Brian’s Basil Hayden’s Review
written on 22-November-2019
BASIL HAYDEN’S REVIEW:
Beam-Suntory offers an impressive lineup of fine bourbons – Knob Creek, Baker’s and Booker’s. While I can sense this is a Jim Beam product, the others are much better. So much so, if this was my first bourbon I might never have given whiskey a second thought. But don’t misunderstand, it’s not bad, it’s just not on par with its big brothers.
BASIL HAYDEN’S VITAL STATS:
– Category: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
– Region: Clermont, KY, USA
– Distillery: Basil Hayden’s (Jim Beam)
– Mash Bill: 63% Corn, 27% Rye, 10% Malted Barley
– Barrel Char: #4
– Barrel entry proof: unpublished
– Age: nas
– ABV: 40% (80 Proof)
– Price: $39.95 USD in Idaho
ENJOYMENT METHOD:
For the evaluation, I shared the juice neat from Glencairn glasses with my daughter and fellow Whiskey for the Ages reviewer Hannah.
Check out her review for this bourbon here!
NOSE:
On the nose Basil Hayden’s presents dry and herbally with a strange mix of dusty grain and mint. As I am accustomed to much higher proof whiskeys, I drew hard and got an unexpected hit of harsh and intense lemon cleanser. I put down the Glencairn to clear my head. When brought back to my nose, I sensed faint lemon rind and spices of powdered ginger and rye and a little undefined candy. But in the end this bourbon is mostly earthy and mellow.
PALATE:
In the mouth, Basil Hayden’s offers no bite or warm (probably due to the low ABV). The herbalness sensed on the nose comes through as bitter citrus, pepper, and rye with a little bittersweet chocolate sneaking in. With a long mouth-washing swish, the liquid becomes an earthy and musty concoction with a smokey barrel char foundation.
Balance, Body, Feel and Look:
As noted above this is a disappointing and unbalanced dram. It is smooth owing to the low proof. In the Glencairn small broken droplets give way to short legs which fall quickly back into a tawny pool.
FINISH:
Basil Hayden’s finishes exceptionally short. While trying to coax out flavours and after many a big mouth-washing swish, caramel peeks in then is gone just as fast.
MY RATING: 75/100
Will I seek out this whiskey in the future? No
Click to read Brian’s scoring process.
Click Basil Hayden to access other whiskies from this brand.
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