Background

Welcome to an unofficial Jim Beam week from me! I had planned to review these two for a while now, and then serendipitously my next Jim Beam Barreled and Boxed delivery just arrived as well. Later this week I’ll continue my running review series covering each of those shipments. But for now, let’s jump right into some background on these two whiskeys: Jim Beam Lineage and Hardin’s Creek: Clermont.

Lineage started out as exclusive to Travel Retail, but at some point they started offering it at the distillery gift shop as well. Fortunately, on a recent trip through KY it was available, so here we are! Ironically, I can't even find this release on either the main Jim Beam website or the James B. Beam Distilling website (aka the one clearly marketed to whiskey nerds). I’ll take a brief moment to do my “old man yells at clouds” bit and implore some of these big producers to do a stupid and obvious thing- make stuff easier to find on your website! Anyways, it’s a 15 year collaboration between Fred and Freddie Noe- hence the name Lineage- clocking in at 111 proof. It’s consistently striking to me how much high age statement whiskey Jim Beam must have available, and this is obviously no exception.

Which brings us too… Hardin’s Creek: Clermont. It’s kind of impossible to write about this Clermont release without delving into what Beam has planned for the Hardin’s Creek line this year, all of which can be found on… god damn it a third website! They have another site specific to the Hardin's Creek line. If this review is starting to feel all over the place, it’s because it is, but no more or less so than Beam Suntory’s website organization! While I may be annoyed with Beam on that front, I’m anything but with the direction they are taking the Hardin’s Creek line. This year will see three, separate, 17 year releases under the Hardin’s Creek label: Clermont, Frankfurt, and Boston. Each represents a different Jim Beam campus, with a goal of exploring the terroir created by the various microclimates between them. This one, of course, comes from the Clermont campus. A minor note that I appreciate, this Hardin’s Creek release takes the busy label first displayed with Jacob’s Well and makes it more of a feature than a bug. It is adorned with facts about the region, such as the average humidity, wind speed, latitude, longitude and more. Ok, enough website complaining and release facts, onto the reviews!

Jim Beam Lineage (15 Years, 111 Proof)

Nose: Black cherry, that classic Beam peanut shell note, caramel swirl and bits of toasted oak.

Palate: Dark fruit forward with an excellent undercurrent of oak. I'm not getting much of the Beam peanut funk here, rather it's more like fig pudding, orange peel, and that age coming through nicely via the consistent oak note.

Finish: Toffee, black pepper, toasted coconut- actually I'm getting a fair bit of this! There's also a nice barrel spice. It's pretty long but doesn't dry you out by any means.

Excellent to Incredible (8.5/10)

Overall: One of the first things I did after opening this bottle is bring it into Cinder BBQ here in DC to share, and it ultimately led to us doing a blind comparison to Hardin's Creek: Jacob's Well (which I loved). It was damn close, but Jacob's Well still eked it out for me personally... Though the owner at Cinder picked this blind instead. Moral of the story is: they are both excellent whiskeys.

Hardin’s Creek: Clermont (17 Years, 110 Proof)

Nose: Caramel chews, and look, it may seem like I can't shake Lineage from my palate but I tried this a few times now independent from Lineage and I can't get toasted coconut out of my brain on the nose.

Palate: Rum raisin, oak, and it's oily, definitely a more viscous texture than lineage, and layered with baking spices. Almost like cinnamon oil.

Finish: Fairly oak forward, you're getting each of those 17 years for sure, a touch on the dry side, but there's also an interesting bubble gum note that hangs around. Kind of like I chewed a stick of Bazooka Joe 10 minutes ago.

Great to Excellent (7.5/10)

Overall: While I get a touch lost with this in the finish, it's no doubt another great whiskey from Beam. The nose is incredibly inviting and the texture and notes on the palate are divine. My first dram off the bottle was a little hot, a little too oak driven, but it's opening up very nice on subsequent pours and in the glass.