Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Jim Beam Devil's Cut

As whiskey ages in oak barrels a small amount is lost to evaporation. This is called the Angel's Share. That which is trapped within the barrel wood is what Jim Beam is calling the Devil's Cut.
(Normally, Angel's Share applies to all the whiskey lost during aging through evaporation and absorption, but hey... Beam has a new gimmick and isn't beyond redefining age-old words to suit it's marketing endeavors.)

According the the web site, this trapped product is extracted from the wood through some process or another (it's not really that important 'how', is it?) and blended with 6yr bourbon.
So, what Beam is marketing amounts to bourbon flavored with... yeah, you guessed it! Bourbon.
It's all too gimmicky for me, and I suspect it's mostly a bullshit way to sell $15 bourbon for $25.

Enough talk from me, let's get to the pour shall we?

More rusty in color than usual Beam, with scents of oak, nuts and cinnamon/nutmeg.

Sits lightly on the tongue, remotely tickles with cinnamon and spice, buttery yet not overly sweet. Heavy oak influence (which I like) but not as heavy as I was expecting.
Strong pepper and spice burn front and back with some scraping/stabbing rear heat as it goes down. Woeful lack of regional transition.

Finish is easy enough, mellow and warm, not overly impressive. Compared to the initial introduction I expected a longer, stronger, more masculine finish.

I actually like it better than standard Jim Beam, but I never liked standard Jim Beam (it reminds me of iced tea, southern style, which I don't like anyway) so what's that tell you?

Overall: Disappointing. It's manly enough at first glance, but don't take it to the rodeo.

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