tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post9092452529428768488..comments2024-03-19T20:31:23.141-05:00Comments on The Chuck Cowdery Blog: How Craft Is the New Jim Beam Signature Craft Series?Chuck Cowderyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-5252818627259978602015-09-18T10:56:02.995-05:002015-09-18T10:56:02.995-05:00You can't unring a bell. Once it's bourbon...You can't unring a bell. Once it's bourbon, you can't unbourbon it. If you do something to bourbon, then it becomes 'bourbon and' or 'bourbon with.' The bourbon component is still bourbon.Chuck Cowderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-21672084280120617062015-09-18T10:09:32.979-05:002015-09-18T10:09:32.979-05:00Let's face it. The spirits industry could car...Let's face it. The spirits industry could care less whether fine single malts or bourbons retain their decades old standards of identity, ergo the marketing of the word "finished" which has no legal meaning whatever. Bourbon per se must be stored (aged) in new charred barrels, period. I know this has been argued elsewhere but any storage - for even a short time - in any wood counts. <br /><br />The industry came up with clever evasion of trying to promote "finishing" (storage in say ex-sherry barrels) as somehow not being storage as per the law, and somehow different than aging. This bastardization seems to have continued when many consumers - well duped and trained - are now ready to accept the addition of brandy itself (not just the ex-barrel) as still being a kind of bourbon.<br /><br />In the view of some, this is simply a redefinition of the F-word: finishing now is flavoring, a clever way of selling what should be labeled as "bourbon flavored with brandy", under the regs for flavored spirits.<br /><br />Such is life. Drink on...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-16090351589684339692014-03-09T00:48:02.800-06:002014-03-09T00:48:02.800-06:0012 yr is not new for beam. They did it extensively...12 yr is not new for beam. They did it extensively in decanters. Even 180-200 months. <br /><br />Of course it was 35-45 years ago.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-33134374577850012792013-08-31T05:45:21.301-05:002013-08-31T05:45:21.301-05:00Hm. The front label of the 12-years-old reads &quo...Hm. The front label of the 12-years-old reads "BOURBON WHISKEY AGED FOR 12 YEARS". Is there any reason why they do not write "KENTUCKY STRAIGHT Bourbon Whiskey", the term they are so proud of?SKOERPERnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-42482989419562240302013-05-09T08:36:56.672-05:002013-05-09T08:36:56.672-05:00"..it was actually Anon#1's statement tha..."..it was actually Anon#1's statement that "Brandy finished bourbon is just a cocktail in a bottle... I can make my own concoctions" that I was supporting. I certainly DON'T consider Chuck's article a "puff piece"<br /><br />Guess I thought you were agreeing with all his post..my apologies. If it is just a small amount of Port or Sherry I really don't see how it is different than MM46 ot other finished products. I really did not know what to expect when I tried the Port + Beam in Australia but bourbon selection is real limited down there..I was very pleasantly surprised. weller_texnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-36457621212047710222013-05-07T23:03:04.665-05:002013-05-07T23:03:04.665-05:00weller_tex, it was actually Anon#1's statement...weller_tex, it was actually Anon#1's statement that "Brandy finished bourbon is just a cocktail in a bottle... I can make my own concoctions" that I was supporting. I certainly DON'T consider Chuck's article a "puff piece". My point (and Anon#1's I suspect) is that bourbon is a stand-alone product, and while there is nothing "wrong" with mixing it with other ingredients as a cocktail, the days of Heublein's pre-mixed atrocities are something from far in the past. Well at least they WERE until recently. <br /><br />The point that both you and Carlton make is a very good one. That is, <i>“…if BT or Parker's Heritage released something like that as part of a limited edition, the whiskey blogs and forums would go nuts for how great and innovative it is..”</i> and <i>“…a number of self-professed bourbon experts won't accept the fact that Beam (and Brown-Forman for that matter) can and does make a good product”</i>. I hope Carlton wasn’t referring to me, as I am a big supporter of Jim Beam products (Knob Creek, for example) and in fact Chuck and I had a somewhat heated discussion (long ago on a forum far away) about Beam’s Distiller’s Masterpiece and its legitimacy. I took the pro-Beam part on that one. As for BT’s Experimentals or Parker’s Heritage, I totally agree with you as to how the blogs and forums would treat such a thing. That doesn’t mean I agree with it, though. I don’t deny the advantages of adding honey syrup to bourbon to create a product such as American Honey. Nor to adding sweet vermouth, cherry flavoring, and 20% whiskey to GNS and bottling the result as a Heublein Manhattan. I just believe I can make a better Manhattan myself. And I THINK that’s all that Anon#1 said. I don’t think I’d even LIKE a bourbon-sherry cocktail made with Parker’s Heritage; what a waste of a great bourbon that would be. Even the best sherry could only detract from the existing bourbon product. If Beam wants to market a sherry/bourbon cocktail using real bourbon, even three or four year old bourbon, that’s fine. I was (and am) only agreeing with a commenter that I (meaning you) could do better mixing our own with our own ingredients.<br /><br />Not being of the “cocktailian” mentality, the mere fact that we were inspired to image such a thing says a lot about how effective Chuck’s article was. I would hardly call that a puff piece.<br />EllenJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-45880713632939977022013-05-07T16:07:01.689-05:002013-05-07T16:07:01.689-05:00weller_tex, you are spot on about BT and Parker...weller_tex, you are spot on about BT and Parker's Heritage. For whatever reason, a number of self-professed bourbon experts won't accept the fact that Beam (and Brown-Forman for that matter) can and does make a good product. <br /><br />I don't view Chuck's post as a "puff piece" in any respect.Carltonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-24419700760812010782013-05-07T13:41:02.373-05:002013-05-07T13:41:02.373-05:00"Anonymous #1: Yup! I have bottles of very go..."Anonymous #1: Yup! I have bottles of very good brandy, some of it Spanish. I can't see why I'd mix any of them with Jim Beam white label. I might mix 'em with Knob Creek Single Barrel; THAT would be pretty d@#n good, in fact I'll probably try just that this"<br /><br />Certainly that's your prerogative.<br />That being said, it does not make Chuck's post a puff piece. He spends the first part of the article pointing out how Beam screwed up..and like I said, believe it or not the Port + Beam is good stuff, and I expect the Sherry + Beam is as well. One may not agree with the statement but it doesn't make this a puff piece.<br /><br />I bet if BT or Parker's Heritage released something released something like that as part of a limited edition, the whiskey blogs and forums would go nuts for how great and innovative it is..weller_texnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-1169977176510669342013-05-07T11:49:02.136-05:002013-05-07T11:49:02.136-05:00I don't know who the two(?) "Anonymous&qu...I don't know who the two(?) "Anonymous"es are (hey dudes/dudettes, why not identify yourselves?), but I totally agree with both of them.<br /><br />Anonymous #1: Yup! I have bottles of very good brandy, some of it Spanish. I can't see why I'd mix any of them with Jim Beam white label. I might mix 'em with Knob Creek Single Barrel; THAT would be pretty d@#n good, in fact I'll probably try just that this evening. But that's not what this pre-mixed bottling is made from, is it? I can think of lot's of “bourbon + something” else mixtures that would taste good (certainly better than Beam white label all by itself), and if someone were to gift me with such a bourbon (the only way I'd have one, since I wouldn’t ordinarily go out and BUY one), I think that would be an excellent thing to do with it. In fact, adding cherry brandy wouldn't be so bad, either. But I can't see buying someone else's pre-bottled, but lesser, version.<br /><br />Anonymous #2: If I wanted the "most efficient" liquor I wouldn't even be drinking whiskey. Whiskey is arguably the LEAST efficient alcohol beverage one could ever obtain. GNS, blended with flavoring agents (uh, can you say "Crown Royal"?) is far more efficient as a drink one can sip. And 195-proof Everclear (diluted to a strength that won't cause mouth blisters and, incidentally, death) will get you drunk a whole lot faster. But what we, as bourbon drinkers, prefer ARE the inefficiencies. That's where the congeners come from. That's where the cross-contamination from wood that we call maturing comes from. And many of us enjoy the more visual and less structural "inefficiencies", such as a lovely bottle, an old-fashioned-looking ornate label, and, yes -- certainly yes -- a cork.<br />EllenJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-28045047450688179212013-05-06T17:46:16.627-05:002013-05-06T17:46:16.627-05:00I guess I’ll go ahead and be the first to say the ...I guess I’ll go ahead and be the first to say the obvious. Yes, I think Jim Beam did cut corners by going with an insipid plastic screw cap. Do screw caps technically provide a better seal than a cork? Probably, but I really don’t care. The traditionalist in me LOVES to see a corked top on a premium bottle of bourbon. To me, one of the best sounds in the world is the distinctive sound of a cork being pulled from a special bottle of whiskey. <br /><br />And for the record, one of my favorite places to drink a dram of whiskey is front of a cheery fireplace, which I also know doesn’t provide the most efficient form of heating, but I don’t care about that trivial fact either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-11286588353403254362013-05-06T15:20:28.093-05:002013-05-06T15:20:28.093-05:00I suppose one man's 'balanced view' ar...I suppose one man's 'balanced view' article is another's 'puff piece'. Brandy finished bourbon is just a cocktail in a bottle. I'll pass. I can make my own concoctions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-11182031221040713572013-05-06T10:46:21.102-05:002013-05-06T10:46:21.102-05:00I had a couple of bottles of the Port Beam in Oz. ...I had a couple of bottles of the Port Beam in Oz. It was very good stuff. Will certainly given the new stuff a whirl.<br /><br />I am really looking forward to the 12 year Beam as well. Sounds like really good stuff.<br /><br />As always Chuck, thanks for giving a balanced view of beam.weller_texnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-12764773604719137772013-05-06T09:03:33.604-05:002013-05-06T09:03:33.604-05:00On the dark side, I tend to like sherry finished s...On the dark side, I tend to like sherry finished scotches. Recently I purchased a bottle of 21 YO oloroso sherry. I add just a little bit to standard bottling Glenmorangie and voila now I have Glenmorangie LaSanta. It takes very little; like 30 to 1 ratio. Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02801508225614359464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-64816884198928829942013-05-06T08:25:28.194-05:002013-05-06T08:25:28.194-05:00I forgot to mention, if anybody cares, I'm sta...I forgot to mention, if anybody cares, I'm staying away from the brandy and just going for the 12 year old.Lazernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-56075759209456384222013-05-06T07:24:54.090-05:002013-05-06T07:24:54.090-05:00The Spanish Brandy additive is very interesting. ...The Spanish Brandy additive is very interesting. At WhiskeyFest, I was roaming around with a distiller and we stopped at the Spanish Brandy table. It was simply amazing - thick mouthfeel, creamy and sweet - amazing stuff (the 12 blew out the 50yr old Cognac on the next table). My distiller buddy also loved the Brandy and I could see the gears turning in his head. I feel like the flavor profile would compliment Bourbon tremendously and I hope this new trend gains some traction. I'm def looking forward to trying the Beam. Dolph_Lundgrennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-47756452062445218072013-05-06T07:12:49.924-05:002013-05-06T07:12:49.924-05:00Richnimrod said;
Thanx Chuck. I always look for...Richnimrod said;<br />Thanx Chuck. I always look forward to your 'new product reports'. In this case, I will also (for the first time since Knob Creek was introduced) eagerly look forward to tasting something new from Beam. Here's Hoping!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-51343061351335101692013-05-06T01:59:53.879-05:002013-05-06T01:59:53.879-05:00Blended bourbon is a mix of different kinds of whi...Blended bourbon is a mix of different kinds of whiskey, or neutral spirit, which is at least 51% straight bourbon. This isn't a blend, it's a flavor additive, so it's classified as "straight bourbon with ..." In this case, the 'with' is Spanish Brandy. It's the same classification as Red Stag or Maker's 46. The difference is one of quantity. In the case of the blended bourbon, the 'other stuff' is up to 49%. In this case, the 'other stuff' is probably less than 2%.Chuck Cowderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-38668505593450756512013-05-05T23:57:35.136-05:002013-05-05T23:57:35.136-05:00Chuck,
Will the brandy-finished bourbon need to b...Chuck,<br /><br />Will the brandy-finished bourbon need to be labeled a "blended bourbon" given the presence of other non-bourbon spirits in the bottle? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-70790883191917235512013-05-05T23:19:24.706-05:002013-05-05T23:19:24.706-05:00Ninja, that's funny...I've felt the same w...Ninja, that's funny...I've felt the same way myself on many an occasion!sam knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-31722997363901826762013-05-05T20:58:06.296-05:002013-05-05T20:58:06.296-05:00So now Deerfield welcomes me back?So now Deerfield welcomes me back?Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02801508225614359464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-75867410212200021332013-05-05T20:14:43.808-05:002013-05-05T20:14:43.808-05:00Thanks for all your work, Chuck. I prefer screw ca...Thanks for all your work, Chuck. I prefer screw caps because the whole house doesn't have to hear me uncorking another pour. With good ole screw caps, I am the bourbon ninja!Redneck Scotchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-78135065435115666762013-05-05T20:10:38.128-05:002013-05-05T20:10:38.128-05:00I wasn't sure if I would put this on my shoppi...I wasn't sure if I would put this on my shopping list, but now that I see they made the extra effort to go with the screw cap, I'm putting it at the top of the list. Right next to EC barrel proof and RR single barrel.Lazernoreply@blogger.com