oak
Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Lingering notes of peanut, honey, mint and cinnamon red hots.
Thoughts: I really like this. I've always found Baker's to be sweet, but I've never gotten such pronounced honey notes on it before. This is great.
But you might be asking yourself how it compares to the Small Batch? Well, when I heard that Baker’s was changing to Single Barrel, I poured off a healthy sample so that I could answer that very question.
Comparison to Small Batch: The noses are very similar with the Small Batch being a touch fruitier. The Small Batch is mintier and doesn't show as much peanut. The finishes are also very similar. Over all not much has changed and that's great news.
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