Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/869846
september 2017 / the tasting panel / 63 launched Knob Creek, a 100-proof, rich, meaty pre-Prohibition-style elixir that quickly became my Manhattan go-to. Sadly, Booker passed away in 2004, but three years later, Fred became the distillery's eighth Master Distiller. He continued to serve as brand ambas- sador for its whiskeys, which expanded under his purview to include not only Knob Creek, but Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve, Knob Creek Rye, Knob Creek Smoked Maple and the brand's first-ever limited offering, Knob Creek 2001 Limited Edition. So, it was not without a significant amount of family pride that Fred announced the Knob Creek 25 th Anniversary bottling ($129.99), a notable variation from the original whiskey he introduced a quarter century ago. "What we did was marry Booker's style of producing an uncut and unfiltered bourbon with what I brought to the Knob Creek family, which became our Single Barrel Reserve," says Fred. "The Single Barrel Reserve is aged nine years; the 25 th Anniversary edition is 12–13 years old, and because it is a single-barrel bottling, you've got natural variations in flavor from barrel to barrel." Thus, unfiltered and uncut, with a cask strength that ranges from 120 to 125 proof, this deep-amber bourbon is filled with varying degrees of thick vanilla and oak intermingled with caramel, roasted nuts and a distinctive whiff of smoke. "I approved every single barrel that was bottled," says Fred. "The big thing I looked for besides the extra aging was the nice aroma and a finish that was long and clean. Plus, you want it big and bold. That's a Knob Creek tradition. Whether you put it in a cocktail, on the rocks or sip it neat, this Anniversary bottling is as big and bold as Knob Creek has ever been." However, of the 300 barrels Fred selected, after 25 years the angel's share left only enough whiskey for 20–30 bottles per barrel. That means Knob Creek 25 th Anniversary Bourbon, which comes with its individual barrel and proof written on every bottle, will be an all-too-brief celebration before it is sold out. Fred Noe is Jim Beam's great-grandson and the distillery's eighth Master Distiller.