Booker’s Bourbon The Beam House Batch 2024-02 Review
I found this bottle on K&L Wines website for a little above MSRP and ordered it since Booker’s is relatively hard to find in my area. The latest release in the Booker’s Bourbon Collection is Booker’s Batch 2024-02 “The Beam House Batch.” This batch pays homage to the Beam family’s historic home, a place that holds deep significance not only for the Beam lineage, but for all those connected to the Beam legacy. If you have a bottle of this Booker’s release, then pour yourself a dram and join me in this Booker’s Bourbon The Beam House Batch 2024-02 review. And leave a comment about your impression of this batch!
The Beam House, as it’s affectionately known, is the real-life generational home where many of the Beam family’s traditions and memories were forged. It’s a special place that has witnessed the beginnings, celebrations, and milestones of generations of the Beam clan. This latest Booker’s release honors that rich history and the enduring spirit of the Beam family.
The Beam House batch is made up of five production dates stored in four different warehouse locations:
14% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Z
28% came from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse 3
14% came from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse 3
19% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Q
25% came from the 7th floor of 9-story warehouse H
Series: Booker’s 2024 Batches
Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Age: 7 years, 2 mo, 22 days
Proof: 124.6
Proof Designation: Barrel Proof
Batch Designation: Small Batch
Filtered Status: Non-Chill Filtered
Mash bill: 77% Corn, 13% Rye, 10% Malted Barley
Barrel Char Level: 4
Barrel Entry Proof: 125
Distillate Source: ??
Distillery: James B. Beam Distilling Co.
Company: Beam Suntory, Inc.
Bottled By: James B. Beam Distilling Co.
Distilled/Aging Location: Clermont, Kentucky
Master Distiller: Fred Noe, 7th Generation Master Distiller
Release Date: July 2024
MSRP: $99 (2024)
Secondary Market: $150
Availability: Somewhat Available
Booker’s Bourbon The Beam House Batch 2024-02
Review
My tasting reviews are unique in that I include the notes of several well-known whiskey critics. The hope is that this format will help me and others to explore and expand their tasting experience. After you have taken your own tasting notes, read the reviews and see if there is a flavor note that others discerned that now you can detect as well.
For this tasting: Fresh Crack, Glencairn Glass, Neat, Room Temp, Breathe: 5 minutes.
The fresh crack/neck pour was unpleasant with an astringent bite mixed with baking spices that was off-putting. After the first pour was out of the bottle, giving it 48 hours made a big difference in the tasting experience.
Legs
Beads began to form on the crown at about 6 seconds, the legs started to form at about 22 seconds, and the first legs reached the bowl at about 63 seconds.
Nose
Caramel, baking spices, black pepper, vanilla, molasses, maple syrup, dark honey, grape, fig, wet leather, funky oak, and very mild peanuts that only showed up when the glass was a few inches away.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Mash & Drum: Caramel, vanilla, some peanut but less than the typical Booker’s. A nice caramel apple note.
Paste Magazine: On the nose, there are some nice, sweet elements here, but this also stands out to me as a somewhat more fruit-forward batch of Booker’s than we typically see. Often, these bottles amplify some of the core Beam traits–vanilla, nuttiness, etc.–into overdrive, but this nose seems somewhat more nuanced. I’m getting vanilla frosting and a deeper, molasses-like caramelization, along with Tootsie Roll-like chocolate, toasted malt and ribbons of dried fruitiness. That fruit plays well with ethanol that is surprisingly restrained here on the nose, which is always nice to find. At the same time, I don’t find this to be the MOST expressive of Booker’s noses overall in terms of overall intensity–but at the same time, it’s more nuanced.
Bourbon Banter: Per usual, this Booker’s aroma is like the others: powerfully spicy and meant to warn that keeping the glass a few inches from one’s nose is wise. It means business! It’s generous with ethanol and cherry candy, fire-cured tobacco and warm molasses. Give it a good rest to let it loosen up a bit and smell campfire, cooked corn and chocolate covered cherries blow in before all transition evenly to the palate.
Palate
Caramel, black pepper, baking spices, cinnamon bark, funky oak, a hint of mocha or cocoa, licorice, brown sugar, a hint of sweet apples.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Mash & Drum: (notes from his second pour, suggesting that perhaps the fresh crack/neck pour wasn’t great or needed more time open) It is a lot sweeter than I thought it was going to be. It drinks like a typical Booker’s. The nuttiness is there but it’s not into that peanut shell or peanut butter realm. There’s some of that there, but it’s kind of a brighter, sweeter batch for me a little bit. I feel like I’m dipping a slice of apple into peanut butter and cinnamon and having a bite of that. A good amount of oak here but not overpowering.
Paste Magazine: On the palate this one is very sweet and rich, one of the sweeter Booker’s batches I’ve run across in recent memory, which is not a bad thing. Heavy caramel is met by lots of vanilla and some peanut butter, but the dried fruit also returns in the form of raisin and fresher dates. The darker caramels also register here again, as molasses or sorghum-like sweetness. This is quite rich and desserty as a vibe, transitioning into some barrel char and trailing hints of tobacco, pepper and leather. There are faint elements of older Beam characteristics starting to creep in here, which lends the Beam House Batch a nice sense of composure, as does the similarly restrained ethanol on the palate for this proof point. This doesn’t feel like younger, wilder cask strength bourbon, and I like to see that with Booker’s.
Bourbon Banter: For all its aromatic horsepower, the whiskey runs leaner and not as hot as expected. Quickly enough, though, dark fruits, a little Kirschwasser, cocoa, espresso and raw honey collude to remind you that you’re drinking Booker’s, and one pass at this bourbon won’t be enough to discover all its virtues.
Finish
Medium finish with vanilla, caramel, honey, and leather.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Mash & Drum: na
Paste Magazine: na
Bourbon Banter: The finish is expectedly long and plenty dry the down the throat. The palate, however, is left tingling, freshened and full of dried cherry, dates and allspice.
Mouthfeel
The mouthfeel seems a little thin for what I was expecting, maybe in part due to the intensity of the baking spices.
The Burn
4 out of 5. This means that the burn from the alcohol is a bit lower (5% to 9%) than what I would expect it to be. I would guess this to be around 115 proof, not 124.6 proof.
Tasting Summary
Sweetness & baking spices hit simultaneously, followed by sweet oak. The spiciness takes over for a short time, then sweetness evens it out. Overall, I’m not a big fan of the Beam House Batch. For my palate, it jumps around a bit too much from spicy to sweet to oaky. Nice flavors overall, but not harmonious on my palate.
My Rating
The higher the score the better the whiskey is in my opinion. For reference, my best rated bottle so far is the George T. Stagg 2022 (138.7p) with a score of 9.7.
| Score Type | Score | Examples |
| Likability Score | 7.2 | 1.0 – 10.0 |
| Availability Score | 3 | 1-Rare, 2-Hard to Find, 3-A Little Hunting, 4-Easy to Find |
My Tasting Notes
A blank version of this tasting notes wheel is available in both a color and a black & white version in the member’s area.
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