Jim Beam, the makers of Knob Creek whiskey, have been hard at work this year. Not only have they released new versions of standout expressions like Booker’s, Little Book, Baker’s, and Jim Beam, but they’ve also added two new offerings to the Knob Creek lineup.
It’s an exciting time to be a fan of one of the world’s biggest whiskey brands! With all of those exciting new releases rolling out, it’s well worth your time to put a specific focus on the Knob Creek lineup, which has long been a home for some of Beam’s best whiskey. New entries in the lineup for 2024 include the latest batch of Knob Creek 18, an intriguing bourbon and rye blend, plus a brand-new age-stated rye whiskey. One expression that we sadly haven’t seen in a while, a cask-strength version of their knockout 12-year bourbon, hasn’t been seen on shelves in a few years — so Beam, if you’re listening, we hope you don’t think your work here is done!
Before we wrap things up, we should note something for both the eagle-eyed observers and the newcomers — there are several Knob Creek expressions that exist but haven’t been released in a while, so you won’t find them on this list. That means you won’t find expressions like Knob Creek Quarter Oak, Knob Creek 12-Year Cask Strength Bourbon, and Knob Creek 25th Anniversary Bourbon here. This is a list meant for the bottles you can actually go to (almost) any liquor store and inquire about purchasing. Got it?
With all that said, it’s time for us to get down to business and help you decide which of Knob Creek’s 11 expressions is the best for you to seek out and buy right now. Here’s our review and power ranking of every Knob Creek whiskey for 2024!
11. Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Smoked Maple
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $37
The Whiskey:
For this infused alternative to standard Knob Creek, the brand blends whiskey with natural smoked maple flavors to impart some barbecue-esque sweetness. Bottled at 90-proof, this expression of Knob Creek is intended to be more approachable as a bridge for newcomers to the category.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with cornbread drizzled in caramel and vanilla but with a strong influence of maple candy and hickory smoke blocking them out.
Palate: You get the flavor of grill smoke and bacon fat to go with the maple candy notes from the nose, with more caramel and cornbread cropping up at midpalate. On the second sip, there’s more vanilla extract to pick up, and the smoke reasserts itself more forcefully with the artificial sweetness.
Finish: The finish actually concludes rather quickly, but with a mellow sweetness that’s quite pleasant. The maple candy and vanilla tones come to the fore most prominently before gently receding.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty good flavored whiskey, but unless that’s specifically what you’re looking for, it certainly isn’t close to being the best Knob Creek whiskey. This bottle definitely has use as a mixer or even a cocktail unto itself, making it a solid entrant in the flavored whiskey category. Still, there are more exciting offerings to be found further along on this list.
10. Knob Creek Bourbon x Rye Blended Whiskey
ABV: 56.5%
Average Price: $45
The Whiskey:
The newest edition to the Knob Creek lineup is an intriguing blend of both bourbon and rye whiskeys from the Beam Distilling Co. Nine-year-old bourbon and seven-year-olf rye whiskey comprises this blend — Knob Creek’s flagship bourbon and rye distillate — which is bottled at 113-proof, nearly halfway between their high proof bourbon and standard proof rye ABV.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is somehow both familiar and surprising, considering the fact that this is akin to a super high rye bourbon. That means that the deep caramel and brown butter notes of traditional Knob Creek bourbon rise to the top, but orange rind, baking spices, and honeycomb aromas buoy them.
Palate: On the palate, this whiskey definitely reflects its dual components with a singed orange wheel, slight mint, black pepper, and butterscotch notes blitzing the tip of the tongue and making their way to the middle of the palate. The texture is just robust enough to carry all of that flavor but it does feel a bit disconnected, as though the two spirits are combatting each other for primacy.
Finish: The finish finds the fusion of honeycomb, black pepper, and rye spice, leaving the most lasting impression as it takes a moderate time to dissipate.
Bottom Line:
While “bourye” as a category hasn’t yet caught on across the American whiskey landscape, that hasn’t stopped a number of brands from making an attempt. This latest iteration, from one of the industry’s biggest players, is sure to turn heads, but it falls short of being a must-buy.
9. Knob Creek 10-Year Rye Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $60
The Whiskey:
This brand-new line extension from Knob Creek takes its standard rye recipe to new heights by aging for an additional three years for a total of 10 years spent maturing in oak. Other than age, this one has the same proof point but a slightly higher price point.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on Knob Creek 10-Year Rye is oaky with an intriguing note of petrichor to go along with dark chocolate and a Brazil nut meatiness.
Palate: Pecans and nutmeg are the standout flavors on the palate of this pour, with a bit of wheat toast and honey bolstering this fine-tuned and expertly balanced whiskey. The robust mouthfeel defies its modest proof and serves as a fat red cherry on top.
Finish: More honey and wheat toast define the back end of this pour, while a touch of barrel char contributes to the outstanding finish as well.
Bottom Line:
Knob Creek’s brand-new 10-year rye brings forth some deeper flavors than its 7-year counterpart, and it smooths out the edges, making this one a treat to sip neat but overall less versatile as it loses some punch in cocktails. Due to that decreased zip (and an uptick in price), you’d do better by grabbing Knob Creek’s OG rye.
8. Knob Creek 7-Year Rye Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $37
The Whiskey:
Knob Creek’s original rye whiskey, this 7-year expression debuted back in 2012 and has been a staple on backbars ever since. The expression welcomed a return of its 7-year age statement in 2023, and that’s holding firm for 2024.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nosing notes on Knob Creek’s 7-year rye begin with honeysuckle, raw mint, and black pepper, with a touch of dill seed, oak, and hazelnut all having their say in this charming bouquet of aromas.
Palate: On the palate, all of the nosing notes persist to varying degrees, with the honeysuckle and raw mint notes blending well with the black pepper and hazelnut. At the same time, the oak is relegated to being a featured player, and the dill seed notes are faintly evident.
Finish: The finish welcomes an uptick of the spice notes, with rye spice and nutmeg seizing the reins while some gentle tannins and caramel come through.
Bottom Line:
Knob Creek fans rejoiced when this classic rye revived its 7-year age statement, and even with the lineup’s expansion, including a new 10-year offering, the OG still hits the sweet spot.
7. Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Rye
ABV: 57.5%
Average Price: $40
The Whiskey:
By now, I think we all appreciate how amazing single-barrel whiskey can be. It allows you to experience unique or off-profile liquid from some of your favorite distilleries. Knob Creek’s Single Barrel Select Rye is, just as you’d expect, the brand’s OG rye from a single barrel, selected by a private group.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this Single Barrel Select Rye from Knob Creek begins with a ton of caramel and nutmeg while hazelnut spread over toasted rye bread begins to rise after a few swirls of the glass and strong vegetal notes find their footing, with dill seed, mint, and cucumber being chief among them.
Palate: Once on the palate, the texture of this rye is immediately a standout as its viscousness coats your palate with the flavors of black pepper, sage smudge, caramel, and raw mint at first. As the liquid finds the corners of your mouth, it leaves some gentle tannic notes on the edges of the tongue, with a bit of hazelnut and buttered popcorn standing out.
Finish: For its lengthy finish, this whiskey concludes with a slight smokiness, salted caramel, and black pepper before sage and nutmeg close things out.
Bottom Line:
Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Rye is a delicious departure from the norm, offering a significant increase in proof and uniqueness over the brand’s two age-stated expressions. That added ABV and the opportunity to taste some choice barrels from the Knob Creek rye stock is precisely why this one has the edge over the standard versions.
6. Knob Creek 9-Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $40
The Whiskey:
As one of the original members of the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection, Knob Creek 9-Year is an absolute classic in the world of bourbon. This whiskey utilizes Beam’s low-rye mash bill and features a small batch of barrels mingled together and then proofed to 50% ABV before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose begins with an interesting floral flourish that soon opens the door for fresh hazelnuts, caramel corn, and honeyed toast. It’s an interesting blend of aromas that all play off of each other really well.
Palate: After the first sip of Knob Creek, those flavors come together in a surprisingly rich and harmonious symphony of flavor with peanut shell, hazelnut, and caramel corn notes coating the palate and evolving to reveal an additional layer of dilute honeyed sweetness.
Finish: On the finish, both the proof and the age of this bourbon reveal themselves as it introduces a slight earthy sweetness reminiscent of hazelnut spread along with allspice and nutmeg.
Bottom Line:
Sometimes, you don’t need to mess with the classics. Knob Creek 9-Year Bourbon is one of the best values in whiskey, and by taking the classic Jim Beam profile and cranking up the proof and age, it remains an excellent, prototypical representation of bourbon as a category.
5. Knob Creek Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon (General Release)
ABV: 60%
Average Price: $64
The Whiskey:
Keep your eye on the ball here as we break down the main difference between this release and Knob Creek’s other single-barrel bourbon. This more general offering, Knob Creek Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon, is the product of single barrels that the big-wigs at Beam Distilling Co. select themselves for the masses.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this expression is bursting at the seams with classic bourbon notes. That means you’ve got your standard caramels and vanillas with some rich oak, a touch of honeyed toast, and some spiced dark chocolate, but they’re all pretty rich aromas that indicate some substantial maturity, aided by this whiskey’s stout proof point.
Palate: On the palate, again, we’re in the well-tread territory of classic bourbon flavors with an impressive showing of caramel and hazelnut meshing with dense oak, milk chocolate, and clove. The mouthfeel is supple and chewy, which rewards rolling this whiskey over your tongue a few times before swallowing to wring out all of the flavors.
Finish: The finish is lengthy and approachable, with the relatively high proof being almost undetectable behind waves of caramel, nougat, and rich oak.
Bottom Line:
Knob Creek’s general release single-barrel bourbon delivers a ton of flavor in a format that excites enthusiasts but maintains stricter guardrails for the flavor profile, ensuring you’re getting whiskey that’s been vetted and approved by Beam’s tasting panel. Considering the fact they’re responsible for some of the most purchased whiskey in the world, it’s safe to say you’re in good hands here.
4. Knob Creek 15-Year Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $95
The Whiskey:
When it was first released, Knob Creek’s 15-year bourbon was met with mixed responses. Sure, age statements are attractive, and the 15-year mark this expression hits is definitely attractive, but the creation of this extension came in the wake of Knob Creek sunsetting 14-15 year-old versions of its Single Barrel Select Bourbon. Paying a higher price for whiskey in the same age range at a lower proof has meant that this expression tends to get the most criticism among Knob Creek’s premium offerings.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this whiskey begins with an impressive melange of honeysuckle, mature oak, and the faint aroma of well-aged leather-bound books, which are all undergirded by toffee, dried cherries, and black pepper.
Palate: On the palate, what’s first noticeable is the lean texture, but the flavors quickly make up for that with a sturdy undercurrent of mature oak propping up notes of tobacco leaf, dried black cherries, dilute caramel, and cinnamon. Despite its leanness, the mouthfeel of this whiskey also leaves a supple impression as it lightly coats your tongue, extending through the finish.
Finish: The finish is pretty succinct here, but it includes a welcome addition of clove to go with some torched orange peel, brown sugar, and mature oak notes to round things out.
Bottom Line:
Knob Creek’s 15-Year-Old Bourbon is perfectly solid stuff, with some exciting peaks that offer insight into what the maturation process can impart on the lineup’s liquid. Let’s be clear: that’s awesome. Despite the disappointing sticker price on this bottle, it certainly deserves its place as one of the best whiskeys in Knob Creek’s lineup.
3. Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Bourbon (Private Selection)
ABV: 60%
Average Price: $65
The Whiskey:
Knob Creek Single Barrel Select Bourbon is similar to the Reserve Single Barrel found two spots above, with the primary difference being that these barrels are selected by private pick groups as opposed to the tasters at Jim Beam Distillery. Also, you can spot the difference because these bottles sport a golden tag at the bottom instead of the black tag on the general releases.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Once you pour this bourbon into a glass, it immediately fills the air with notes of rich, gooey caramel, brown sugar, and a bevy of autumn spices. There’s rich oak to unpack alongside faint red berries and dusty leather, tobacco leaf, and hazelnut.
Palate: As this whiskey finds its way on the palate, the texture stands out at first with a rich viscousness that carries chewy caramel, orange pith, brown sugar, dried black cherries, black pepper, and substantial oak flavors. Each layer of flavor is robust and distinct, never fully melding together but instead allowing each to blossom and be appreciated in succession.
Finish: The finish finds a touch of nougat and dark chocolate, complementing the caramel and black pepper notes found on the palate and lingering for a long while after the final sip. This is tasty juice ’til the last drop.
Bottom Line:
For this particular selection of Knob Creek, the nuances of the bourbon’s typical butterscotch and hazelnut notes are amplified. The basic DNA of Knob Creek is on full display but with an even greater richness which allows some surprising bits of stone fruit to find the foreground. Sticking to the script with some impressive tweaks along the way — this highlights what makes single-barrel bourbon so great.
2. Knob Creek 18-Year Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $180
The Whiskey:
Knob Creek 18-Year-Old Bourbon is bottled at the highest age the lineup has ever seen. Are you not entertained? While the majority of the production process remains the same for this hyper-limited release compared to more readily available versions, this one was distilled at a slightly different temperature and strategically aged in specific points of Beam’s many rickhouses.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Unlike the nose on Knob Creek’s 15-Year expression, this 18-Year variant feels surprisingly vibrant. Manuka honey, crème brulée, well-aged oak, cigar wrapper, and hazelnut all have a home with this decadent bouquet of aromas unfurling above the glass and greeting the senses.
Palate: The palate welcomes wood sugars, crème brulée, hazelnut, and well-worn oak tones almost immediately as the sweetness envelopes your tongue with one sip. As the liquid coats your palate and begins to thin out, you’ll pick up notes of black pepper spice, black tea, cherry bark, and clove.
Finish: The finish continues the party that the palate started by closing out with some smoked cherry bark, cinnamon, orange blossom, and nougat notes.
Bottom Line:
If you want to taste Knob Creek bourbon pushed to its absolute limits, then this 18-year-old expression is what you should be seeking out. While the 15-year version of Knob Creek seems a bit thin, as though the whiskey’s maturation were on a downward swing, it comes roaring back to life with a surprisingly viscous texture and remarkably well-developed flavors that make this bottle 100% worth the price associated.
1. Knob Creek 12-Year Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $75
The Whiskey:
As you know by now, Knob Creek doesn’t do much to massage the pretty evident differences between each of these offerings, opting instead to step back and let Mother Nature and Father Time work their magic. Standard Knob Creek distillate, aged for 12 years, and bottled with the addition of some soft Kentucky limestone water for proofing. That’s all this expression needs.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: On the nose, you get some of the signature hazelnut qualities that Jim Beam is famously known for, but with more oak, brown sugar, and honeyed black tea, this expression cranks up the intensity as well as the refinement.
Palate: Once on the palate, this bourbon delivers on the promise of the nose by offering classic Jim Beam bourbon notes with a depth of richness that the 9-year small batch only scratches the surface of. There’s a touch of lemon zest atop the prototypical caramel, hazelnut, and rich oak notes, plus a surprisingly robust texture that grips the edges of the palate while gently coating the middle of it.
Finish: The finish is medium to long with more hazelnut notes joined by black pepper and brown sugar, with nutmeg and clove following shortly thereafter. It closes with some vanilla wafer sweetness before gently receding and welcoming a second sip.
Bottom Line:
Look, the Knob Creek lineup features incredible whiskey from top to bottom, but the 12-year version is simply the best. This expression hits the sweet spot of aging, unlocking a bevy of flavors not found in the versions of Knob Creek that exist at both higher and lower ages. If you had to buy just one Knob Creek bottle, then this is the one you need.
