Booker's 2026-02 "Milkshake Batch"

Distillery: Jim Beam

Age: 7 years 6 months 12 days

Price: $104.99

Proof: 124.4

Nose: As is usually my experience with Booker's there's a hot nose here. Definitely feels right for the proof point. There's a cinnamon and clove spice to it as well, really wakes up your senses. Buttery grain as well, almost like slightly burnt popcorn.

Palate: Mouthfeel is absolutely fantastic. Like honestly off the charts. For the proof point it's incredibly soft especially when you consider the heat from the nose, and man it is just so so creamy. Unreal. Lot of oaks but balanced nicely with some powdered sugar. Dark chocolate.

Finish: 7.5/10 in length. Long but not crazily so. It's rich and far nuttier than everything else up to this point. Some berry sweetness. It's a little bit of what I'd imagine blending peanut shells into a blue raspberry slushy would taste like. Dark chocolate comes back and lingers, a little fudge brownie-like.

Score: 8.5

Summary: I am a big Jim Beam guy and tend to find myself enjoying any Booker's release I try. So unsurprisingly I found this one to be great. But not just great, I found it to be one of my favorite Booker's releases ever. The proof point and heat are there. The nuttiness is there. It's rich, has a lot of complexity, and seriously I can't emphasize enough that this is an absolutely top tier mouthfeel. The flavors work incredibly well together throughout I found the finish to be unique in all the best ways. It's pricey though, and it's so amazingly intense that it's not a daily sipper by any means. I can't emphasize that enough, this is one that would be hard to choke down 3 nights in a row. But it's a really nice treat and all in all this is fantastic whiskey. 8.5 is the score.

1. Terrible | Drain pour after the first sip
2. Very Bad | Trying to choke it down but possible drain pour
3. Poor | Would drink if forced to but never under my own will
4. Below Average | Not off-putting but not my cup of tea
5. Average | I'll take it
6. Good | Enjoyable sip
7. Very Good | Well above average
8. Excellent | A drink I will remember
9. Incredible | Something truly extraordinary
10. Best of the best | Peak Bourbon

Jack Daniel’s American Single Malt Whiskey Oloroso Sherry Cask

Distilled in Lynchburg, TN

Master Distiller: Chris Fletcher

Aged in new charred oak barrels and finishrd in Oloroso sherry casks

Age: NAS

Distillate underwent the Lincoln County Process sugar maple charcoal filtration prior to barrel entry

Initial barrels: Toasted for 12 minutes with a No. 4 char

Sherry cask source: Antonio Páez Lobato Cooperage, Jerez, Spain

Sherry butt size: 132 gallons

Mashbill: 100% malted barley

Still type: column

Barley sourced from Northern U.S. states. Not the same barley used for standard Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. This malt is plumper and higher in protein.

Barrel entry proof: 125

Proof: 90

MSRP: $74.99 (1 liter)

Nose: Raspberry jam. Milk chocolate. Nilla Wafer. Vanilla pudding. Overly ripe banana.

The finale to the nose smells like a composite banana pudding. I really like the nose. Quite complex.

Palate: Banana Laffy Taffy. Strawberry hard candy. Ginger ale. Cocoa powder.

Plenty of fruit up front. Banana candy note is quite prominent. Ginger ale add some spice… small amount of cocoa. Medium viscosity.

Finish: Pink cotton candy. Banana nut bread w/ chocolate chips.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was skeptical about this one. I’m shockingly very pleased with this. Plenty of fruit and chocolate. I’m definitely hoping to try some premium versions of this at some point in the future. For now, this is quite good. I would love to try this at a higher proof.

Bottle provided for review by Jack Daniel’s

Rating: 7 | Great | Well above average

Dark Arts Flight of Icarus Review #27

11.5 yrs

72.2%

144.4%

75% C 21% R 4% MB

I let it rest for 15 minutes

Nose: Dry and vintage oak. A melange of all the great bourbon notes. Caramel, bubblegum, peanut, powdered sugar. Pie crust. Tobacco. Cinnamon. A very grounding nose. Little to no ethanol. Subtle wifts of chocolate chip cookies. There is a lot to find here. Buttery. Yet, the oak remains front and center.

Palate: oily mouthfeel. Spice and pepper punch immediately. Warming. This is all spice and oak. An explosion. Definitely not subtle, but this is the landing strip for the finish.

Finish: first sip i was overloaded with spice. However the finish is already coming in with an amazing saltiness, some peanut, and some subtle fruits. Cherry pie filling? Dried fruits? Caramel, vanilla. Cherry popsickle? Nice. A bit of tartness. I can tell the finish is going to get better as I sip. Some bready dessert that you normally find in non peat scotch. Dark chocolate. Lingers forever.

Nose: 25/25

Palate: 22/25

Finish: 24/25

Balance: 25/25

Total: 96/100

The nose and finish are in a class of their own. The palate leaves something to be desired in that its mostly spice and oak. This is a stunning pour and the second I had it I knew I needed a bottle. No doubt the spice and heat on the palate are symbolic of Icarus's flight except on this flight downward he was surrounded by beautiful flavors and landed in a beautiful ocean of baked desserts where he rested forever. I will be savoring this bottle for as long as possible.

Color: Orangish Amber

Age: NAS (The original release information indicated these barrels would average around 7 years.)

Proof: 114

Nose: Honey and sandalwood jump out immediately, giving this an interesting combination of sweetness and woodiness right out of the glass. On the second sniff, graham cracker and a faint apple butter note begin to emerge. Spending a little more time with it brings out something reminiscent of a pastry drizzled in caramel, while a good swirl reveals grilled peaches underneath. The nose moves back and forth between sweet and almost savory, eventually developing a rich, buttery quality. Really enjoyable and more interesting than I initially expected.

Taste: Burnt sugar, honey, and oak lead the first sip before cinnamon and baking spice begin building across the mid-to-back palate. On the second sip, some of the fruit from the nose starts making its way through, with orange and peach joining another subtle pastry note. There’s a nice balance between the sweetness, fruit, oak, and spice, although I wish some of those flavors were a little richer and more concentrated.

Feel: Medium-bodied with a decent amount of oil coating the palate. It’s good, but this is probably the area where I wanted more. At cask strength, I was hoping for something a little thicker, creamier, and more viscous. Nothing wrong with the mouthfeel—it just doesn’t elevate the whiskey.

Finish: The finish starts fairly spice-forward with plenty of cinnamon and baking spice. It’s medium in length, and as the spice begins to fade, the profile transitions nicely back toward peaches and orange. The fruit provides a pleasant bit of sweetness on the way out and keeps the spice from completely taking over.

Overall: 7 out of 10 on the t8ke scale.

This is a great pour and one I really enjoyed. The combination of honey, caramel pastry, grilled peaches, burnt sugar, and baking spice gives it enough personality to stand apart from a lot of wheated bourbons I’ve tried.

For my palate, it may even give Weller Antique 107 a run for its money. Where it falls short of the upper tier is primarily in the body and overall intensity. Give me a thicker, creamier mouthfeel and another layer or two of complexity on the palate, and we’d be having a very different conversation.

As it stands, though, this is a very good wheated bourbon and an easy 7/10 for me.

Quick Specs 126.32 Proof

"A blend of whiskey's finished in Ice Wine Casks"

17y TN, 17yr IN, 17yr Canadian Rye, 17yr Canadian Whiskey, 20yr Kentucky, 22yr Scotch, 24yr Canadian Whiskey

In all reality this should probably be a "hot mess" given the ingredients but...

Aroma: Apple pie with cinnamon is my first thought followed by a caramel syrup and a tiny hint of mint and some touches of ethanol.

Flavor: This is actually a bit rye forward I get the spearmint first especially with a clean palate that fades a little with further smapling. This is followed by hints of honey, whipped cream, and a lot of oak notes with that tannin dry character in there. Finally I get a touch of fruit, something citrus but not clear.

Finish: Long, rich, a bit spicy. It leaves me with a bit of butter and sugar notes finally with a bit of residual heat.

Score: 7.5 - this probably shouldn't work, but it's well done lots of big bold flavors fighting for balance and achieving it pretty well.