Review #104 - Knob Creek 9 Year Single Barrel Select - Wiseguy Lounge Pick ‘Secret Stash’
The Wiseguy Lounge is a speakeasy-style bar with a location in our city - they specialize in American whisky, especially bourbon. They have done a number of their own barrel picks, and here we have their 6th pick from Knob Creek, titled 'Secret Stash.' It was aged a bit over 9 years, and they bottled it at 120 proof, like many of the barrel select Knob Creeks.
Knob Creek/Jim Beam provides a plethora of ages and releases with their bourbon and rye - along with these 'barrel select' products, there are bourbons with age statements of 9 years (100 proof), 9 years (single barrel reserve, 120 proof), 12 years (100 proof), 15 years (100 proof), and 18 years (100 proof), as well as multiple ryes in the mix. Plenty of options to choose from, depending on what profile you like.
Knob Creek 9 Year Single Barrel Select - Wiseguy Lounge Pick
USA - Bourbon
Price Paid: USD 50 (2022)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 55 (2023) (for a similar product)
Age Statement: 9 Years
Strength: 60% ABV
Details: Wiseguy Lounge pick #6 'Secret Stash,' barreled 2011-10-20, bottled 2021-04-14 (9 years and 5 months old); picked from Warehouse Z, 4th floor, rick 74
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 8 months; bottles at 100%, 80%, 40% (blind tasting), and 20% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Dessert-like to start, brown butter truffle ice cream and some candied pecans, but also salted nuts and dark brown sugar/molasses. There is some light, dry oak, which becomes richer and fuller with time, and it's accented by some dusty grain and corn sweetness. There are wisps of fruit like orange rind and maybe a Luxardo cherry, but those are subtle flavors, and end up covered by vanilla sugar.
Palate: More heat in the palate, a medium-thick mouthfeel and it's oily and syrupy. Oak is really strong now, spicy and nutty, almost a bit too much oak. Lots of baking spices in the forms of pepper, nutmeg, and red pepper flakes, and with the corn influence, there's almost a sort of 'spicy Mexican street corn' vibe. There's maple wood and some salted peanut later on.
Finish: Warm and oaky, a little more simple on the palate - it's still oily and probably medium-long in length, but a lot of the sweetness has dissipated, leaving mostly a peppery tickle and anise, some nutmeg as well.
Final Note: This packs plenty of flavor with that punchy ABV, but it's also coming across as over-oaked as the bottle is open longer; the nose had some nice flavor development, but through the palate and into the finish, the whole experience becomes a bit simpler. Not a bad single barrel, but not exceptional - value is alright, since this isn't too expensive.
Our Average Rating: 5.1 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 5.55
