Knob Creek 25th Anniversary Single Barrel Reserve

spicy lingering stone fruit and vanilla

Nose - (w/o water) Dark oaky brown simple, vanilla cream/pudding, leather, coffee Werther's (w/ water) Adds a tiny bit of roasted peanut shell note Taste - (w/o water) Hot cinnamon heat on the tongue, very oaky vanilla brown simple, leather, sweet tobacco, hint of cherry coke syrup, very light roasted peanut nutty sweetness on the backend (w/ water) Cinnamon heat greatly reduced, more pronounced oaky cherry vanilla coke syrup, more creamy peanut butter sweet. Finish - (w./o water) Oaky roasted sweet nutty peanut butter dominates, lingering cinnamon heat, very faint luxardo cherry sweet (w/ water) Lingering sweet oaky cherry hinted nutty peanut butter dominates with a faint hint of cinnamon heat. Score - 86/100 Final Thoughts - This one definitely needs a bit of air time in the glass to really open up and I assume some oxidation time in the bottle will help as well. Initially the nose seemed very one dimensional, but letting it sit a while definitely helped. It's been a while since I've had any Knob Creek offerings so I don't have the best baseline, but this didn't initially scream "traditional Beam" to me until it had time to air a bit. If I had to summarize this up, it would be a traditional barrel proof Beam offering that hides itself until its had some time to air out or had a splash of water. It's tasty for sure, but this pour doesn't really distinguish itself from Booker's very much and borders on being over-oaked.

$18 - 2 oz pour