290. Hardins Creek - Jacobs Well Bourbon Review

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts Jim and Mike. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

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Hello everybody, I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is The Bourbon Road. Today, Mike, we are back in Studio One. Jim's basement bar. Anyway, nice and cool down here today. We've got a couple of bottles that we've been eyeballing for a while to have on the show. Today's one in particular. that you managed to get your hands on.

Yeah. Well, to be fair, uh, James BB distilling, they did send us some samples and stuff, which was very nice of them. Uh, we really do appreciate when, uh, companies, any company sends us something. Uh, we try to pay respect to that and, and do it due diligence. Uh, this time it's pumped something pretty special, Jim.

Yeah.

Uh, this is one of their hardened creep bottles. This is brand new. Off the shelf, pretty old whiskey too. Yeah. So there's a couple of expressions of Hardin's Creek. Yeah, there's two of them. There's the Jacob's Well and then there's the Colonel James B. Beam. The James B. Beam one is only two years old and I think they're trying to show that younger whiskey can taste better. We're not trying that one today though. We're going to try the more expensive of the two, Jacob's Well. This one retails for $150. Okay.

So, uh, you got your friends out there. I do have some friends and they took care of you on this one. You still had to pay retail price for it, but they took care of you.

They did that. Somebody gave me a call and said, Hey, I got a bottle for you. You want it or do you don't want it? I had an option to, even though we got sent samples, um, somebody else said, Hey, would you like a bottle of these? And I passed on the two year old one. I don't know. When we go talk to Freddie, I might have to learn about it, I guess. And we got a sample and I'd rather try the sample first. Now this one is 184 months old, Jim.

We had to break out the calculator. We did. How old is that? So that's 15 years and four months. That's my age right there. Yeah. And this is actually, I think you were telling me, this is actually a blend of two separate bourbon mash bills.

Yeah. So you got your traditional bourbon mash, which I would have believed for this would be the traditional Jim beam mash bill. And then you got your high rye mash bill, which we were talking about probably old granddad. Maybe the old granddad high ride mash bill. Sure. Yeah. Um, we were not sure it's undisclosed mash bill says ultra age and you know, 15.3 years, that's getting up there.

Yeah, so there's a large number of people in the bourbon world who love those high numbers on the bourbons, right? But they have to expect that when something hits that higher age around 15 years or more, 14 years, 15 years, that the flavor profile is going to change just a little bit.

It is. It is. And I would expect this thing is a super dark color. I'd say a rich amber burgundy. It's dark in the bottle.

Yeah. It's almost chocolate. Yeah. And you would expect that with this.

And the 15 years also brings on that price. I didn't blink an eye paying $150 for this thing because it's 15 years old, which $10 per year is kind of the going rate. I'm, I'm, I'm not going to shy away from that at all. So this thing's got some history. They put a lot of history into this bottle, which let's talk about this bottle for a minute. Jim, uh, this bottle to me is probably one of, uh, Jim beam's nicest bottles they have.

It really is a beautiful bottle and they took their time on this one and they did a really good job. They did a great job on the glassware, on the front label on this bottle and on the topper as well.

Yeah, I don't know what you'd call that leather strap on there. You called it something else a while ago.

Well, you know, they got this strap that you have to take off this leather strap so that you can get access to the cork to pull the cork out of the bottle. Yeah. And then when you're done, you have to put that strap mech over and it locks in. It's like a belt. I said it's like a chastity belt for bourbon.

Yeah, it does kind of look like that.

I guess if they had a little lock on there where you could put like a little lock on it, it definitely would be a locking chastity belt, right?

Yeah. Yeah. It's like a pair of them ladle holes and straps that go on other pants. Suspenders. Suspenders. Bottle suspenders. I still, I love the bottle. I love the labeling. I love the name Jacobs. Well, now let's talk about Hardin's Creek first. You know, some people are going to be like, well, who is this Jacob? And what's, what's this have to do with Hardin's Creek? What's it all about? Well, Hardin's Creek, where's that at?

Well, Hardin's Creek, today's path of it anyway, runs from the south end of Bargetown all the way down past Maker's Mark. Actually, the creek that runs through the Maker's Mark distillery down there is actually Hardin's Creek. It goes on past Loretto a little bit and then it gets real small and disappears. It's a pretty good sized Creek and it runs.

I don't know how many hundred miles maybe so that's kind of where the Jim beam family started was down on Hardinus Creek, right and Jacob beam or I think his name was I can't pronounce it very well, Joannis Was his first name but Jacob beam he got down there inside that Creek and he said well I'm gonna dig myself a hole and build myself a well in it and So that was Jacob's well. Now that's a far piece from the distillery today though, right?

Yeah, it is. It's not right there. So I guess at some point the creek kind of, like creeks do, a big storm will come along and the creek will find a new path and it'll cut a new way through. And it just basically left that well sitting in the middle of nowhere. But it's been relocated now. And it's right there at the Jim Beam Distillery, at the James B Beam Distillery, right next to the kitchen table restaurant. That's pretty awesome.

I've seen that. Well, you've seen it. We've both got to eat at the restaurant there, the new restaurant, which is amazing. If listeners, if you haven't got to go, don't blink an eye and say, I must skip Jim Beam. It's one of those tours you need to go to and you need to eat there too.

Yeah. It's definitely worth a stop. It's fine fare and a great, great cocktails. And it's, uh, it's definitely should be the restaurant you choose to eat at whenever you go to James B beam. No doubt.

So this is Freddie's, um, this is going to be his legacy, but he was only like 19 years old when this was laid down.

That's true. You do the math. He's 33 or 34 right now. So yeah, he would have been around 19 years old when this, uh, when this stuff was, these barrels were put up in the Rick house. So yeah, it's been around just a little while, you know, and he's paying homage to his ancestors and, uh, source, I guess at one point Hardin's Creek was the source of the water that made the whiskey.

Yeah, probably back then at what definitely was and stuff. Um, I liked it there. paying homage to that history, to that lineage of making great whiskey at Jim Beam. A lot of people say, oh, the white label wasn't all that good, but around the world, it sells a lot.

Yeah, it's a great well bourbon and it sells very well and it has a lot of respect around the world. But it was never meant to be, or maybe it is, I don't know, some people might like it that way, but it's more of a well whiskey than it is a sipping whiskey.

Oh, for sure. I mean, a lot of it gets mixed with Coke or ginger ale, hint, hint, to a feature show. Yeah, but here's the thing about Jim Beam or James B. Distilling is a lot of people don't know about all those other brands that they have that Knob Creek is a Jim Beam brand. Sure. Old granddad. Bookers. We could just keep going down the line. Sure. They got some great whiskeys out there and I'm thinking that this is probably going to be, um, right up there with a little book and bookers. Yeah. Uh, those great brands and some of that knob Creek 15 year old, uh, that they have, um, you know, we might have to compare this to the knob Creek 15 year old to see the difference.

Yeah. Well, we'll soon know cause we're about ready to taste it. Yeah.

Well, we've been talking for a minute now, Jim. Uh, let's go ahead and nose a sucker. Check it out.

And it's got a definitely an old Rick house smell to it. Okay. Like the, not just the Rick house, but the old tool room in the Rick house.

You know, I get a little bit, you're saying tool room and stuff that Rick house smell. I can almost smell some oil on this. Yeah.

You might get it like out of a machine shop or something like that. The old, uh, yeah. Tool room, a lot of char on this, what you would expect.

There's some fruit hiding back in the back, but it's some stone fruit, maybe.

Yeah. But there's just such a, such a overwhelming oak and tobacco and leather effect on this that, you know, it's definitely showing its age.

Yeah. Now what I didn't tell people, this is a hundred and eight proof, Jim. So, uh, that says something about this right where it ought to be. I think. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. The more I knows it, there's a, there's a little bit of a, Like a creamy caramel note, but it's kind of, again, it's back in the back with that, with that, just that little bit of stone fruit.

I was going to say something like it's a burnt caramel on here.

Yeah.

That'd go with that. Or that burnt sugar that you get from, I'm always talking about that kettle corn and before they make the kettle corn, I put that sugar in there and they'll burn it up. Make that caramel that goes all over kettle corn.

I like the nose on it. I really do. And, you know, as long as you know what you're dealing with here, this is not going to be, you know, a six-year-old or eight-year-old whiskey. This is a 15-year-old grown person's whiskey.

Yeah, for sure. Definitely has that age, something to respect, something to understand what you're drinking, but you're not drinking, like you said, that six or that four-year-old, maybe bottle and bond. This is something that they've really taken some time with. But heck, Jim, let's taste it. Cheers.

with that oak and char, right? Yeah, definitely. Definitely mid and rear pallet, very strong. I know it's going to be dry and tannic when it hits the back. I can just tell already.

Getting a little bittersweet caramel on that. When I say bittersweet, that's that drying effect, you know, just that little bit of bitterness. So I'm kind of nut in there, Jim. It's black walnut. Black walnut.

Yeah. Black walnut. Something else going on there. Definitely getting the leather and spades, getting the tobacco notes. I'm still getting that dark caramel, that burnt caramel you said. It's a little creamy, but it's also at the same time, it's not sweet. It's not very sweet at all. Most of that's gone.

You know, sometimes you'll have a cocktail and you'll have a cherry in it. and you drink the cocktail and you're like, you know, cherry else might set in the water for a little bit of ice and you eat that cherry and there's no sweetness to it. Right. You can taste the cherry, but there's no sweetness left in that cherry. It's all, it's all come out of it. And I get a little bit of that in here.

Yeah. This, this to me is, uh, it's, it's definitely got a good tobacco note to it. I would say that this would be a great, I don't smoke cigars anymore, but I think this will be a great cigar whiskey. I think it would stand up well to a cigar. I wouldn't know how to pair it anymore because it's been so many years since I've had a good cigar, but I'm sure a few of our listeners out there are like... Yeah, Adam Boothby like spoke cigars, I know, and drink a fine whiskey.

I think this would be right up his alley. I really think this would pair really good. because how it tastes, maybe a little bitter chocolate with this, but some like a mousse or something like that. Yeah, you know, a dark chocolate, like a German torte. Yeah. Something that's nice and rich. But you have the sweetness with that, but you have your whiskey. Yeah, with the high cacao contents. Very dark. Yeah. super beautiful on this. I do think it has a long finish on it. It just keeps that spice stays right on your tongue.

Definitely got a spice to it. I think that they've done a good job mixing those two because I'm not tasting Jim Beam in this. I'm not tasting Knob Creek in this. I'm tasting something else.

We're tasting Hardin's Creek. We're tasting what Freddie Freddie's laying down at the distillery, what he's decided, he's picking some barrels and he's like, Hey, this is what I'm going to do. This is my path forward. And I'm, I'm super excited about this, Jim. I, I'm not into ultra aged whiskeys. We've talked about that a lot. You know, there's been some other whiskeys we drank. The 15 year old Nam Kri, it's all right. This is actually something I could sit and sip on right here.

Yeah. This is a thinking, this is a thinking whiskey. This has got, um, this has got a little bit more going on. It's not a whiskey for a person that likes a sweeter bourbon. It's just not going to, if you like them softer, if you like them sweeter, if you're not much on a bourbon that has a tannic note or a bitter note to it, You're probably going to like this one at all. But if you like to experience both ends of the spectrum, this definitely is a good representation of what you can expect out of a good extra age sperm.

Yeah. The spice on this reminds me of, and I know our listeners are going to laugh about this, but that whore hound candy, you know, that little bit of medicinal spice to it. It's got a little bit of that in it too. I'm super impressed with what Freddie's did with this. I'm really glad to see that they didn't proof it down to 100 or to 90 or to 80. It shows me they're putting a little bit of love into their whiskey.

Now, I like it for what it is. I think that you can appreciate this whiskey for the target that they put in their sights before they made this. I'm going to say this right now. I'm going to predict that at least half of our listeners probably won't appreciate this.

You're probably right about that. It's just one of those whiskeys. First off, it does have a high price tag. And we've shown that we'll, we want to taste everything from, as we always say, from the very bottom of the shelf, um, all the way to the top shelf, reminding ourselves that to understand each one of those and Hey, you know, if we get 50% of the listeners that liked it, uh, you know, that just speaks volume. Everybody has different tastes because you and I drink so many different whiskies. We can appreciate a little bit more than your average whiskey drinker.

So I guess when I go, my next step is to either recommend or not recommend this. I'm going to recommend it with a caveat. I'm going to say, think very carefully before you drop $150 on this bourbon. that if you haven't had an extra-age bourbon, a more drying bourbon, an oaky, a leathery, a tobaccoy bourbon, if you haven't had something along those lines and enjoyed it in the past, I'm not saying don't get it. I'm saying expect that you might find something that's not in your wheelhouse.

Now, supposedly these are going to be very limited. There's going to be different lines of these, maybe by like the little book or bookers. I don't know, I'm a little bit different, Jim. You know, if you haven't tried ultra-aged whiskeys or ultra-aged bourbon, make sure you try to try some at a bar, you know, and see if you're gonna like it first, an older bourbon. And if you don't, it's probably not for you. But if you already have tasted older whisky and you're like, man, I really like these. If somebody calls you and says, I have a bottle of one of these, Don't blink an eye.

Let me ask you this question then, Mike. Somebody goes to a bar to see this thing sitting up on the shelf. It catches their eye. What do you think they ought to pay for a shot? One ounce pour.

Hmm.

Well, it depends on where you're at.

Depends on where you're at.

Yeah.

Swanky dinner house is going to be more. Yeah. You're probably going to pay somewhere north of $50 for something like this.

Yep.

Yeah. You know, would I pay you that in a bar for this right here? I don't know. I got a bottle. It's rare that I mean, you go to a bar and pay a lot of money for a whiskey. Well, I look for that whiskey that we haven't had before, you know? Yeah. We went to a really nice dinner the other night and I actually had one of our flask with me, which had an amazing whiskey inside of it. I had an old Fitzgerald 14 year old inside that flask. I mean, you sipped a little bit of it. We did. But when we got down to the dinner, they only had two bourbons there. They had Jim Beam. And Makers Mark. And Makers Mark. And I was drinking Makers Mark and I think that's what you were drinking too.

Yeah, I was drinking Makers too. Yeah, so I just, we'd started the night with a Weeder. I wanted to keep going that way, so.

And we had a plethora of glasses. And they poured them nice. And hey, shout out to Jim Beam, Beam Suntorium, Makers Mark, donated all the whiskey for USA Cares Gala. Hats off to them for that and stuff. I think this is a fine start for Freddie as master distiller at James B. Bean Distilling Company.

Yeah, I'm glad to see them doing it. I think they ought to continue to do things like this, to step out of the box, to create new expressions, to make our craft distillery Monday episodes. We always love to see the big boys make it on our craft distillery episodes, meaning that they've got something out that we feel like is in the craft category.

This is definitely be in that category. Absolutely.

Well, Jim, another great review. Absolutely. I think people have heard from us what we think about it. You can make your own decision. If you see it out there, at least you've listened to the show. You've got some

Yeah. It's a memo. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I don't, not a whole lot of other people out there are going to say black walnut and a bittersweet, not caramel stuff like that. So make sure you check us out. We're on all kinds of platforms. Yeah.

Yeah. Mike, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. We're on tech talk. Even we've got a private Facebook group called the bourbon roadies. That's where our friends are. Yeah. About 3000 of them in there. We're sharing whiskey, we're sharing stories, we're sharing pictures, general conversation about whiskey, three easy rules to become a roadie.

RE21, that's the legal drink in the United States. We'd hope everybody in there is. Do you like bourbon? Hell, everybody likes bourbon, right Jim? That's right. If you don't, we'll get you like bourbon. We'll get you easy into it. Like we have some other people. Also, we don't tolerate any rudeness in that group. Meaning if you drink from the very bottom of the shelf, like we've always talked about, or very top of the shelf. We want you to come in there and just celebrate America's native spirit, celebrate life like we always like to do. Whether you're celebrating a death, a retirement, a birthday, Whatever you're celebrating, come in there and enjoy yourself without anybody being mean to you.

Yeah, it's a guarantee. Mike and I promise you that if you come in the roadies, you will not get attacked by another member. You won't be told you're drinking the wrong stuff, you're stupid, you get a clue, you don't know what you're talking about. You'll never hear that from another roadie because if you do, The person that says to you, isn't going to be a roadie anymore.

That's right.

You got three people in there that are making sure that that does not occur because we know how brutal it can be in some of these bourbon groups. And we don't want you to have to experience that as a bourbon roadie.

Yeah. We want you to experience bourbon the way we see it, the way we enjoy it. We want you to enjoy it without any hassle and stuff.

So yeah, we do two great shows a week, Jim. That's right. Two shows every week. Every Monday we do a craft distillery episode like today's. We'll pick one expression. Mike and I will drink it. We'll talk about it. We'll tell you what we think. We'll let you know whether or not we think you should add it to your bar. Every Wednesday, we'll do a full-length episode. One hour in length, a little more sometimes, a little less. Basically, two 30-minute haves. We'll get you to work and get you home. We'll have a guest on, several expressions. We'll deep dive a subject. Great content. Every week, two shows. Mike, what do they have to do to make sure they don't miss one?

Well, you want to scroll up top that app, hit that check sign, that plus sign, that subscribe sign that Apple tell you, hey, these two jokers got a show that has come out today and you need to listen. The next thing you need to do is scroll on down to the very bottom of that app. Hit that five star review. We'd really appreciate it. Leave us some comments. You know what I'm about to say, though, if you don't, a big bad booty daddy, a bourbon is going to come over to your house with some of this Hardin's Creek, Jacob's Well, We'll drink the whole bottle all night. By the end of the night, you're going to leave us that five star review. I guarantee you. But seriously, those reviews, those comments, they open up the doors to distilleries. Let me and Jim inside to do great interview with guests. It gets great whiskey in our hands like this Hardens Creek Jacobs. Well, we'd really appreciate it.

Now, we always say this, Mike and I are very approachable. If you see us in town, you see us at a liquor store, you see us at an event, make sure you come up and introduce yourself to us. Shake our hand. Have a pour with us. We'd love to hear your story about what got you into bourbon. You can also send us an email or get on our website and go to our contact us page. Let us know if you have an idea for a show, if you've got an idea for a bottle that needs to be reviewed. If you've got a distillery in your hometown that's doing it right and you think their whiskey needs to be on the show, let us know. We'll reach out to them. Like I said, you can always email us. I'm Jim at TheBurbanRoad.com. He's Mike at TheBurbanRoad.com. Like we always say, hit up our DMs on Instagram. I'm Jay Shannon, 63. I'm Big Burban Chief.