By Richard Thomas
Rating: B+
(Credit: Richard Thomas)
Baker’s was first introduced as part of the seminal Jim Beam Small Batch Collection of the 1990s, but was the last of the four brands to receive a 21st Century, Bourbon Boom makeover and marketing push. Booker’s was revised so individual batches of the brand got their own sub title, story and data, to say nothing of its one-shot releases like the great Booker’s Rye. Knob Creek has received several brand extensions, and may very well be as important to the company as Jim Beam itself. Basil Hayden has seen a succession of limited edition releases these last several years.
But all the while, Baker’s was neglected, except among the folks who understood the value of a 7 year old 107 proof version of Jim Beam bill bourbon. Then in 2019, several months before the Pandemic locked us all up at home, Beam started working on Baker’s. The initial step was to give it a new look at turn it into a single barrel expression. Then brand extensions followed: a 13 year old Baker’s as an annualized limited edition, and most recently a high rye bourbon done in the Baker’s format of 107 proof, single barrel and 7 year old.
I think this is an odd choice for Baker’s, which has been based on the idea of being a mature, fairly strong version of Beam’s traditional mash bill. Basically, Baker’s sat between Knob Creek and Jim Beam Black in that distillery’s spectrum. This bottling (presumably) draws from Beam’s high rye stock (27% rye), best associated with Old Granddad and fellow Small Batch Collection stablemate Basil Hayden. Moreover, back in the day Basil Hayden has an age statement of eight years and, since losing that age statement, is now presumably a little younger. So, this expression is essentially a stronger, single barrel Basil Hayden… which raises the question of why release it as a Baker’s?
But all that is just quibbling. A good bourbon is a good bourbon, regardless of how it is labeled. As much as I enjoy the nerdery displayed above, I never lose sight of that point, and this is a good bourbon.
The Bourbon
The coloring on my pour of single barrel Beam high rye bourbon came across as a dulled, light amber. That look sparked additional interest from me, because I associate it with full-on rye whiskey rather than even high rye bourbon. That just underlines how coloring may or may not actually tell you something about the liquid itself.
The nose led with a dry cinnamon sticks, caramel and a mixed fruits jam. The palate developed that pallet further, with the dryness taking a light woody note hand-in hand; the mixed fruits jam developing into straight blackberry jam; the caramel coming forward and more towards center stage; and the dry cinnamon stick holding steady. That last note took over on the back end, rolling into the finish before rapidly fading down to just the wood note, with that last part departing almost as swiftly.
Those notes confirm my suspicion that this is coming from the same stock as Old Granddad and Basil Hayden. Keeping that in mind, it’s a good bottle of bourbon and a worthy counterpart to the more traditional version of Baker’s.
The Price
Expect to pay $75 a bottle for Baker’s High Rye Single Barrel Bourbon
