Knob Creek Rye gets the age statement back!
Let’s begin with my recommendation that you immediately follow the Instagram account Coming Whiskey. They routinely break upcoming whiskey news and releases way before the distilleries themselves. Think of this as being the MacRumors of whiskey.
Huge news out of Beam….. huge. How huge? Undertaker huge.
Now let us talk about a huge bit of news coming out of Clermont. Knob Creek is finally returning the age statement to Knob Creek Rye. This news has been long rumored that Beam was super excited to return the number on the label, but no one including me, expected anything more than to see the reappearance of the big old number 6. Instead, Beam has blessed us once more with a flex-surprise, a SEVEN year old age statement for their standard rye whiskey. People, this is a TOUCHDOWN OKLAHOMA moment! Not only did the whiskey fans get the age statement back, but we got a bonus year on top of it!
A seven year Kentucky rye? It’s almost as if Beam was side-eyeing Heaven Hill and channeling their inner DX and whispering “suck it.” Image credit to Coming Whiskey.
We all know by now that Beam has been flexing HARD for the last few years. While I lament the loss of the cask strength rye, they more than made up for it when they completely overhauled the Overholt lineup, turned Baker’s into a superior single barrel, released and made permanent, Old Tub, and expanded the Knob Creek line with the additions of the exceptional 12 and 15 year versions (there is another coming…. an 18 year, sweet baby jesus hold us for we are not worthy).
So many people slept on this, only to wake up with shopping carts full of regret.
To say that I am shocked by the 7 year rye labeling is an understatement. I’m floored. I’m stunned. I feel as if I have been hit in the face with a flying steak like some kind of blogging Napoleon Dynamite. It’s a reminder that Beam is acutely aware of what the whiskey insaniacs are looking for, and continues to deliver surprises to the beamnuts, seemingly multiple times a year. Tip of the cap to Beam, and I am thankful that the distillery has not reached the hype level of a Buffalo Trace, but I am disappointed that Beam has not received enough accolades for the whiskey they’ve put out. It continues to be some of the best whiskey on the market, and it’s at a fair (realistic) price.
Lastly this news brings up another question…. what happens to their single barrel program in the coming years? Will we finally see cask strength rye single barrel selections? With the criminally overlooked and now retired cask strength rye no longer available, does this mean that Beam is moving in that direction for their single pick program? Will they re-brand this with a different look and makeup? I don’t have these answers folks, but if there’s one thing I know for certain about Beam, it’s not to be surprised when they drop another flex.
- Mickey Pinstripe