Company: Beam Suntory
Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery
Region: Clermont, Kentucky
Aging: 8 Year Legent Bourbon Finished and Blended by Yamazaki Chief Blender Shinji Fukuyo in Spanish Oak Sherry Casks and French Oak Wine Casks that were used to age Yamazaki Japanese Single Malt Whiskey
ABV: 57% ABV
Proof: 114 Proof
Mash Bill: 75% Corn, 13% Rye, 12% Malted Barley
Non-Chill Filtered: Yes
MSRP Price: $200
Legent Yamazaki Tasting Notes
Appearance: Dark Cherry Amber
Nose: Lovely rich caramel, oak, sweet vanilla, dark fruits, black cherry, cinnamon spice, leather, tobacco, candied fruits, oaky tannic notes
Palate: Rich caramel, lots of oak, pepper spice, oaky tannic spice, dark fruits, leather, tobacco, malt, earthy notes
Finish: Big heavy and oily finish with lots of peppery spice, rich caramel, and a ton of oak – leaves you with a hot and spicy finish full of rich pepper, spices, heavy oak, and a lingering sichuan pepper numbing effect on your tongue
Is Legent Yamazaki an Approachable Whiskey?
Legent Yamazaki is a big and bold whiskey that has quite a bit of flavor to it. It is also a limited-release bottle so this isn’t a bottle that is easy to get a hold of.
I would reserve this whiskey for experienced whiskey drinkers who are looking for a complex and layered whiskey experience.
Is Legent Yamazaki Complex?
Legent Yamazaki has a lot of layers of complexity and depth of flavor.
To start, the nose is spectacular.
It has all your favorite bourbon characteristics of rich caramel, sweet vanilla, and oak but since it is finished in additional barrels, it has more layers of complexity.
You get a lot of dark fruits, black cherry, plum, and anise seed notes from the Spanish sherry and French wine finishes, but also a hint of apricot and raisin notes from the Yamazaki barrels.
On the palate, you get rich oaky flavors full of pepper and oaky tannic spice. It almost reminds me of the mouthfeel you get when you sip on a higher-end red wine with a bit of a chewy mouth sensation that leaves your mouth watering for the next 30 seconds.
As you continue to sip on this one, you start to notice more and more layers of flavors each sip.
While the heavy oak and pepper spice are always predominant, you get a lot of rich caramel, sweet vanilla, dark fruit flavors, and earthy leather and tobacco flavors.
The finish lasts an extremely long time and leaves you with a nice buttery and oily mouthfeel for nearly a full minute.
What are Legent Yamazaki’s strongest attributes/flavors?
Legent Yamazaki’s strongest attribute is the depth and complexity in the flavors of this pour.
It is a big and bold whiskey that really wakes up your taste buds and sends them into a frenzy.
Each sip you will likely get a new flavor that leaves you reaching for your next sip.
Is Legent Yamazaki a go-to whiskey?
Legent Yamazaki is a limited-release bottle that is quite expensive so I’ll be reserving this bottle for special occasions.
I happened to luck into this bottle because I was picking up my friend who was in town visiting from Tokyo, Japan for Christmas and New Years.
I drove up to pick him up and stopped at a whiskey store in Ohio on the way home and they were kind enough to hold their very last bottle for me.
The odds that I would find a limited-release bottle from one of my favorite American Bourbons finished in one of my favorite Japanese Whiskeys while picking up my friend visiting from Tokyo was just perfect and a great way to ring in the New Year.
We both enjoyed a pour of this to celebrate the occasion and it was a great bottle to add to my collection.
Is Legent Yamazaki priced accurately to its quality?
Jim Beam Legent Yamazaki is a special-release bottle of whiskey to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Suntory Whisky and the establishment of the Yamazaki Distillery.
If you are a big fan of Jim Beam, this bottle is worth the price as a collection piece and a celebration of the two master distillers working together.
The depth and complexity of the whiskey speaks for itself and I am happy to have spend the $200 to have this bottle in my collection.
History of Jim Beam, Yamazaki, and The Legent Yamazaki Cask Finish Blend
From the Beam Suntory Website itself:
“This year marks the 100th anniversary of Suntory Whisky and the establishment of Yamazaki Distillery. As The House of Suntory celebrates this milestone, the release of Legent Yamazaki Cask Finish Blend represents a look toward the next 100 years of Monozukuri (Japanese craftsmanship), innovation and exceptional blending techniques from the founding house of Japanese whisky.”
I was lucky enough to enjoy a Kentucky Bourbon Trail Trip earlier this year with my dad and the Jim Beam Distillery tour, tasting, and experience was our favorite of the entire trip.
We happened to be visiting for the Jim Beam release launch day of Clermont Steep and were able to have a private tasting with Fred and Freddie Noe.
Included in this tasting were the Clermont Steep American Single Malt, Distiller’s Share No. 1, Hardin’s Creek Bourbon, and Little Book Chapter 6.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Booker’s bourbon and plenty of other Jim Beam products so it was truly a special experience to hear Fred and Freddie Noe discussing how they experiment with new products and how much precision they put into crafting their bottles of whiskey.
After the tasting, Fred and Freddie hung out with us for 20-30 minutes for cocktails and I got to talk with them for at least 10-15 minutes discussing how they come up with new products, choose their blends, and all the effort that goes into their products.
I had brought my own bottle of Little Book Chapter 6 to have signed by Freddie Noe since that was his own project in the company.
As I handed him the bottle, he was quite pleased to see that I had opened and enjoyed nearly half the bottle already.
I also purchased a bottle of their father-and-son collaboration bottle called Jim Beam Lineage.
To this day, my bottle of Jim Beam Lineage is still the most complex bottle of whiskey and is the bottle I compare my other top favorites to.
This was the first time my dad really got into tasting whiskey, so it’s a special trip for me and to cap it all off with a father-son tasting with Fred and Freddie Noe while on my father-son trip for my birthday, it was just a perfect experience that I will never forget.
So I’m glad to experience more special-release bottles from Fred partnering with Shinji Fukuyo. Hopefully, I will be able to visit the Yamazaki Distillery some day as well.
Conclusion for Jim Beam Legent Yamazaki
If you’re looking for a truly unique experience, Jim Beam Legent Yamazaki Cask Finish Blend is a bottle to pick up.
It’s extremely complex, jam-packed full of flavor, and the big and bold flavor of it will be sure to send your taste buds into a frenzy.
It’s mouth-watering good and it is one of the nicer finishes you will find on a bottle of bourbon – with a high-entry price tag for the experience.
If you see this one on the shelf, it likely won’t last long so if you’re a fan of high-end whiskey, this is one to get while it is still available.
Let Us Know What You Think
I hope you enjoyed this tasting experience with me.
If you decide to give this bottle a shot, please let me know on social media via Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Thanks for reading and cheers!
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