It is also an example of a typical “low rye” bourbon – although there is no universally-agreed level for what proportion of rye in a mashbill qualifies as such (and most makers don’t publish exact levels anyway). Nevertheless, most enthusiasts would place Knob Creek in same relatively low-rye category as the other Jim Beam brands, Elijah Craig<\/a>, Evan Williams and the main mashbill used by Buffalo Trace\/Eagle Rare<\/a>\/Stagg<\/a>, etc. This is in contrast to bourbons which have a higher amount of rye flavouring, like Four Roses, Wild Turkey, Bulleit, Woodford, 1792, etc.<\/p>\n Let’s see how Knob Creek compares to other low-rye mashbill bourbons in my Meta-Critic database:<\/p>\n Baker\u2019s: 7yo 8.79 \u00b1 0.29 on 19 reviews ($$$) I recently sampled this from a 50mL sample bottle while on my travels in the US (glass bottle, shown on the right). A nice miniature scale reproduction of the larger bottle, right down to the engraved lot code on the back (which are rare to see on miniatures).<\/p>\n Colour<\/strong>: Red delicious apple juice<\/p>\n Nose<\/strong>: Classic bourbon nose, though not too strong. Woody (oaky), with caramel and vanilla notes, plus pancake syrup. Earthy. A bit of cherry (which I often get on bourbons). Light rye spices (nutmeg mainly). Melted butter. Touch of acetone at the end, but subtle. A sweeter and fuller-body version of Basil Hayden’s comes to mind.<\/p>\n Palate<\/strong>: Classic bourbon presentation again, with caramel and vanilla to the fore. No real fruits to speak of. Nutty (peanuts in particular, which I gather is a Jim Beam hallmark). Tobacco leaf and a touch of dark chocolate. Pepper joins the nutmeg (plus some cinnamon too now). Chewy texture, with a bit more kick than typical (thanks to 50% ABV). Pretty decent bourbon, with a good range of straightforward flavours.<\/p>\n Finish<\/strong>: Medium. Toasty, with wood spice and some vanilla. There’s a slight sourness here – its also dry, with a mild mouth-puckering astringency at the end.<\/p>\n Given its quality – and bonafides described earlier – Knob Creek is a good choice for both sipping neat and in mixed drinks.<\/p>\n For further reviews of this bourbon, Lew of Whisky Advocate<\/a> is very keen on it, as is Jim Murray. More moderately positive are Nathan the Scotchnoob<\/a>, Josh the Whiskey Jug<\/a>, and Richard of the Whiskey Reviewer<\/a>. Ralfy<\/a> is less of a fan of this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Knob Creek is one of the premium bourbon brands put out by American whisky maker Jim Beam.\u00a0 It is aged longer than most bourbons (currently stated as 9 years on the label), and is bottled at a higher proof (50% ABV). Supposedly, the spirit for Knob Creek comes off the stills at a lower proof than standard Jim Beam, thus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[101,111,59,100],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whiskies","tag-9yo","tag-beam","tag-bourbon","tag-knob-creek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3303,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions\/3303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBasil Hayden\u2019s: 8.38 \u00b1 0.26 on 15 reviews ($$$)
\nBooker’s Small Batch: 8.88 \u00b1 0.29 on 16 reviews ($$$)
\nBuffalo Trace: 8.57 \u00b1 0.42 on 19 reviews ($$)
\nEagle Rare 10yo: 8.55 \u00b1 0.32 on 20 reviews ($$)
\nElijah Craig Barrel Proof: 8.86 \u00b1 0.21 on 9 reviews ($$$$)
\nElijah Craig 12yo: 8.69 \u00b1 0.28 on 20 reviews ($$)
\nEvan Williams Single Barrel: 8.71 \u00b1 0.23 on 15 reviews ($$)
\nEvan Williams BiB (White label): 8.32 \u00b1 0.53 on 9 reviews ($)
\nEvan Williams (Black Label): 8.18 \u00b1 0.40 on 14 reviews ($)
\nHenry McKenna: 8.07 \u00b1 0.07 on 3 reviews ($)
\nHenry McKenna 10yo Single Barrel BiB: 8.89 \u00b1 0.23 on 8 reviews ($$)
\nJim Beam Black Label: 8.21 \u00b1 0.42 on 15 reviews ($)
\nJim Beam Devil’s Cut: 8.05 \u00b1 0.51 on 16 reviews ($)
\nKnob Creek Small Batch 9yo: 8.61 \u00b1 0.40 on 21 reviews ($$)<\/strong>
\nKnob Creek Single Barrel Reserve: 8.80 \u00b1 0.27 on 10 reviews ($$$)
\nStagg Jr (all batches): 8.57 \u00b1 0.40 on 16 reviews ($$$$)<\/p>\n![\"Knob.Creek.Miniature\"](\"http:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Knob.Creek_.Miniature.jpg\")
Standard Knob Creek gets a good score for the price in this class of bourbons.<\/p>\n![\"Knob.Creek\"](\"http:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Knob.Creek_.jpg\")
Surprisingly easy to drink neat, despite the slightly sour\/dry aspect.\u00a0 Quite a respectable bourbon, especially for the price. I would put it on par with Elijah Craig in terms of quality, although it is perhaps a touch less flavourful. Personally, I still prefer the Buffalo Trace\/Eagle Rare\/Stagg juice (the latter two\u00a0 are under-rated in the Meta-Critic database, in my view).<\/p>\n