Behind the Scenes at Beam: Inside Knob Creek’s New Cask Strength Bourbon Barrel Pick Program

In May, this writer was invited to join Knob Creek at James B. Beam Distilling Co. in Clermont, Kentucky, to find out what it’s like to pick a barrel of Knob Creek. Restaurants, bars, liquor stores and private groups routinely descend upon the sprawling Beam campus to taste barrels, pick one and have it bottled for their patrons to buy.

The experience was timely; Knob Creek had just announced that its single-barrel program was evolving to include a cask-strength offering. Previously, all Knob Creek single-barrel picks were bottled at 120 proof. The 120-proof program is still in place, but now it’s joined by the Knob Creek® Single Barrel Select Cask Strength program — a great addition.

The Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Cask Strength barrel pick setup: four glasses, a sheet and Knob Creek-branded sharpie for notes and a much-needed bottle of water.

Picking a barrel at cask strength is the best way to do it. Whiskey tastes different after being watered down, and when you select a barrel at Beam, you’re tasting straight from the cask, not post-proofing. You can attempt to add enough water during your tasting to try to get it around what you think is 120 proof, but that’s not an exact science. When you pick a barrel because you love it, you want to bottle what you chose, and cask strength ensures that will be the case.

“Before, I would have accounts come out here, try from the barrel at cask strength, I would say, ‘Don’t fall in love with it, because you’re not going to get it bottled at that cask strength,'” said Samantha Cato, our Beam ambassador for the tour and selection. “Now, every single barrel that you taste and every single barrel that our accounts taste will be bottled that way: uncut, unfiltered.”

Prior to the selection, we toured the Fred B. Noe Distillery.

Bottling at cask strength allows for a wider range of proofs and — perhaps counterintuitively — that doesn’t only mean higher-proof liquid. Sometimes, whiskey comes out of the cask below 120 proof, based on factors like location, climate and age. Since you can only proof down and not up, those barrels were automatically removed from consideration for the 120-proof single barrel program.

Under the new program, those barrels have a place. In fact, Cato says a majority of her on-premise accounts (bars and restaurants) have been selecting barrels under 120 proof — which makes sense. While many hardcore whiskey fans are big time proof hounds, the majority of casual drinkers prefer lower-ABV, more accessible pours. As Cato put it, the sub-120-proof option “opens up a whole world of possibility that they weren’t able to have before.”

The Beam team walked us through the process for this new program, and now we’re going to do the same for you — take you behind the curtains so you can see what it’s like to pick a barrel of Knob Creek Cask Strength.

The Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Cask Strength Selection Process

The four barrels of cask-strength Knob Creek bourbon we chose from.

After our tour of the Fred B. Noe Distillery, we arrived at the rickhouse for our tasting experience, which Cato says can last anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple of hours, depending on your group. Ours was somewhere firmly in the middle of that range, probably around an hour.

In the warehouse, four barrels (of bourbon for us, but the same experience is available for rye selections) had been laid out for us to taste prior to our arrival. Where did these four come from? Beam has about 3.3 million barrels of whiskey resting on its property. Of those, about 1% end up as single-barrel products, selected by the warehouse team based on factors like proof, fill level, aroma and color. The other 99% go into blended products.

Beam Brand Ambassador Samantha Cato fills a tasting glass from Barrel D.

We were given four of those to choose from, and each was starkly different from the last — while all definitely still having the trademark flavors of Beam bourbon. They were all around the same age (roughly nine years) but ranged from as low as 117.07 proof all the way up to 128.6 proof. Each was aged in a different warehouse on varying tiers, floors and ricks.

Here are this writer’s tasting notes on the barrels we tasted. To join in on our simulation, read along with the notes and try to imagine which barrel or two you think you may have landed on!:

• Barrel A was the fruitiest barrel of the pack, with dried fruits aplenty, peanut brittle and a lovely apple pie note, plus caramel on the finish.
• Barrel B carried the most astringent oak and heat, with custard on the nose and an oily palate with cherry and tannin.
• Barrel C had a nose of crème brûlée and cherry, but the palate and finish veered more in the rye spice direction, with nutmeg and Red Hots, plus salt water taffy, medicinal cherry and a pop of bubblegum.
• Barrel D was floral on the nose, with aromas of butterscotch and a decadent palate of brownie batter, cherry and mint. The finish was long and rich, with peanut brittle and anise.

Barrel “C” must have stood for “char” — lots of the barrel ended up in my glass on this one.

We took turns cracking open the barrels, using a wooden hammer to smack the barrel on alternating sides of the bunghole until the bung pops out. Once all four barrels had been opened, Cato used her whiskey thief to draw from each cask, one at a time, until we all had all four samples in front of us. She gave us a couple of basic tips: Move around between samples, tasting in different orders so you’re comparing each whiskey against one another; smell your clothing or skin to reset your nose if it starts to get overwhelmed.

We spent some time tasting amongst ourselves and taking notes. Next, we shared notes and narrowed our choices down to two barrels: A and D. At that point, we spent a few minutes tasting just those two head to head before silently voting by each writing our vote for winning barrel on a scrap of paper, which was dropped into a box. Cato read the votes one by one — a la “Survivor” — and we had our winner: seven votes (including mine) for “D,” and two for “A.”

Our winner: Barrel D!

“A” was the fruitiest barrel, “B” was the hottest, “C” was the spiciest. “D” was just a delicious, decadent and well-rounded barrel of bourbon, and it would have made for a fantastic barrel pick had our experience been more than a simulation. We were informed we had chosen the highest-proof barrel of the four — although we all felt it drank much lower than its ABV of 64.3%.

With that, we departed the tasting (feeling nice and toasty) for a lovely lunch at Beam’s famed The Kitchen Table.

Final Thoughts and How to Pick a Barrel

Now that Knob Creek has expanded its single-barrel program to include cask strength offerings, the experience of picking a barrel has become even more meaningful. For whiskey lovers, this behind-the-scenes glimpse at the process is a reminder of how nuanced, collaborative and personal a great barrel pick can be. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or a curious enthusiast, the chance to taste and select bourbon straight from the cask is an experience that cuts to the heart of what makes whiskey so special.

If you’re a whiskey lover and have the chance to pick a barrel from Beam — we highly recommend it. It’s an unforgettable experience, especially if you don’t pick barrels often or ever.

For Knob Creek fans interested in selecting a barrel, learn more here.

If you’re not in the market for a whole barrel, you should still absolutely be keeping your eye out for Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Cask Strength picks at your local liquor stores, grocery stores, bars and restaurants. This is Knob Creek in its purest form and — with respect to the ultra-aged stuff — the best way to enjoy Knob Creek in this writer’s book.

Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Cask Strength will be available at select nationwide retailers with a suggested retail price of $69.99 per 750-milliliter bottle.