Table Of Contents
The Details
| Rating | 93 |
| Style |
Bourbon American Whiskey Whiskey |
| Produced In |
Kentucky United States |
| ABV | 53.5% |
| Availability | Limited |
| Price | $149.99 |
| Reviewed By | |
| Review Updated | 2024-09-23 |
Baker's 13 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon (2024) Review
The bourbon world first encountered Baker’s 13 in 2019, when parent company Beam Suntory (now Suntory Global Spirits) introduced it as an allocated, premium step up from the widely available Baker’s 7. Both expressions are named for Baker Beam, one of Jim Beam’s grandnephews who worked as a sixth-generation distiller at Beam’s Kentucky plant.
After a four-year hiatus, Baker’s 13 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon returned in 2023. (We thought it was a chase-worthy bottle.) Fans don’t have to wait nearly as long this time, and Baker’s 13 is already back for 2024.
Of course, any Baker’s review comes with an important disclaimer: These are single barrel products, and Beam marketing material is quick to claim high quality across bottlings while also embracing inevitable variation from one barrel to the next. Simply put, both Baker’s 7 and 13 are products where the manufacturer leans into variation instead of striving for perfect consistency.
Individual barrel wood and construction, specific distilling runs, fill dates, and especially warehouse locations (to name a few factors) will all have some impact on the final product. What we taste for this review will likely (and should!) differ from a bottle you might bring home. But hey, that’s half the fun.
The bottle tasted today comes from barrel #000141315. It’s a 13 year, age-stated Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Let’s see how it tastes!
Baker's 13 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon: Stats and Availability
This year’s Baker’s 13 comes with an MSRP of $150, up $20 from last year’s $130 (and up $50 from the first 2019 release). It’s a limited and allocated bottle, and plenty of bourbon drinkers will be searching high and low for their own. As such, don’t be surprised to see some modest retail or secondary markups on the expression. However, Baker’s 13 doesn’t quite reach the level of some super-premium American whiskey releases; I rarely if ever see it go for twice the suggested retail price.
Baker's 13 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon Review
As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.
Nose
Each barrel of 2024 Baker’s 13 will differ at least slightly — and sometimes significantly — in aroma and taste. The early nose from our sample bottle is classic Beam with plenty of age: freshly roasted peanuts, chocolate/hazelnut spread, candied pecans, vanilla syrup (the kind you pump into coffee), and absolutely enough oak to match the 13 years in cask. My guess is most bourbon drinkers will really dig this nose; die-hard Beam drinkers may just fall in love.
On their own, the sweet elements and oak aromas might be overwhelming; together, they keep the nose from expressing as either too cloying or too tannic. It’s a remarkable bit of whiskey alchemy, and one hopes all bottles exhibit such balance.
On this sample at least, the bourbon noses slightly below its 107 proof. Time in the glass tempers that vivid oak slightly. After a few more minutes, the nose leans heavily into nut-studded vanilla nougat.
Compared to the Baker’s 13 Bourbon I reviewed last year, this bottle is far less fruit-forward, instead relying on a prototypical nutty Beam profile to make its opening statement. There’s some baked apple lingering in the background, though far less in the realm of candy peach rings from my 2023 tasting.
Nosing blind, you could probably convince me this is even older than the 13 year age statement. It has some sweet vanilla-meets-oak characteristics in common with Knob Creek 18. (If vanilla & oak cookies aren’t a thing yet, some enterprising Kentucky pastry chef should look into it!)
Taste
The first and second sips taste like crisp almond cookies, nutty extract punching through a sweetened pastry base. Hazelnut spread coats the tongue, carried by a medium viscosity mouthfeel. Oak comes next, more tannic than the nose, with a cured tobacco flavor that continues even through the midpalate. Tiny pops of baked green apple, caramel drizzle, and cinnamon are present and never quite reach equal status as that oak.
Early sips match the nose quite well, though things take a slight twist later on. Oak gives way to other wood flavors: licorice and gentian roots provide a tiny bit of bitterness, distinct from the tobacco tannins. Almond, pecan, and familiar Beam peanut butter recede, while dark chocolate and dried coffee beans build across almost the entire length of the tongue.
Another interesting twist comes via very ripe raspberry, which develops around the same time as the aforementioned dark chocolate.
Finish
The finish starts on the dry side, dominated by dark chocolate and espresso. Rich raspberry notes add some welcome fruit. Things continue for long minutes after each sip, and residual flavors bounce between dark drip coffee, raspberries, and dried cranberry skins.
This particular barrel exhibits a remarkably lengthy final act. Last year, my sample of Baker’s 13 had a finish that drank above 110 proof. This year’s drinks closer to 100, yet the finish is perceptibly longer. It’s as if the bourbon wants to remind me it’s well over a decade old, but it doesn’t feel like punching me in the mouth over it.
Baker's 13 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon Rating
93/100
Recap
Compared to my 2023 bottle, this year’s Baker’s 13 is much heavier on hallmark Beam bourbon notes: roasted nuts, heavy vanilla, and hefty oak, with less pronounced components of fruit and spice. But frankly, it’s just as good, showcasing how much Baker’s barrels can vary while staying quite tasty. Even if Baker’s 13 becomes a true annual release, I wouldn’t automatically say it’ll become my favorite in the Beam calendar. But it could very well be the most fun.
*Image retrieved from Suntory Global Spirits
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