Old Tub Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Nose: Dusty, honey roasted peanut followed by a sweet cinnamon sugar. Really reminds me of the candied peanuts you'd get in a box of crunch N munch. Then out of nowhere, after a few sips there's an overwhelming bubble gum note that covers up everything else. Eventually towards the end of the glass, the bubble gum decides to play nicely with everything else. Came back to this and all I could get was peanut butter cookie, which only builds on how much I enjoy the nose. Palate: The initial palate completely transcends the nose. After a few sips, instead of bubble gum, was dominated mostly by red hot cinnamon. The cinnamon does settle down and a slight bubble emerges towards the end of the glass. Finish: My only complaint about this bourbon is it has almost no finish. They're great flavors, they just make a very quick exit. Overall: Wow. For the price this is great! This doesn't give me the creamy peanut butter notes that high end beam does (think Bookers), but it also is far from the stale peanut of bottom shelf beam. This reminds me of an easier drinking version of the new JB SiB and I'm really enjoying it. If it wasn't an LE I could really see this overtaking my current daily, EW BiB. Note - I plan on blinding those two very soon, so this score could go up.

I'm a Beam fan. Beam bottled in bond is a regular in my rotation. I wrote about Beam single barrel in this comparison - https://bourbonsippers.com/three-affordable-single-barrel-bourbons-you-should-try/. I always have Knob Creek at hand as its one of my four primaries - joining Beam cousin Old Grand Dad 114 in the cabinet. I thought Beam Distiller's Cut was a crazy good budget whiskey. I confess all of that to say that I'm pretty confident right up front that I'll like Old Tub. But its not a "done deal". I didn't like Beam Pre Prohibition Style enough to buy a second bottle. My last (only) bottle of Beam white lable ended up a drain pour when I relocated and it hasn't (and likely won't ever) be replaced. So.. First taste neat from a glencairn from a freshly opened bottle. A few minutes were given for the whiskey to settle - and this wasn't the neck pour as I had a couple "tempering" snorts on ice at the conclusion of the working day. The nose is absolute Beam. Boiled peanuts, vanilla, oak, cinnamon and ethanol. There's just the slightest hint of latex paint - something I get from a lot of young or brash booze. The taste is surprisingly sweet with some graham cracker, a bit of honey and just a hint of barrel char. As the flavor fades out there's a bit of clove, then ginger and cinnamon redhots. The finish is fast and leaves a bit of a tingle and a sweet coating with just the slightest bit of bitter oak on the back of the tongue. This is solid. I need to do a sbs with Distiller's Cut (no longer available) and Bottled-in-Bond (nearly identical price). I think the Bib is aged a bit longer and maybe is more cohesive? But this is a very good, NCF, 100 proof budget bourbon. Better than EWbib, VOBbib, and a few others, but bested by OGDbib and KC9yr. I don't know why this exists, beyond marketing. Beam already has a plethora of choices around this price point. This is good, but replaceable. And yet it replaces nothing good. Unless it hits the $17.99 close-out price point of DC, I don't see any reason for me to jump on another bottle, even though I'm enjoying this one just fine.

Thick, corn heavy, bitter. Low caramel, low vanilla, there is an overall lack of sweetness. This tastes a bit nasty.

Vanilla and cinnamon on the nose Very cinnamon in the palate

I can taste Jim Beam, my first bourbon, faintly. This seems tougher and milder at the same time on the nose. Hot on the tongue but banana, fruit and vanilla come through. Long oily finish.

The nose is full of sweet vanilla, molasses, a touch of butterscotch and some smoke and charred oak. On palate it is very oily and chewy, working its way to every corner of the mouth. It hits you immediately with the sweet vanilla and a burst of cinnamon charred oak follows with very slight hints of molasses and butterscotch, but with the smokiness which takes away some of the sweetness. The finish is medium, the mouth stays tingling with baking spices with a fading creaminess. As the whiskey breathes, an interesting fruitiness comes out. An interesting whiskey and easy to drink for something downright simple.