Company: Beam Suntory
Distillery: James B. Beam Distilling Co.
Region: Frankfort, Kentucky
Aging: 15 Years
ABV: 55.5%
Proof: 111
Mash Bill: 77% Corn, 13% Rye, 10% Malted Barley
Non-Chill Filtered: Yes
MSRP Price: $250
Secondary Price: $750
Jim Beam Lineage Tasting Notes
Appearance: Very Dark Amber
Nose: Rich Peanut, caramel, heavy oak, vanilla, dark fruits, cherry, plum, chocolate, a lovely array of spices – reminds me of buttery peanut brittle sprinkled with cinnamon spice, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar
Palate: Buttery caramel, toasted oak, vanilla, rich fruits, clove, chocolate, cinnamon spice, and a hint of tobacco and chocolate
Finish: One of the best finishes I’ve ever tasted – ridiculously long finish that leaves you with a buttery and oily mouthfeel that last 60+ seconds. It leaves you with heavy oak, caramel, and vanilla flavors blended with rich dark fruits with lingering rye spice and pepper on the tail end
The History of This Bottle
Jim Beam Lineage – A Father and Son Collaboration
This carefully crafted bourbon has been a long time in the making – over 225 years. In fact, that’s how long the Beam family have been perfecting the craft of distillation, passing down their knowledge from generation to generation.
This limited release- created by Master Distiller Fred Noe with his son Freddie Noe – continues this tradition together. Fred and Freddie hand-selected this 15-year-old bourbon. With its aromatic yet balanced flavor, this rare whiskey marks the peak of one generation’s achievement and the next generation’s coming of age.
What Makes Jim Beam Lineage Whiskey Special?
Jim Beam Lineage is a bottle of whiskey that I picked up while on the Kentucky Bourbon trail with my dad for my birthday this past year.
One of the tours we scheduled was to visit the Jim Beam Distillery which included a scheduled tour and a one-day-only event tasting where we would get to sit down with Fred and Freddie Noe to taste their new product – an American Single Malt Whiskey named Clermont Steep.
This bottle of Jim Beam Lineage was available in the gift shop and is normally a “travel-retail only” bottle which means that it is mostly sold in Airports and duty-free travel stores around the world.
I didn’t know what to expect with our tasting, but I knew we would be drinking something new that no one had really tried before.
As we arrived at the tasting, we were welcomed into a nice room with the four bottles we would be tasting.
At this point, I was still unsure whether Fred and Freddie Noe would be arriving in person to taste the whiskeys with us or if we would just be tasting the new product on our own.
Shortly after we arrived, Fred and Freddie Noe joined us in the room and welcomed us, and showed their appreciation for us attending their new product tasting.
Immediately, I could feel that they were excited to share this new product with us and even more excited to talk with us about all the creative ideas and precision they put into their products.
During our tasting, we sampled and enjoy the following whiskeys:
- Clermont Steep
- Distiller’s Share No. 1
- Hardin’s Creek
- Little Book – Chapter 6
If you’re interested in reading more about our tasting, I wrote an entire blog about our Kentucky Bourbon Trail Trip and our tasting with Fred and Freddie Noe.
My dad and I really enjoyed the tasting and afterward, we had a chance to talk with Fred and Freddie one-on-one for a bit. They were extremely inviting and made us feel very at home at their distillery.
I was able to get my bottle of Jim Beam Lineage signed by both Fred and Freddie Noe and it was an experience I will never forget.
This bottle is a father and son collaboration and I will always be grateful that I got to share my birthday trip with my own father and drink this bottle of Jim Beam Lineage together after we got home.
To have it signed by its creators is just icing on the cake and is a bottle I will keep front and center on my whiskey shelves forever.
So with that being said, let’s jump into this review!
Is Jim Beam Lineage Complex?
Jim Beam Lineage is one of the most complex whiskeys I have ever tasted and has so many layers of flavor.
It is full of oak from being aged for 15 years.
It has lots of classic bourbon caramel and vanilla as well as the distinct Jim Beam peanut notes on the nose.
It is then followed up by a wide array of dark fruits, rye spices, baking spice, clove, and so much more.
In addition to this, it also has distinct chocolate tobacco notes and a little bit of pepper on the finish.
To be honest, I have sat down with my dad to taste this. I’ve tasted it solo. I’ve tasted it a second-time solo and I discover new flavors every time I revisit this whiskey.
It is probably the most complex and deep whiskey I have tasted.
What are Jim Beam Lineage’s strongest attributes/flavors?
Jim Beam Lineage’s strongest attribute is that it combines so many different flavors into one whiskey that you will be able to sit down with this bottle every single time and discover something new you enjoy about it.
The finish alone is one of the longest and richest finishes of any whiskey I’ve had.
Is Jim Beam Lineage priced accurately to its quality?
Here’s the important question….is Jim Beam Lineage worth its price tag?
For me, yes. Yes, it is.
I have multiple reasons for this bottle being worth $250.
The first and most important is that it represents a memory that I will have forever with my father.
We really enjoyed tasting whiskeys together on our trip and this is the ultimate souvenir that I could have come home with. And on top of that, I got my bottle signed by its creators Fred and Freddie Noe who are also father and son.
That alone is worth the $250 for me.
But is this bottle worth $250 to you?
Well, that depends.
This whiskey is incredibly complex and I would recommend it if you are someone who really enjoys sitting down for a while with a glass of whiskey and breaking down the complexity of all the flavors in your glass.
Its flavors are big and bold, but also subtle and nuanced.
I truly get new tasting notes each time I sit down with this bottle.
Conclusion for Jim Beam Lineage
If you have a chance to buy a bottle of Jim Beam Lineage, I highly recommend that you do.
It’s one of the most complex and deep whiskeys that I have in my collection.
In Addition…
I have to emphasize the importance and my appreciation of the experience Fred and Freddie gave us when we visited their tasting.
I did not expect the amount of passion and excitement they had to visit and spend time with and especially to help educate us on how much effort they put into their products.
They also expressed how much it means to them that each person enjoys their whiskey no matter which product they purchase.
Whether it’s an expensive $250 limited edition bottle or their new $60 American Single Malt Whiskey Clermont Steep, they try to push the boundaries and create products their customers will truly appreciate and enjoy.
This plaque is what holds the bottle of Jim Beam Lineage in place and it feels very appropriate given the short experiences I had with both Fred and Freddie.
Let Us Know What You Think
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Thanks for reading and cheers!
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