Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Knob Creek Reintroduces Age Statement Bourbon to its Lineup

Jonah Flicker
By

If you’re a whiskey drinker, you are probably used to age statements disappearing from bottles over the past few years. Brands often attribute the reasons for this to increased demand leading to diminished stock to pull from. While there is some truth to this, it is also saves a distillery money to be able to blend younger barrels into a product and not have to wait as long to release it. But the other thing you should know as a whiskey fan is that age doesn’t always matter; just because a whiskey is old does not necessarily mean it’s good. While consumers have been disappointed by the removal of age statements (which signify the youngest liquid in the blend), it’s safe to say many people would likely not be able to tell the difference between the NAS and age statement versions in a blind taste test. That being said, it’s understandable to feel like you are losing out on something when a bottle loses its age statement, both in terms of flavor and brand transparency.

knob creek 12 years

However, some whiskey brands have been adding back age statements to beloved bottles over the past few years, much to the delight of longtime fans. The latest is Knob Creek, part of the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection. Back in 2016, the brand’s flagship Kentucky Straight Bourbon lost its 9-year-old age statement, which Beam said was due to a lack of inventory. “We had an imbalance in aging stocks a few years ago that prompted us to remove the age statement temporarily,” said master distiller Fred Noe, “so I could mingle barrels both older than nine years and slightly younger to achieve our consistent, full-flavored taste … and meet the high demand from our fans. Now that our stocks are balanced out around the nine-year mark, I wanted to get that age statement back on there as soon as possible.”

Recommended Videos

So now Knob Creek has returned to its age statement glory, and in further good news the price will remain the same at $34.99. So will this make a difference? The only way to tell is to try the two side by side (blind, preferably) for yourself and see what you think. But that’s not all. Knob Creek is also adding a 12-year-old expression, previously released in 2019 as a limited edition offering, to the core permanent lineup. According to the brand, the barrels for this release were aged “in the center cut of Knob Creek rackhouses, ensuring the most consistent environment for the bourbon to patiently age in charred, American white oak casks for 12 long years before being bottled at 100 proof.” This whiskey will, of course, be priced higher at $59.99.

Related
knob creek 12 years

“I don’t know of many other brands that have brought back an age statement, but I’m proud to do it,” said Noe. “When Dad created Knob Creek, he did so to restore the quality standards and robust, full flavor that defined pre-Prohibition whiskey. Achieving that vision is about much more than just a number. But that nine on the bottle is our way of honoring Dad’s vision and showing our fans that when we say we make our bourbon without shortcuts, we mean it.” Both whiskeys are now available nationwide.

Editors' Recommendations

Jonah Flicker
Jonah Flicker
Jonah Flicker is a freelance writer who covers booze, travel, food, and lifestyle. His work has appeared in a variety of…
Little Book Chapter 4: Lessons Honored is a Conceptual Whiskey
Little Book Chapter 4

Freddie Noe is the son of Fred Noe who's the son of Booker Noe. If you are not familiar with these names, these men are essentially bourbon royalty, with a lineage that has been part of Jim Beam and its many brand offshoots for eight generations. Booker was sort of a bourbon luminary, a larger-than-life presence who was responsible for creating the Small Batch Collection -- Basil Hayden's, Knob Creek, Baker's, and the eponymous Booker's. Fred took over as master distiller in 2007, and has been a ubiquitous presence on the road promoting Beam products and holding court at the distillery. And now his son Freddie has taken an integral role at the distillery, most prominently with his Little Book series of blended straight whiskeys. The latest release, Chapter 4: "Lessons Honored," is an homage to his dad and the things he's taught him over the years, and it's really an excellent example of a conceptual whiskey that delivers in flavor as much as it does in ideas.

Like all the past chapters, this fourth installment is a blended straight whiskey (no neutral grain spirits here, folks). The components in this edition are: a 4-year-old Kentucky straight brown rice bourbon, an 8-year-old Kentucky straight "high rye" rye whiskey, and a 7-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon. I had a chance to taste through the components and the final product with Freddie a few weeks ago, and he had a lot to say about picking these particular whiskeys. The brown rice bourbon is the base of the blend, and on its own it really stands out from other Beam-distilled whiskeys. Freddie said that rice is a soft grain to work with, containing lots of starch, and it converts well. The resulting whiskey drinks beyond its four years, with dry spice and an underlying flavor that's almost like a sherry cask finish. The next largest component is the 7-year-old bourbon, which is actually a younger, cask strength version of Knob Creek. Freddie brought Knob Creek aged between seven and nine years to his dad for a blind tasting, and the elder Noe chose this one. There's a touch of astringency in this liquid, but it's still got those deep vanilla and caramel notes that make up Knob Creek. Finally, the last whiskey in the blend is a "higher rye" rye. At about 65% rye, that's definitely more of the grain in the mash bill than other Beam rye whiskeys. According to Freddie, this whiskey was made using the same mash bill as Booker's Rye, but he said it really hasn't been used for any Beam products before this Little Book release.

Read more
Elijah Craig Adds Toasted Barrel Expression to its Range
A trio of whiskies.

There's been a lot of talk about toasted barrel whiskey, particularly bourbon, over the past few years. And like everything else concerning whiskey, there are fans on one side of this technique who love the flavor it brings to the mix, and detractors on the other side who say it does little or even ruins the taste. The basic concept is this -- by law, bourbon must be matured in new charred oak containers (which are virtually always barrels). But for a toasted barrel whiskey, the liquid is placed into a toasted (and sometimes also charred) barrel for a further period of time after the initial maturation. Why exactly? Brands claim that placing the already mature whiskey in these barrels infuses it with new layers of flavor and complexity, augmenting the characteristic notes of vanilla and caramel that are already present. Michter's has put out a few limited release toasted barrel finish whiskeys, including a bourbon, rye, and sour mash whiskey that are finished in toasted but not charred barrels. Woodford Reserve has its Double Oaked Bourbon, which is barreled for a second time in "deeply toasted, lightly charred" barrels. Then there are whiskeys that are matured entirely in toasted barrels (some of which are also charred), like Wilderness Trail, Coopers' Craft, and Jack Daniel's Heritage Barrel.

The latest toasted barrel release comes from Elijah Craig, a dependable bourbon brand produced at Heaven Hill in Kentucky. For this release, the mature bourbon, already aged in char #3 barrels, is put into "custom toasted and flash charred [char #1] new barrels made of premium American white oak air-dried for 18 months." The distillery worked with Independent Stave Company to come up with a custom toast that it says brings a hint of smoke and extra sweetness to the whiskey. Everything else is the same as regular Elijah Craig, like the mash bill and proof, but this process does indeed create a different flavor profile, with flavors of caramel and butterscotch that arrive with an extra pop. Whatever side of the toasted spectrum you fall on, give this one a try if you are already a fan of Elijah Craig, or even if you're not.

Read more
Angel’s Envy Releases Special New Mizunara Cask Whiskey
Mizunara Cask Whiskey

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of Angel's Envy's Founder's Day on August 19, the distillery released a new bourbon finished in Japanese Mizunara oak casks. This blend of four-year-old and nine-year-old whiskey spent an additional two years in these new charred oak casks, made from 200-year-old trees, during which it picked up a bouquet of floral notes including sandalwood, coffee, and a bit of smoke. "We chose this release for the tenth anniversary because my dad, having taken on several consulting roles in Japan during his career, always had a deep appreciation for the country and its distilling community," said cofounder and chief innovation officer Wes Henderson in a prepared statement. "This release, finished in Mizunara casks made from this rare, 200-year-old wood, felt fitting for such a special milestone for Angel’s Envy.”

This is a first for the distillery, and it really stands out in terms of flavor from its core range that is finished in port and rum barrels. "When we set out on this project, we knew where we wanted to end up, but we also knew we might not wind up there," said Henderson in a recent Zoom meeting. His son and production manager Kyle detailed the difficult and lengthy process of getting ahold of these barrels, which he said are extremely limited and tightly controlled by the Japanese government. It took about five years in total to procure them, and 18 months of that time was spent on a waiting list.

Read more