Little Book “The Easy”
It seems like there’s been a lot of talk about innovation in the American whiskey scene recently. Whether it comes from smaller craft distilleries or the big boys, we’re seeing a lot of new products that claim to be filed under the mantra of innovation. Usually these products amount to things like barrel finishes, inner oak staves, or other wood maturation experiments. These things are fine, but they don’t strike me as particularly innovative. Barrel finishing has been around in other whiskey-producing countries for decades now, and using inner oak staves has been employed by wine makers and other alcohol producers for a long time as well.
Innovation is fine and dandy, but I’m not sure that whiskey needs to be “innovative” to be good or unique. Innovation as it relates to whiskey is just another marketing term that people seem to eat up—the reality is that what is passed off as innovation in the bourbon world is usually just experimentation (or worse, gimmickry). Innovation and experimentation are related, but not the same thing. Many experiments turn out to be failures—not that that stops whiskey producers from releasing them (and often at inflated prices).
But every once in a while, a whiskey maker actually does create a fairly innovative product. And that brings us to the subject of this review—Little Book, Batch 1 “The Easy” from Jim Beam.
Little Book is the creation of Freddie Noe, the grandson of legendary Jim Beam Master Distiller Booker Noe (Booker gave Freddie the nickname of “Little Book” when Freddie was young, hence the name of the whiskey). It is a blended whiskey. The words “blend” and “whiskey” when put together are often met with skepticism, due to the fact that most blends are terrible. But with Little Book, we have a high quality blend of several different Beam-made whiskeys. According to the press release, The Easy is a blend of 4 year old bourbon, 13 year old corn whiskey, 6 year old 100% malt whiskey, and 6 year old high rye whiskey.
Does a blend count as “innovation” in whiskey? I don’t know. Not really. But a blend of several high quality whiskeys from a traditional bourbon maker feels more innovative to me than a bourbon finished in orange curaçao barrels or some other such finishing nonsense. At least it certainly tastes more innovative. So what does this little bit of American innovation taste like? Let’s see.
Little Book The Easy Review
Type: American Blended Straight Whiskey
Region: Kentucky
Age: NAS (although per the press release, 4 years old)
ABV: 64.1%
Non chill-filtered
Nose
Peanut brittle. Caramel. Fudge. Graham crackers (or Teddy Grahams, more accurately). Oak. Meringue. A hint of citrus.
Palate
Sweet liquid peanut butter, the kind you’d pour over ice cream. Caramel sauce. Sweet cinnamon icing. A hint of banana. The corn whiskey makes its presence known with a hefty dose of grassiness and sweet corn pudding. Powerfully mellow. The mouthfeel is big and oily, with a bit of grittiness.
Finish
Grassy, but with plenty of sweetness too. A hot fudge sundae, topped with peanuts. Cinnamon, a bit spicier here than the palate. Fairly long and tingly.
Overall
Unique and interesting. The combination of liquid peanut butter and caramel with the mellow and grassy nature of corn whiskey is rather nice. This is clearly not bourbon, but quite clearly Beam, with plenty of typical Beam nuttiness in one form or another.
I wasn’t sure what I thought of this whiskey when I first opened the bottle. It’s just not all that similar to other whiskeys I’ve tried, and it took a few pours to wrap my brain around its flavor profile. But once I spent some quality time with Little Book, I started to enjoy it. It’s tasty and unique, even if it’s not my favorite flavor profile.
This may not appeal to all bourbon fans, and it’s not something I’m always in the mood to drink, but if you’re looking for something a little different, give Little Book a try.
SCORE: 86/100
Final Thoughts
I wish that more American whiskey makers would experiment with high quality, interesting blends than with the cask finishing that is increasing in popularity. Sure, a few cask finishes are nice (very few), but in my opinion, most are failures. Blended whiskey has long had a bad reputation—and deservedly so. The vast majority of blended American whiskey is cheap and gross. But those types of blends are cheap because they use grain neutral spirits (aka, vodka) in conjunction with actual whiskey. Of course they’re bad. Vodka makes everything bad. But Little Book is far from a cheap blend (in both quality and price)—it’s unique and, yes, perhaps a bit innovative.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Freddie Noe comes up with for Little Book Batch 2.
Buy Again? I’ve enjoyed Little Book “The Easy” and am glad I got a bottle, but at an MSRP of $80, I won’t be buying a second bottle of this particular batch. It’s good, but not something I’m reaching for all that often. Will I buy a bottle of batch 2 when it’s released? I will strongly consider it.
Drink This Not That: If you can find a bottle of Little Book, I recommend trying it, although you might want to try a sample before putting down $80 for a bottle. If you’re looking for a more traditional cask strength Jim Beam product, Booker’s is always a good choice.
Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.
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