Booker's 30th Anniversary Bourbon

This is for me since it's gone. Anyone paying resale should want the box for display, because I'll just say it now: I'm not sure the liquid is worth $200, let alone resale prices. Smell - Brown sugar, maybe some cherry or perhaps it's just varnish, oak, oak, and more oak. There's more to find, but the alcohol is overwhelming. With water, I detect rich, heavy leather. More varnish. Vanilla, but I'm not really getting caramel. Taste - I'll skip the start. The middle to the end feature those peanuts from steak houses, shells and all, plus the oak from the barrels. The initial flavors are hard to discern due to the high alcohol, but it's sweet and has this shoe polish flavor. Still intense with water, still powerful, still with that peanut and oak. The sweetness is more distributed and lingers longer. I need more water. The beginning is vaguely sweet bourbon notes; I can't be more specific. So, I'm sort of conflicted. It's damn good bourbon. I really like oak, and the peanuts and oak work well together. That said, it's not very complex, it's not very subtle, and it doesn't really transition much. Just that sweet start and then the rest. It's great, but not exceptional. 3.5 stars, solely because of the higher proof allowing me to experiment with it. But hey, the box is really cool, and I hope that's worth a few hundred bucks to me since I overpaid. I'll leave off the cost because I got it from a good acquaintance who sold it to me for less than resale, though it still stung. But hey, he got to drink it with me; I opened it the moment I gave him the money, and we had a nice couple of hours catching up.

Received a generous pour from a friend as part of a spirits exchange. Eagerly anticipated trying this, as I'm a fan of Booker's and Little Book. Nose: Quite intricate. Immediately greeted by caramel apples, with an underlying vanilla maltiness, reminiscent of an Irish Whiskey. There's also a funky element suggesting tropical fruit, shifting the initial apple note towards mango. As it rests, the characteristic Beam roasted peanuts with honey and dried figs emerge. Palate: Caramel cream, boiled peanuts, vanilla, dark sugars, crème brûlée. Truly excellent! It has a thick mouthfeel and remarkably drinks well below its stated proof. Finish: Very extended. Starts nutty, then quickly turns sweet and spicy with oak, but it's not excessively drying. The spice mellows into a pleasant black pepper note with additional toasted nuts and toasted coconut. This is delicious! I could justify paying the $200 MSRP, but the secondary market price exceeding $600 would be difficult. Without question, the finest Booker's I've sampled, as expected. Bonus points for the distinctive packaging, featuring a box made from reclaimed wood from a rickhouse floor, described as material that Booker Noe once stood upon.

Neat. A pour from the bar! It was needed today, and I found a cool local spot with it ($45 for 1.5 ounces). Then I managed to knock over the bottle, losing.5 of it…. Still, I had enough left to try it for the first time. The bar also has cigars. This might slightly affect the aroma. On the nose, it’s oakier than anticipated. The wood actually overshadows the usual Booker’s nuttiness. Dark cherry, plenty of nutmeg and cinnamon are present. I'm getting a nice elephant ear dusted with powdered sugar, along with a vanilla glaze. Beneath it all, there's a medley of fruit… Mango and passion fruit? Intriguing. On the palate, the texture is syrupy, dense, and even has a slight grittiness. The flavor hits intensely and immediately. Sweet caramel syrup, rock candy, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The mid-palate shifts from a caramel-covered salted pretzel to a chocolate-covered pretzel. The finish offers immaculate oak, a hint of nuttiness, and more chocolate. It brightens with subsequent sips, revealing some vanilla in places, and those fruits begin to emerge too, especially on the finish. A delicious pour. I relished every moment. I can't fault it in any way.

Damn. Another one that I almost wish wasn’t so good, considering its complete lack of availability. The nose is packed with intense, rich caramel, rye spice, roasted peanuts, and barrel char. There’s also a subtle underlying note of stewed apples and pralines. The palate is exceptionally complex, revealing creme brûlée, espresso, honey roasted peanuts, dark chocolate, and the faintest hint of peanut butter cups. While quite oaky, the oak notes are perfectly balanced, manifesting as toasted sugars and black coffee, with the slight bitterness harmonizing perfectly with the sweet sugary notes present throughout. There is a subtle, yet quite pleasant astringency leading into a rich, nutty, toasty, caramel-filled finish and a warm Kentucky hug. Truly exceptional.

Dilution was necessary to tame it right from the container, but the undiluted spirit is drinkable. Nevertheless, a small amount of water reduces the harsh alcohol, revealing the true tastes. The aroma is subtle, featuring mostly corn with a touch of wood. The mouthfeel is agreeably warm, with sweet corn and a whisper of spice appearing early on the palate. It possesses a clean flavor profile, free from any interfering notes. A mild spice lingers on the finish, easily overwhelmed by the heat if not sufficiently diluted. On the other hand, it's a rather straightforward spirit, with only a few flavors persisting throughout. The cost is obviously due solely to its scarcity.

Tasted this again over the weekend. I wish I had some standout flavors to describe here. Overall, I remain disappointed with this pour. When you invest $200 retail in a bottle, you have a certain level of expectation. The nose is still great, the flavor profile is still that of a typically average good bottle of Booker's. The finish still spoils the entire experience. It's dry, it's quick, it's flat, it's tart, and it's simply not something you want to linger over. I tasted this side-by-side with the Backyard BBQ (2018-2) and it just did not justify the cost. If I had paid the same price as a regular release, I likely wouldn't be as let down.