The James B. Beam Distilling Company—makers of Jim Bean, the world’s best selling Kentucky bourbon—has just released its latest premium whiskey. And this one is a family collaboration generations in the making.
Lineage Batch #2 is a followup to Lineage, which was released in early 2021 at travel retail before eventually making its way to limited distiller gift shop drops. This second batch is another 15 year old Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, bottled at 55.5% ABV (111 proof). As with its predecessor, the suggested retail price is $250 for a 700mL bottle. This time, it will be available for sale exclusively at The James B. Beam Distilling Co. campus in Clermont, Kentucky.
Notably, Lineage Batch #2 is a collaboration between 7th and 8th generation Beam Master Distillers Fred and Freddie Noe. This is the first bottling of Beam bourbon to feature Freddie’s name on the label, though he’s already a noted blender long known for the Little Book series of blended whiskeys.
We got a chance to try an early sample of Lineage Batch #2, which was aged primarily at Beam’s Booker Noe Plant right down the road in Boston, Kentucky.
The nose starts off with cream soda, fermented malt beverage, roasted hazelnuts, and a hefty dose of seasoned wood staves. Ripe berries and syrupy, almost-charred-around-the-edges berry cobbler waft in an out, lending a little fruit-forward sweetness. It’s a fairly classic Beam profile, though biased toward sweet and dessert-like a little more than some of the nutty, barbecue, and/or baked apple notes many are familiar with.
A first sip is all about sweet oak, the wood sugars doing an elegant dance across the tongue and triggering some quick flavors on both the front and mid palates. It’s oakier than even the nose implies, but it exhibits those tannins with restraint, perhaps even more so than other highly-aged bourbons out of Beam. (I love a lot of the Knob Creek label, but this is a bit more composed.) Rich vanilla ice cream and vanilla-infused whipping cream are buoyed by a thick mouth feel. Nearly-burnt praline bookends the sip.
The finish is nutty, woody, and a bit tart, with some overripe apple tossing in a familiar and lingering flavor from the Beam profile. I especially appreciate the proofing here at 111, which allows most flavors to punch at or above the ABV without ethanol heat crowding out any one in particular.