Booker's Bourbon Batch 2019-04 "Beaten Biscuits"

Light smoke on the nose. Buttery at the start. Subtle Carmel and coconut. With a small sharp finish, but just right.

Very yummy! Toasted coconut, caramel, honey…

Rating: 16/23 I go back and forth on how premium Booker's is. There's no argument that it's young (it says so on the label), but I've quite enjoyed a fair number of Booker's releases. At the same time though, there are certainly duds. Let's see how this one is. N: High proof: the alcohol hits first. After that, I get minerals, a bit of youthful meatiness, a small bit of sweet corn aged on wood, a touch of dusty sawdust, and just the faintest herbal funk and vanilla scents. P: Minerals with some cherry, a bit of vanilla and licorice, very mild nuttiness, and a substantial alcohol bite. Substantial spices, with ginger, black pepper, clove, and cinnamon leading it. Possibly a hint of chili pepper. The black licorice grows. There's plenty of viscosity here to drive the proof home. Beyond the sour mash tartness, there's a little richness from the sweet corn, but it isn't very strong. I want to believe that there's some real complexity going on here, but I don't. There is eventually a nice bit of musty peanut though. A bit of tangerine as well. Perhaps sort of a clover honey bitterness and sweetness. F: The spices get earthier with more dust and chili pepper. Occasional wafts of musty, funky peanut and black licorice. - Conclusion - I'm pretty confident that Booker's Shiny Barrel (19/23) is better than this is. This strikes me as one of the less compelling Booker's releases. So it's not higher than an 18. And an 18 seems a bit high. Side by side, my bottle of Resilient 15 (18/23) seems just as complex but also more mature and balanced. There are things to like better about this, but between the two, I think that the Resilient is better. This is funkier, which I can certainly appreciate, but the alcohol bit and minerality really bring it down. Going for a lower bound here, I think that this is a bit better than Russell's Reserve 10 (15-16/23), but it isn't a whole lot better. This is going to be a 16 or 17. I'd probably give this a slightly higher score than Uncle Nearest 1856 (15/23), reinforcing that it's in the 16 to 17 range. George Dickel Bottled In Bond (2005) (16/23) is mellower with a nicer, sweeter richness, albeit with less interesting, funky complexity. Corsair Ryemageddon (17/23) stands out as being more complex and tasty with better balance, while also tasting a bit more mature. somehow. In the end, I think it's that bit of meatiness here that pushes this down to a 16. This, unfortunately, is not one of the better Booker's batches. Thanks for sharing this @ctbeck11 ! With Booker's prices through the roof, getting to try a release is a rare treat these days.