The Jim Beam Distiller’s Masterpiece certainly casts a luxurious visage on the shelf. The leather-bound box with sliding metal rails leave no question as to what type of product you are getting into. The packaging alone is so nicely done, that we are curious if the same level of detail is inside the bottle. Let’s find out.
Nose – Deep, rich, and complex. The PX sherry cask’s finish is flexing here with obvious notes of sherry, dark fruit, brown sugar, and oak.
Taste – With nearly zero ethanol up front, this drinks very easily. While the word “smooth” is among our least favorite things to see in a review, it’s undeniably the first thing that comes to mind. The layers are deep, and include dark chocolate, heavily toasted (but not charred) marshmallow, fruit, and honey.
Finish – A medium long finish for something that seems to have very little ethanol influence. It coats and holds onto the palate in a delicate, but noticeable way. Sweetness mixing with oak and a slight hint of espresso mixing with black cherry and cranberry.
The Bourbon Finder Grade: B
Thoughts – Well this is certainly a premium edition from Beam, and a complex one. Hard to call it a value as it will bruise your wallet around $200 just to get your paws on the extravagant packaging. The flavors are good, but not entirely unique. While the juice may not totally live up to the packaging, there’s no denying that this is an easy-drinking pour of bourbon.
Our grading system: As mentioned in our About Us page, we’re excited to share bourbon with our friends, family, and readers. There are enough critics, cynics, and curmudgeons in the whiskey world as it is. Our goal is to foster the bourbon community in a positive way by bringing fun and entertaining content whenever possible, and as such we decided early on that applying precise scores to whiskey was simply too serious for us. We use a simple grade school system to apply a grade to the whiskeys we review because it is indicative of the whiskey’s grade for us on that particular day. A grade of a “B” today may very well be a “B+” or even a “B-” on another day. Pour a bit and enjoy, these are the good old days of whiskey!
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