Jim Beam Single Barrel Bourbon 108 Proof

Nose - peanut, butterscotch, caramel, toffee, apple, vanilla, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - peanut, milk chocolate, heavy oak, caramel, toffee, burnt brown sugar, vanilla, finishing moderately long and slightly tannic with a chocolate toffee flavor. Tastes like standard Beam cranked to 11. If you like Beam, you’ll really like this.

The nose is corn-full, but definitely has plenty of barrel depth with just the right amount of ethanol. The oak, with just a bit of smoke, is immediate on the palate, but once air is introduced, everything seems to fall apart. Using just standard Jim Beam as a reference, this has a stronger smokiness and the proof is obviously much higher, but seconds later the only thing that is left is pure ethanol with slight corn flavors. Having had the lower proof single barrel from Jim Beam (albeit a long time ago), this is surprisingly not an improvement, which is disappointing given the higher proof and being unfiltered.