Booker’s Bourbon 2023-01 “Charlie’s Batch”

Charlie’s Batch is crafted from 4 different 7-story warehouses and is aged for 7 years, 1 month, and 18 days. This batch comes in at a generous 126.6 proof, which is just a skosh higher than any of last year’s batches. The last batch at a higher proof than Charlie’s was the “Tagalong Batch” in 2021 at 127.9 aged 6 years, 5 months. The last batch I could find that was aged 7 years with the same or higher proof was 2015-03 “Center Cut Batch” aged 7 years, 2 months, 28 days coming in at 127.2 proof. This review is based on three different bar pours over a period of three weeks. Let’s get into it.

Taken: Neat in a Glencairn glass, rested about 15 minutes.

Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery.

Proof: 126.6.

Age: 7 years, 1 month, and 18 days.

The distillery says, “This batch is made up of barrels from four production dates that were aged in four different warehouses. The breakdown of barrel storage for Booker’s “Charlie’s Batch” is as follows”:

3% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Q.
17% came from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse G.
24% came from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse Z.
27% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Z.
29% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse 1.

Mash bill: 75% Corn/ 13% Rye/ 12% Malted Barley.

MSRP: $90.00.

Appearance: Dark Amber.

Nose

Upfront is rich toffee, dark chocolate, molasses, wood smoke and some barrel char with peanut brittle, vanilla bean, lemon citrus, red berries, and apricot. Herbal notes of black tea with some nutmeg, cinnamon spice, and rich oak. At first there is mostly barrel char, wood smokiness, and some toffee, but after a while this pour becomes much more complex. The toffee gets sweeter with more chocolate and fruit coming forward.

Palate

Initially, the palate was much sweeter than I expected from the nose. There’s lots of rich toffee and butterscotch, wood smokiness, with peanut brittle, black tea, red berries, baked apple, vanilla, and oak. The mouthfeel is oily and viscous. A strong but balanced amount of cinnamon spice kicks in covering the whole palate. This is an excellent and flavorful Beam experience with careful attention to the balance of spice and oak.

Finish

Cinnamon lingers with toffee, butterscotch, berries, vanilla, black tea, chocolate, and rich oak for a very long and amazing finish.

Conclusion

Yes, I had three bar pours of this Booker’s batch (not on the same day). Besides liking it so much, this bottle was uncracked before my first pour. I wanted to try it again after it had time to open up and I’m glad I did. Each pour was significantly better than the last. With the first pour there was a lot of barrel char and smoke with barely any fruit and a lot of oak. But even then the palate was still much sweeter than what I expected from the nose. By the third pour my experience with this bottle was very different. Overall, there was less barrel char with more sweetness, chocolate, fruit, vanilla bean, and the balance improved quite a bit. It’s still a bold batch but with much more flavor and complexity.

Some say Charlie’s Batch reminds them of Booker’s “back in the day”. It’s certainly become one of my all-time favorite Booker’s batches. Because Booker’s is like the bourbon version of a box of chocolates, I prefer to try it before I buy it. Usually, a bar pour will satisfy my curiosity but there are exceptions. Charlie’s Batch is one of them. If I can find it for the right price, I’m gonna snag it.

Rating: 8.5/10.

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite.
10 | Perfect | Perfect.