September is Bourbon Heritage Month, apparently. For us outside of the USA it doesn’t mean anything and I’m not even sure it’s still a thing stateside. Anyway, I thought it was a good excuse to review a bourbon that I had recently.

It’s one of those samples that were sitting around on my shelf for far too long and I had completely forgotten about until I started digging around to find some things for our family vacation.

Normally I take the tail ends of bottles but with a third kid we didn’t have much room to spare for non-essentials. Samples are much smaller and can be stashed anywhere between other things.

Knob Creek then. My favorite go-to bourbon, even though I don’t drink much bourbon. I’ve had at least one bottle in my posession ever since our trip to the USA in 2009. It’s especially good since it’s rather affordable. A lot more expensive than in its country of origin, but still ‘only’ 40 euros.

I was rather surprised to find out this was made by Jim Beam, since I’m not very partial to many of their products.

Sniff:
Big bourbon with lots of autumnal, cigar like scents. Not too sweet, and I even think I get an ashy note from the cask. Shortbread and some light spices.

Sip:
Sharp (no surprise at 60%), with a lot of wood spices. Hot cinnamon, ginger, stuff like that. Some sweetness but less than in regular bourbon. Dead leaves, cigars, ash.

Swallow:
A rather short finish in which all flavors from before show themselves again, but none stick around. There’s a hint of bitterness too.

Not bad, but not one I’ll recall in a few years time. It’s a bit thin compared to what I am used to and what I look for in Knob Creek. I’m not overly surprised, since I’ve found that I prefer the regular 50% versions over the 60% single casks.

Anyway, not bad, but not particularly good either. If I had a bottle I’d drink it, but I’d rather drink something else. Something with a bit more depth, and a bit less alcohol.

84/100

Knob Creek 9yo, Cask 3080, 60%, OB for K&L Wines. No longer available, since it was released in 2016.