Over 200 years of bourbon fame won’t stop Jim Beam from capitalizing on the rye whiskey world.
Few names are as recognizable in the bourbon game as Jim Beam. The Beam family has been producing whiskey since before Kentucky was even a state and they haven’t slowed down since. Today, the Beam Suntory Company owns some of the biggest bourbon brands around including Maker’s Mark, Knob Creek, Baker’s, Basil Hayden, Old Tub, Old Grand-Dad, and oh yeah – the entire Jim Beam collection. Indeed, the Beam family has certainly created a little empire for themselves and like any good empire, they like to give the people what they want. (Definitely don’t historically fact check that one).
In the last 15 years, Beam Suntory has been a marketing machine cranking out new age statements and collections for almost all of its brands. This expansion most notably included the addition of rye whiskey to several lines, including the original Jim Beam line.
Jim Beam Rye has been floating around bar shelves for a while now, but was officially remixed and rebranded in 2015. Beam Suntory claims the remix was the result of them, “listening to feedback from bartenders and whiskey fans that they are looking for a bolder rye that stands up better in cocktails.” That, of course, is a lovely way of saying people didn’t love the whiskey and it was embarrassing the lean, mean, Beam machine, but interpret it as you see fit. Either way, the new Jim Beam Rye got a new look and a new 90 proof.
Jim Beam Rye remains as the only rye whiskey from the main Jim Beam collection. In fact, it’s listed under, “Our Bourbon” on the company’s official website. Old habits die hard. So after all of that effort and change, does the one and only rye whiskey hold up to the Jim Beam standards?
Honestly, we say yes. This rye whiskey is primarily sweet with a thick butterscotch and toffee flavor that has just a bit of orange peel in it. Some rye spice sneaks in toward the end with a black peppercorn and charred oak flavor, along with the tiniest little bite of heat. Is it mind-blowingly remarkable? Meh, not particularly, but is that really what you want or expect from Jim Beam? For all of their products, Jim Beam is known for its consistency and accessibility – It will always be on the shelves, always be reasonably priced, and always taste comfortingly the same.
While we consistently overlook Jim Beam White Label (the flagship), we’ve been recently impressed with the value and taste of some of the new offerings like Jim Beam Single Barrel and Jim Beam Double Oaked. The rye whiskey is no exception. It’s a solid rye whiskey at a solid price that’s welcome on our bar cart any day.
Seems like the bourbon empire may just have made another conquest.
STATS: Jim Beam Rye
- Price for us: $25 for 750 mL
- Proof: 90
- Aged: NAS
- Distillery: Jim Beam
- Recommendation: Neat
