BOOKER’S DREAM BEAM IS BIBLE BEST!
* Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2017 hails “mind-blowing” US dram.
* Booker’s Rye 13 Years, 1 Month, 12 Days is World Whisky of the Year.
* Champion is beyond-the-grave legacy of Jim Beam’s grandson.
* Booker Noe’s final experimental creation sees off Scotch revival.
A unique Kentucky rye has been crowned the planet’s finest dram by the latest edition of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible. Booker’s Rye 13 Years, 1 Month, 12 Days began life as an experiment by Booker Noe – grandson of Jim Beam – at the family distillery in Clermont, KY, shortly before his death in 2004. Now it has become his remarkable legacy after landing the title of World Whisky of the Year. Jim lavishes praise on its “brain-draining, mind-blowing” nose and finish of “amazing depth”. And he hails it as a “staggering example of a magnificent rye, showing exactly what genius actually means. A very big, unforgettable whiskey from a very big, unforgettable man”. Booker followed in his iconic grandfather’s footsteps by becoming master distiller at Jim Beam, but he was long-retired when he dabbled one final time. After he passed away aged 74, son Fred kept an eye on his casks – and the result is pure liquid gold, scoring 97.5 out of 100 in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible. The champion dram had to hold off stiff competition from Scotland to land the title. Glen Grant Aged 18 Years Rare Edition is the first Scotch on the Whisky Bible podium since 2014. The Speyside malt blew away Jim as he tested 1,241 new samples for the latest edition of his influential guidebook.
He says: “It’s the best new offering from the motherland in a few years; a sensational return to form.” Third place went to another US tipple, the William Larue Weller (134.6 Proof) bourbon. Regional winners include: Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye (Canadian Whiskey of the Year); Redbreast Aged 21 Years (Irish); English Whisky Co. Chapter 14 England (European); Yamazaki Sherry Cask (Japanese).
Editor’s Notes
Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2017 marks 25 years since he became the world’s first full-time whisky writer and contains taste notes for around 5,000 drams.
Available from 17/10/16 at all good bookshops, retailers and whiskybible.com, priced £12.99.
Press enquiries: Vincent Flint-Hill +44 (0)117 317 9777; vincent@whiskybible.com
