Jim Beam Devil’s Cut
As the number one selling bourbon world-wide, Jim Beam has plenty of room to experiment without losing market share. Some of those experiments catch fire (see Kentucky Fire or Honey, for example), some not so much. But those are experiments with flavor. What about an experiment with the wood - or more specifically, the bourbon that gets left in the wood after dumping?
As bourbon ages in oak, the cask “breathes” the distillate in and out of its pores, expanding into the wood during hot months and contracting out of it during the colder months. If you look at a used barrel stave, for example, you can clearly see how deeply the distillate penetrated into the stave. Because wood is organic and porous, as it breathes there’s also water and alcohol lost to the air - this is called the Angel’s Share, and averages around 6% lost in the first year in Kentucky and 3-4% in subsequent years (for comparison, Scotch loses around 2% per year and Indian whiskies can lose as much as 10% per year!). But let’s go back a step - what about that whiskey that’s still in the wood when the bulk of it gets dumped?
Devil’s Cut - a bourbon made by blending the bourbon dumped from casks with bourbon “extracted” from the staves - attempts to answer that question. Using a “proprietary process”, Jim Beam gets that liquid out of the cask itself and blends it with the disgorged bourbon. Other brands have followed suit - see Cutwater Spirit’s Devil’s Share, for example - but time will tell if these are worthy experiments or a flash in the pan.
Jim Beam Devil’s Cut: Specs
Classification: Bourbon Whiskey
Origin: Jim Beam Distillery
Mashbill: Undisclosed (rumored at 75% Corn, 13% Rye, 12% Malted Barley)
Proof: 90 (45% ABV)
Age: NAS
Location: KY
Jim Beam Devil’s Cut Price: $20
Jim Beam Devil’s Cut Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Honey, medium rims and thin legs.
Nose: Caramel and toffee, straight up bourbon. The nose is kind of tight, though. Vanilla opens on a deep sniff. Air does help to open the nose.
Palate: Lots of vanilla up front with a tip-of-the-tongue tingle. Oaky spice is definitely there, but it’s not overpowering or woody - quite nice. Cinnamon and chocolate grow by leaps and bounds after some air. Mouthfeel is viscous and coating, but not oily - more creamy/custardy.
Finish: Drying and numbing oak with a lingering vanilla.
Overall: Interesting - I was afraid that the oak might overpower this given that the “devil’s cut” portion could rightly be called oak extract, but in fact it’s much more balanced. At 90 proof and ~4 years old (supposedly) there isn’t enough time for the oak to pummel the other flavors into submission (see: most bourbons over 15 years). Even with the extra-oaky infusion, the classic Beam profile is still there and the oak ends up more creamy than woody.
Final Rating: 5.7
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel)
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B518 and B520)
8 | Excellent | Exceptional (12+YO MGP Bourbon, Highland Park Single Barrels)
7 | Great | Well above average (Blanton’s Original, Old Weller Antique, Booker’s)
6 | Very Good | Better than average (Four Roses Small Batch Select, Knob Creek 14+ YO Picks)
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Elijah Craig Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond)
4 | Sub-par | Many things I’d rather have (A.D. Laws Four Grain, Compass Box “Oak Cross”)
3 | Bad | Flawed (Iron Smoke Bourbon, Balcones)
2 | Poor | Forced myself to drink it (Buckshee Bourbon and Rye)
1 | Disgusting | Drain pour (Virginia Distilling Co. Cider Cask)
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