It’s no secret that Bookers is my consistent work horse and I love the Beam lineup of casky, oaky, age stated gems: the Pepsi to the Buffalo Trace lineage of Coca Cola shit. If you remember the recent special Knob Creek releases that are probably still haunting shelves with that crippling $120 price tag, then this may seem eerily familiar. At first blush a $130 bottle of Knob Creek single barrel might compel you to get up from the chair you no doubt just fell from. Regular ass single barrel knob creek is like a third of the price, so do the extra years make this a solid buy? Eh, kinda. To most people this would land squarely in the LOL YA RITE sector when seen in a glass case. Price aside, this is excellent juice and presents itself with a massive barrel proof presence, a noteworthy age statement and fucking single barrel. It has it all on paper and just short of some fat younger Willett picks nothing else is running in the teenaged segment like this. The age is evident in a sanded pine and leather bike saddle nose. There are red hot candies and grated nutmeg. The taste is hot but very dry so it isn’t a a pure firebomb. Finish is extremely long and layered like a Grands biscuit. Red fruit and almonds close out the experience and light local anesthetic along the bitter zones. Exhale through the nose exhibits a kind of peppermint spice. It’s a lot to unpack. It takes the Bookers model to a far more civilized realm and feels more akin to EHTBP and Stagg than the youth of the six year olds youre used to tasting on. It’s no bookers25th but it’s also a huge improvement over the grocery store ballers. I contemplated buying a second bottle but held off, I really enjoy this Noe genome but for the price you could spend less and land in similar territory with ECBP or eh Taylor. Try it at a bar and see if your tight little coin purse has the elasticity to accommodate these heavy whiskey stones.