Booker's Bourbon Batch 2018-04 "Kitchen Table"

Booker's Kitchen Table. Bottled in 2018; this is the fourth and final batch of the year. Aged 6 years, 8 months, 7 days. Bottled at a whopping 64% ABV. If you've read one of my previous Booker's reviews, you'd know I'm a huge fan. Let's see where this ranks among the better batches. Nose: Gala apple, toffee, brown sugar, caramel, cocoa. Peanut brittle and peanut butter. New car leather shines through. Some barrel char and some baking spices: Cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. Big oak. In the background, there are some sweet notes of peach and carrot cake. Orange peel and apricot. Ginger, rosemary, allspice, and something akin to sun-dried tomato. Deeply complex but far from overpowering. Palate: Caramel, cocoa, brown sugar, toffee, fudge, vanilla, butterscotch, and graham cracker. Huge peanut/peanut butter note. Very oaky and maybe even a bit of grass or hay. The barrel char makes this drink like a crispy, charred steak, if that makes any sense. The carrot cake is still there, but now more subtle. Peach as well. Black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove add spice on the back end. Finish: Spice and oak bomb. Nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon persist from nose to finish. Apricot and orange peel. More peanut/peanut butter. Caramel, cocoa, vanilla, and brown sugar. More spice resurfaces as the long finish finally dissipates. Another winner. It might not be the first or second best batch of Booker's I've had, but it's less than a step behind. And it's probably got the best nose of any I've had. It's tied for best if not the outright best. It's a beast of a whiskey, like any other Booker's batch. But it's extremely balanced and very unique, even in this line of titans. It's unfortunate the Booker's has jumped from $55 to $90 in the past 3 years. Still, with a product like this, I'm fully prepared to keep shelling out my hard-earned cash for these releases. 5/5.

Easy aroma slight alcohol on the nose. Smooth initial taste with an alcohol warmth but not harsh. Vanilla Carmel back taste slightly sweet very nice

Whoa. Right from the nose, oaky spice and brown sugar. This bourbon is bold and rich. The palate offers cinnamon, brown sugar, spicy oak and maybe a touch of maple syrup. All my favorite bourbon notes turned up to 11. Fantastic, long, lingering finish.

Review originally posted on Barreled in January 2019. Beam/Suntory releases four batches of Bookers throughout the year. This is a review of Bookers batch 2018-4, “Kitchen Table”. This bottle is 64% ABV and was in the barrel for six years, eight months, and seven days. I tasted this whiskey at full strength, and watered down to approx. 100 proof and 85 proof. The 100 proof version was my favorite. Bookers is a dark amber/mahogany in the glass. Right out of the bottle I was amazed that the nose didn’t burn up my sinuses! Full strength the nose has dusty, musty oak and cocoa. Light vanilla sweetness, but much less than most bourbons. After some time in the glass, cloves and cinnamon. Watered down to 100 proof there is more caramel/vanilla; more like a standard bourbon. At 85 proof I got cherries; first bourbon I’ve had where I really got cherries. The full strength palate has buttery caramel and toffee. Cinnamon. Vanilla. Thick viscous mouthfeel. Lots of heat, but what did you expect? At 100 proof there was not much change, just a more manageable/pleasant heat level. At 85 proof the cherries from the nose came through on the palate. The full strength finish was long, with dusty oak, leather. Strange aftertaste, can’t quite put my finger on it. Green oak? Something green and musty. The finish at 100 and 85 proof was about the same: a little shorter, still some of the “green oak” but not as strong. This is a very good, bordering excellent bourbon. At 128 proof in the bottle you actually have the opportunity to dilute the whiskey to your taste, and even stretch a 750 ml bottle further than normal if you would like. This is definitely more complex than the basic caramel/vanilla bourbon. There’s not much variation on price for this bottle: $70 is what I paid and it’s rare to see it even a few dollars less. At that price it hits the “special occasion” category for me, but still something I would enjoy sharing with friends and family. Solid 4/5.