Booker’s “Ronnie’s Batch” Bourbon Review (2022-01)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

This morning I received word that the second 2022 batch of Booker’s was on it’s way, so it is a good thing I was already intending to write this review of the year’s first batch! This one is called “Ronnie’s Batch,” for a 40 year veteran of Jim Beam who worked with Booker Noe, Ronnie Land. Moreover, Land was the warehouse manager for many years. If that sounds underwhelming, keep in mind that the warehouse manager for a whiskey company is the person charged with keeping inventory on all that aging spirit.

What attracted my attention to this particular batch of Booker’s, however, wasn’t Ronnie Land. Instead, the age statement raised my eyebrows.

When first introduced, Booker’s was billed as a cask strength bourbon of between 6 to 8 years of age. That age range sometimes continues to appear in Beam literature to this day, but in recent years that has leaned much closer to 6 years than to 8. This is the first release in recent memory that actually sits in the center of that range: 6 years, 11 months and 22 days. It’s just a week short of 7 years even. I decided I had to do this one myself, and compare it with my dusty memories of Booker’s of yore, as well as against the releases of the last few years.

The Bourbon
As one might expect from a bourbon punching at 124.3 proof, the bourbon has a dark amber appearance, with plenty of nut brown injected into the color mix. The nose comes on with Booker’s staple deep caramel and cinnamon and clove notes, rounded out by more background notes of leathery, earthy oak. The flavor develops that further, offering up a bomb of cookie spices and caramel, trailing oak and Cherry Coke behind it. The finish runs with the cookie spices, evolving out to pepper and dry oak after a spell.

I used to call Booker’s my “sucker puncher;” if you ordered a double of Booker’s at a bar, you could sip it down and have no idea of the sheer potency of what you had consumed until you stood up from the bar stool. Then it hit you. It was surprisingly mellow for a bourbon that routinely clocked over 120 proof. In recent years, Booker’s has become rougher. Not actually rough, mind you, but it has picked up some heat. It stopped being as stealthy in its ways.

This bottle, however, reverts to form. Apparently that extra five or six months in the barrel, or perhaps some quirk in the barrel selection and blending, makes all the difference. I marked it down as B+/A-, but as is usually the case, when I leave a grade like that to sit for a while, I erred on the side of conservatism and made it a B+. I tell you that, however, so you understand that this is the best bottle of Booker’s I’ve seen in a while, certainly so far in the 2020s.

The Price
Booker’s is holding steady with an official $90 price point. The market value is currently rated at $125, due in large part to unscrupulous retailer mark-ups. And “unscrupulous” is the word here, since my review showed me plenty of retailers who have it listed at $90 or even $85!