Jim Beam Winter Reserve vs Jim Beam Double Oak

The newly released Jim Beam Winter Reserve is a limited, seasonal expression and Jim Beam Double Oak is considered a premium Jim Bim expression. On paper, these two have fairly similar stories:

• Jim Beam Winter Reserve: standard Jim Beam white label, aged 6 years, then finished for an undisclosed amount of time in two toasted barrels, 86 proof
• Jim Beam Double Oak: standard Jim Beam white label, aged 4 years, then finished “to taste” in a second virgin, charred white oak barrel, 86 proof

Both are $20 bottles. So, is the extra 2 years worth it? Is finishing in toasted barrels versus a new charred white oak barrel significantly different? Are there really more winter (vanilla and cinnamon) notes in the Winter Reserve? Let’s find out!

Jim Beam Winter Reserve

COST: $20 for 750mL bottle

AGE: 6 years

MASH BILL: 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley

PROOF: 86

APPEARANCE: Chestnut brown (1.4), medium thickness, fast legs, drops like water left on glass after swirling.

NOSE: There’s a lot of spice giving this a bit of a gingerbread cookie vibe. Nutmeg, anise, clove, cinnamon, a touch of orange zest. There is a robust amount of charred oak on the nose as well. I’m not getting a ton of sweetness, but there is a deeper burnt caramel note that stands strong in the background, but the oak and spice really dominate. While I’m not getting a lot of sweetness, that burnt caramel note is more robust in the sweet department than the mild nose on the double oak. This is a bit astringent on the nose (albeit this bottle was just opened earlier today, and this is the second pour).

PALATE: The label isn’t wrong – vanilla, cinnamon, and clove are the most prominent notes. Also in the mix are caramelized oak and some barrel char. The mouthfeel is surprisingly soft for the amount of spice as I was getting on the nose. Interestingly, while the nose was quite spicy, the palate is not as much, and is significantly sweeter.

FINISH: Short finish, but a fairly healthy hug that makes this seem a lot higher proof than it is. Cinnamon and heavy vanillin laden oak dominate, but a touch of honey helps lighten the palate as this one fades away.

RATING: 5.5/10

VALUE: 10/10 (this value is based on a ratio of the $/mL to the rating above compared to this same ratio for all other r/Bourbon reviews I’ve made and normalized to 10)

OVERALL: The folks at Beam did a damn good job at picking barrels for Winter Reserve! They kinda nailed it with the vanilla and cinnamon. I wish it was higher than 86 proof, but even so, it’s amazing value with my first 10/10 value rating since I’ve being doing value ratings.

Jim Beam Double Oak

COST: $20 for 750mL bottle

AGE: 4 years

MASH BILL: 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley

PROOF: 86

APPEARANCE: Lighter in color, kind of a rusty, honey color (1.3), medium thickness, fast legs, drops like water left on glass after swirling.

NOSE: A milder nose with not nearly as much spice. Caramel, vanilla, and some clove. This noses a little earthier as well with some toasted nuts and young oak. This really is much less robust than the Winter Reserve though.

PALATE: Sweet vanilla and caramel land right away. It expands into notes of spicy oak, wildflower honey, black pepper, and a hint of mint with a nice cooling sensation. The mouthfeel is younger on the palate being a little more astringent than Winter Reserve with a bit more tingle.

FINISH: Short finish with no hug, this has notes of sweet oak, caramel, and barrel char. When I originally reviewed this in bourbz review #44, I picked up a bitter note. I’m not picking that up this time, but this is the same bottle as that review so about a year old, perhaps whatever was making that bitter note has died out.

RATING: 4.9/10

VALUE: 9.9/10 (this value is based on a ratio of the $/mL to the rating above compared to this same ratio for all other r/Bourbon reviews I’ve made and normalized to 10)

OVERALL: When I first did the review of this bottle, I gave it a 5.0/10 outright. Since then, I've changed how I do my ratings where in the background I rate the nose, palate, and finish individually and average these. So overall, this has really maintained the same status with me. While there’s not nearly as much flavor, or robust flavor, as the Winter Reserve, it it’s a lighter profile overall, and perhaps a little more sweet leaning than the Winter Reserve. It’s absolutely still a killer value at $20.

CONCLUSION: I thought these would be closer in profile than they are, but the Winter Reserve is noticeably more robust than the Double Oak expression. Winter Reserve comes across, for the most part, 10 proof points higher than it is with more robust notes and more barrel character. While I like this bottle’s notes, I wanted to make sure I was still being fair in putting the nose, palate, and finish in the 4-6/10 range, so I grabbed a pour of 120 proof single barrel Knob Creek afterwards, and it certainly brought a significantly stronger nose, more robust and defined notes, much thicker mouthfeel, etc. So, while these are great bottles for what they are, they are still 86 proof bottles and perform as such.

While I have not had the Winter Reserve in a cocktail yet, I’m really looking forward to mixing this one up with some Egg Nog in the coming weeks! I know the Jim Beam Double Oak performs quite well in an Old Fashioned, so I would expect based on the neat tasting, the Winter Reserve will perform even better.

If you like the Jim Beam profile, I would say the Double Oak maintains more of that. The Winter Reserve though…I would take 10 out of 10 times over the Double Oak. The age I think did well for this one bringing out a lot more barrel character. It’s hard to say the “toasted” barrels did more than the second charred white oak barrel for the Double Oak, particularly not knowing how long each was finished. (Personally, I doubt there’s a significant difference if the finishing times are short.) But all that said, at $20, either of these bottles is a hell of a deal!

1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08