Tastes

The nose is certainly dusty, but still has a fruity smell, at an intensity level of astronaut grade dried fruit. The initial taste is fruit flavored ethanol, but it has a wooded quality to it. The sweetness actually easily comes to the forefront for the finish, although it doesn't last before being replaced with a weak fruit flavor similar to the initial taste, but a bit "dustier." The fluctuation makes it pretty hard to discern whether I really like it or not, but I would drink it again and definitely like to keep it on hand for cocktails without thinking.

With a very balanced smell between sweet smoke and barbecued cereal (essentially the same thing), the taste reflects the same qualities, but with a surprisingly light body. Smoke carries well; although it's got the peat base taste, it really does seem to ride a sweet, light wave and get the smoky job done without overpowering anything. The malty flavor is a well rounded blend of the standard finds: cereal, honey, grass, sea. Speaking of the sea, there is a slightly salty finish, which really, really pairs well with the moderate smoke linger.

For starting off with a sickeningly sweet, almost brandy-like scent, this bourbon drinks quite well and smooth, once you taste past the sweetness. The initial taste coats the mouth, but thankfully the higher proof brings a lovely spice to the mix, which balances the young mash well. With the grains coming through well due to the age, but the sweetness and spiciness balancing out, it's hard to tell if this is a rye or wheat base, but I would lean towards rye. The finish polishes away some of the sweetness, and actually tastes a little bit more aged than just 1 year, if that's truly only the case.

Smells intensely of caramel syrup, like the kind you'd put on your ice cream or in your coffee. The taste is certainly caramel through and through, although not as concentrated as it smells. The rye takes over for most of the tasting, and the finish smooths out with candy and sugar. The finish, like the tasting, is a bit weak, which is a tad disappointing for the age, but the caramel lingers just a millisecond past everything else, leaving you with a decent bourbon.

Wow, the smell is really great on this one. Although powerful scents are on the forefront, like wood, spice, and tobacco, the proof does not overpower this journey. The taste starts off much, much lighter than any 100 proof has ever been for me, but it does eventually finish with the same notes found in the initial smell. I find that I would feel better about this if the previous age statement was still attached, but for what is no longer actually a 9 year bourbon, this is still a pretty fantastic pour. Note: I've had all batches of Knob Creek, with this being the last. I began with a 2017 single barrel, which has my wife and I's fingerprints in the wax, is engraved with our wedding date, and also signed by the master distiller. This bottle is only drank each year on our anniversary. Having said that and demonstrated the significance of the Beam brand in my life, I would still highly recommend the Knob Creek line to anyone looking for top shelf and is brave enough to steer clear of the bandwagon picks of others.

This is surprisingly so much less flavorful than the stout edition, but that speaks volumes to those two types of beer. The smell is that of a more citrus-full Jameson, but not any lighter. The taste almost perfectly reflects this as well. Take the base flavor of Jameson, and make it more potent, as if the proof were increased, but also simply not as light or "well" tasting as the original stuff. If there is any beer taste here, it is that of an extremely low ABV and very light IPA, because almost nothing but a glimmer of domestic beer hops comes through. I suppose there is a faint bitterness on the finish, but not enough for me to vote it coming from a beer rather than from a whiskey taste profile. Rating this based on how the IPA taste comes through would make it much lower. Instead, I'd like to rate this based on an imaginary "Jameson: Enhanced Barrel" product, as this would be better known as.

The smell is a bit creamy, malty, strong, bitter, and possibly dark, but this could all be placebo. The initial taste is pretty mellow, but it seems to get more and more mellow, while also allowing the ABV to stand tall. Marshmallow is a very obvious ending to me, after a creamy milky cereal bowl taste combined with a tad of citrus starts the round off. This is an interesting experience to me; although it's been a while since I've had standard Jameson, I know this does not have a similar taste to the classic.