Jim Beam Repeal Batch

Purchased 12/08/18 $15 Bunn, nc

Thin and short on flavor...a little vanilla and small amount of oak. Nothing special.

Vanilla and cherry on the nose. Charred oak comes through on the palate with a nice oily mouthfeel. Short finish with a spicy aftertaste. Good value.

Jim Beam Repeal Batch is the distiller’s throwback to 1930’s prohibition era bourbon, and the “vintage” old school style label reflects its ambitions. Despite the bottle being only $16, Repeal Batch is a non chill filtered bourbon, a definite rarity in this price class. Does the nostalgia and “limited edition” branding equal higher quality here or a clever marketing spin? Let’s find out! Enjoyed neat in a Glencairn, no water added. On the nose, you get the very familiar Beam bourbon profile, albeit pretty weak, and nothing more. It’s straight light vanilla buttercream sitting on top of semi sweet dusty cornmeal and lots of grain alcohol. I assume like standard Beam white, this is a fairly young bourbon because there is no real oaky presence or richness and depth here, rather disappointing. On the palate, you first notice the more oily character thanks to the NCF process, and while nice, the feel is still rather thin owing to the relatively low ABV I’m sure. By comparison, JB Distillers Cut at 50% ABV, also a NCF expression, is far richer, even more oily, and coats the mouth in a nice thickness. As for flavors, the Repeal Batch is a straight ahead bourbon profile of light vanilla, hints of citrus zest, and corn grain alcohol. It’s not overly sweet, and more tart actually. There is little to no spice or burn to wake the palate, and oak flavors are almost absent, which again I presume is due to underaged product. Again, compared to Distiller’s Cut, the RB is just plain weak and uninspired. DC has tons of spiciness, nice burn, far richer more complex flavors, and enhanced oakiness. The finish for RB is also rather disappointing. It’s very very short, lacks anything interesting. You get fading vanilla caramel tart and faint hints at toasted wood and that's about it. I really think this bourbon suffers from being just too young to be interesting. Take JB White, and NCF it and bingo, you get this “limited edition.” Overall, for $16 it’s certainly not the worst you could do, but it’s far from the best too. Despite being a limited run product, there is absolutely nothing memorable, other than the label on the bottle, that stands out about this pour. In all honesty I question why it even exists in the Beam portfolio, and it should be “Repealed” if you ask me! If you want to experience a really good NCF bourbon for just a few $ more, do yourself a huge favor and pick up the JB Distiller’s Cut instead! It’s what Beam should taste like, without saying Knob Creek on the bottle! If you absolutely must stick to the near $15/bottle limit, I’d pick Evan Williams 1783 by far. While 1783 is a quirky flavor profile, at least it offers a good bit of varied flavors and is super smooth for the same money. Heck even EW Black offers stronger bourbon flavor of vanilla and caramel than this Beam expression. Bottom line, the NCF and fancy throwback label just aren’t reason enough to justify another purchase of this bourbon. I vote to repeal this batch of Repeal Batch, but long live Distiller's Cut! Cheers!

Good every day drinker. I like it with a large cube.