Jim Beam Bourbon Review

Jim Beam Bourbon
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
“White Label”
80 Proof
~$15 at my TW&M
Review

Please enjoy my Jim Beam Bourbon Review!

The Number One Selling Bourbon

Jim Beam Bourbon, probably more commonly known as Jim Beam White Label, is Beam’s flagship product. According to data compiled by The Spirits Business, in 2020, the Jim Beam brand was the number one selling bourbon in the world, and good ‘ol Jim Beam White Label made up the majority of those sales. You may be wondering why Jim Beam Bourbon is so popular? That’s a fair question, so let’s take a closer look.

Technical Details

Although Beam does not disclose their mash bills, it is accepted that their bourbon mash bill is 75% corn, 13% rye & 12% malted barley. Jim Beam White Label is aged at least four years, and probably not much more. It is made from a large batch of barrels of an undisclosed quantity, but to maintain a consistent flavor and meet the high demands, we can only assume that it is LARGE. For reference, a “small batch” for Beam, for example what Knob Creek, Baker’s, Basil Hayden and Booker’s are considered, can be up to 250 barrels. So a large batch is, well, large!

Here are a few more facts about Jim Beam White Label Bourbon for those who are interested: It is distilled via continuous column still with the low wine being 125 proof and the high wine 135 proof. It enters the barrel at 125 proof and is bottled at 80 proof. So there’s quite a bit of water added at the end to proof it down to barreling proof.

Tasting Notes for Jim Beam Bourbon

Let’s taste it:

🛌 Rested for 15 minutes in a Glencairn

👉Nose: Honey, caramel, vanilla, apple cider, light toast, light baking spices, cinnamon, light leather & cedar; light alcohol
👉Taste: Honey, black tea, caramel, light baking spices
👉Finish: Flavors rapidly fade to black pepper and char, with lingering spice into the medium length finish

Overall, the nose is soft with pleasant flavors, with a little bit of tang coming from apple cider, and a little bite from cedar and cinnamon. The cinnamon becomes a lot more noticeable after a sip or two. In the taste there’s some black tea, honey, caramel and a hint of apple. However, those flavors fade quickly on the finish leaving mainly char and black pepper which linger for a little while. The char becomes a bit astringent with time and the original sweeter flavors are all but gone. Even though the flavors change a bit throughout the sip, there’s not a lot of complexity, and by the finish I am longing for something more.

Summary

As a neat pour, Jim Beam White Label Bourbon is a bit lacking, although at 80 proof, it’s quite easy to drink. It may be more popular as a mixer for those who don’t want their cocktails to be too “bourbon forward”. For anyone looking for a bit more of, well, everything, Jim Beam Black may be the one for you to try. Aged a couple of more years than White Label, it has similar flavors, but they are more intense. There’s more oak and leather, and still also some cinnamon which continues into the finish. (Check out my Jim Beam Black Bourbon review for more details!) Whatever the appeal, people are buying an awful lot of Jim Beam Bourbon, so Beam’s got a good thing going. Are you a fan? Cheers!🥃

I hope you enjoyed my Jim Beam Bourbon Review! Would you like to learn more about what it is like to visit Jim Beam? Check out our James B. Beam Distilling Tour Review!

Would you like to learn more about distilleries and bourbon? Are you planning a trip to Kentucky Distilleries? Maybe you would like to live the bourbon life vicariously through us? If any of these are true, then check out BourbonObsessed.com today!