Category: Bourbon Whiskey

Brian’s Bookers 2018-04 Kitchen Table Review:

written on 06-April-2019

BOOKERS 2018-04 KITCHEN TABLE REVIEW:

I am a BIG fan of Booker’s bourbon and waited to open this bottle until another was secured. My delay was rewarded with a wonderful treat … This bourbon ticks all the boxes: a favorable look in the glass, an inviting nose, flavours that explode in the mouth, and an exceptionally long finish.

BOOKERS 2018-04 KITCHEN TABLE VITAL STATS:

– Category: Small batch bourbon
– Region: Clermont, KY, USA
– Distiller: Jim Beam
– Mashbill: 77% Corn, 13% Rye, 10% Malted Barley
– Cask: New Charred Oak
– Barrel Char: #4
– Barrel Entry Proof: 125
– Age: 6 years 8 months 7 Days
– Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered
– ABV: 64% (128 proof)
– Purchase Price: $79.95 USD in Idaho (2018)
– Purchase again? Emphatically, “Yes” … if ever found on the shelf!

Jim Beam makes four Booker’s releases each year, and each release is given a name and special labeling. As Beam master distiller Fred Noe explained in a prepared statement, “The fourth and final batch of Booker’s Bourbon for 2018 is called ‘Kitchen Table,’ named after one of my dad’s favorite places. There, Dad liked to read the newspaper, tinker with his projects, and notably, it’s where he gathered our family and friends to help him select batches of his namesake whiskey.

This batch was produced on three different production dates and stored in six different locations. Keeping true to Booker’s small batch practices, barrel sourcing for this bottling breaks down as follows:
44%: 6th floor of 9-story warehouse J
24%: 5th floor of 9-story warehouse J
14%: 5th floor of 9-story warehouse E
7%: 6th floor of 9-story warehouse D
7%: 4th floor of 9-story warehouse E
4%: 6th floor of 9-story warehouse E

Learn more at https://beamsuntory.com/

ENJOYMENT METHOD:

I drank this spirit neat, from a Glencairn glass.

BOOKERS 2018-04 KITCHEN TABLE NOSE:

Bookers 2018-04 Kitchen Table is a superbly balanced and inviting bourbon with no alcohol noted on the nose. Its simple and gentle aroma of sweet corn roasted over an open fire blends into caramelized buttery brown sugar with a hint of oak. With deeper and prolonged scenting, ripe plums come forward then give way to dark fruit leather covered in vanilla infused chocolate butter cream frosting.

BOOKERS 2018-04 KITCHEN TABLE PALATE:

Kitchen Table is at first fiery and hot, but once downed the dram becomes full, flavorful and warming. With careful sipping, blueberries and dried prunes can be coaxed from the juice and there is the pleasant bourbon spiciness of white pepper and hot vanilla as well. Its sweetness is an enjoyable concoction of buttery brown sugar caramel and as the dram draws low, flavours of raw peanuts, well polished leather and mild, sweet oak slide down the throat.

Balance, Body, Feel and Look:
2018-04 is solidly balanced, big, and full, is viscous and warming but treats the throat with a little tickle. Bookers 2018-04 Kitchen Table’s fat clinging droplets drip down the Glencairn in thick clinging legs to reenter the burnt amber pool.

BOOKERS 2018-04 KITCHEN TABLE FINISH

Kitchen Table’s finish is big, balanced, pleasant, rich, warm, and exceptionally long. As the last drops are downed, pleasant scents of new sawn oak planks waft from the Glencairn.

MY BOOKERS 2018-04 KITCHEN TABLE RATING: 91/100

Will I seek out this whiskey in the future? Yes
_{Click to read Brian’s scoring process.}

Click 91/100 to access other whiskeys with this score.
To access other whiskies from this brand, click Booker’s.

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