Adam Harris, North American Bourbon Ambassador at Beam, introduced the new Jim Beam Signature Craft Series at the Flatiron Room in New York City. From the press release:
Jim Beam Signature Craft Quarter Cask is the third edition from the Jim Beam Signature Craft line and second limited-edition expression. This full-bodied Kentucky Straight Bourbon is bottled at 86 proof, starts with premium Jim Beam Bourbon aged at least five years and is finished with a variety of fine quarter cask bourbons, and all aged at least four years in smaller barrels. By building on a base of mature liquid and finishing it with quarter cask aged liquid, the inspired distillers at Jim Beam were able to craft just the right balance of rich vanillas of a mature bourbon profile and the extra oak notes of the quarter cask bourbon.
In 2003, a group of daring distillers at Jim Beam thought “outside the barrel” and experimented with a variety of obscure grains and non-traditional recipes and ultimately settled on a range of harvest grains such as Brown Rice and Soft Red Wheat (among others) to complement the majority grain of corn. These innovative distillers, many of whom have since currently retired, distilled a handful of liquids and laid them down in rackhouses to rest, untouched, for years…until now. More than a decade later, Fred Noe discovered these lost barrels and gave them a taste; and while a few batches from the lot did not make the cut, he was delighted to find six delicious bourbons, ready to be bottled and released.
Jim Beam Harvest Bourbon Collection is a series of six hand-crafted bourbons that celebrate the distinctive tastes imparted by the distillation of different grains. More than 11 years of aging have brought out the nuances of these unique ingredients to create some of the rarest, most unique whiskey expressions to ever leave a Jim Beam rackhouse.
The first two grain representations – Soft Red Wheat and Brown Rice – were released in extremely small quantities beginning in September. The four remaining expressions – Whole Rolled Oat, Triticale, High Rye and Six Row Barley – will be released with limited quantity throughout 2015.