Baker’s 13 vs. Knob Creek 13 Year Old Single Barrel Store Pick Bourbon Review

This week I’m reviewing and comparing Baker’s 13 Year Old Bourbon with a 13 Year Old Single Barrel Pick from Knob Creek, as well as sharing news about New Zealand’s bourbon shortage, and a new project from former Old Forester Master Taster, Jackie Zykan, called Hidden Barn Bourbon.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Today on the Bourbon Bytes podcast, I'm comparing Baker's 13-year-old bourbon with a 13-year-old
single barrel pick from Knob Creek, talking about a nation facing a major bourbon shortage,
and one of Kentucky's top tasters starting her own whiskey brand.

(00:22):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bytes podcast. I'm your host Clifton and today's episode
is super special to me because it is brought to me by two friends of the show who provided
the samples for review on two separate occasions unrelated to each other,
but I thought it would be really fun to compare these two whiskeys. So what I have in front of me

(00:44):
is a 13-year-old Baker's bourbon from Jim Beam from my friend David from Whiskey in My Wedding
Ring as well as a 13 and a half year Knob Creek single barrel pick from my friend Swan. So I
thought what other time I'm going to have a chance to compare two 13-year-old products from Jim Beam,
one of my favorite distilleries, and kind of decide you know what are the differences between

(01:08):
the two, especially the older age statement which we kind of hardly ever see anymore.
And also this is my first time trying a Baker's 13-year-old so I'm extremely excited for that,
but I think it makes the most sense for me to start with my beloved Knob Creek,
one of my favorite bourbons. Now I was lucky enough to get access to some of the 14, 15,
and even 16-year-old Knob Creeks a couple years ago when those are very prevalent around the area,

(01:32):
at least here in Southern California. So this is a pick, like I said, that Swan sent along. Of
course my friend Fred also has had a chance to try this one. This is a 13.5-year pick. It was part of
a flight that OBC Kitchen in Kentucky did where they had three different whiskeys, one an 11-year,
the 13.5, and a 15-year, and this was actually their favorite. So Swan picked up a bottle and

(01:58):
sent me a very, very generous sample of that one. So I'm going to start with that one and then
give you my thoughts. Of course they're probably going to be pretty amazing because y'all know I
love Knob Creek. But then we're going to do a comparison with the 13-year-old Bakers, which
I have a little bit of a cheat sheet here to see what the differences between these two are
because they are both coming from the Jim Beam Distillery out of Claremont, Kentucky.

(02:19):
They actually have the same mash bill, but there is one subtle difference between these two that
maybe we'll be able to pick out on the palate. So without further ado, let's go and get that
Knob Creek poured. So like I said, we're dealing with the same mash bill here, the same barrel
entry proof. However, these two whiskeys do come off the still at two different proofs that may

(02:39):
contribute to the difference in taste. So our beloved Knob Creek comes off the still at 130
proof, where Bakers typically comes off the still at 125 proof. So it seems like a very subtle
difference, but I'm really excited to see the differences between these two. I have had Bakers
before, the older release as well as the newer single barrel, but that's the 7-year, not the 13-

(03:00):
year. So I'm gonna get that poured at the same time. But first, let me try Knob Creek. Now this
comes in at 120 proof, which is the standard proof for their single barrel selections. It's also
worth mentioning that this is a pick compared to the Bakers that is not a pick. However, you know,
13 years at the distillery, there's got to be something special about that barrel. They wouldn't
have kept it so long. So let's go and give this a nose. Ah, man, everything I love about Knob Creek.

(03:25):
That is just such a typical, standard, nutty kind of flavor profile. One that I've missed because I
know that we can't get these older picks anymore. But man, when I smell it, I just fall in love.
Now being a 13 and a half year pick, this is a good bit older than the more recent ones that
are coming out. So there is a ton of wood on this. It's definitely not a new oak. It's more of a

(03:49):
older, rich, saturated oak as I often say. And it's just bursting on the nose along with that
nuttiness. I mean, this is a very dark, rich bourbon and I can't wait to take a sip. So I'm
gonna go ahead and do that. Cheers. Oh man, holy moly is that dark. I forget. It's been a minute
since I've had one of these older Knob Creek picks. But wow, that is so tannic, like oaky tannins,

(04:15):
which I do typically enjoy. I love my bourbons big and bold and oaky and nutty. And this is
checking all of those dark boxes. Now, I will say I remember these being a bit sweeter. Maybe it's
just this pick, but there's so much oak and so much dark richness on there that I'm not getting
as much of the brown sugar, some of the caramel that I typically get on a Knob Creek. It's nutty,

(04:39):
but like a roasted peanut, kind of like a dry, maybe a little salty, but those dry roasted peanuts
you get like in a bag. None of the sweet, you know, like peanut butter kind of notes or anything
like that. This one, like I said, man, this is dark, which at 13 and a half years, I mean,
obviously you expect that, but wow, I guess it's just been so long since I've had this.

(05:00):
And even though this Knob Creek is so dark, there's a bit of like a bright citrus kind of
sweetness to it, almost like a candied lemon that kind of leaves you with like a bit of tartness,
along with that tannic element of the oak. And honestly, I think that's what really makes this
Knob Creek pick so unique. To me, it's unlike any other pick I've ever had. I think I was a bit
caught off guard by that. That's kind of why I was so surprised by how dark and deep this was in

(05:25):
flavor. But when you look at it a little bit further and take another sip, you really get
that bright, yeah, like a bit of a citrus tartness to it that really, really complements that dry,
dark, oaky flavor. This one is just, I mean, if you're having a really rough day and you want
something really dark, then that might be the one to go for. Maybe if you're Alessio on Dungeons

(05:45):
and Drams. If y'all aren't yet watching our live streams we do every Tuesday night, it's so much
fun. We do a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with Jason from The Mash & Drum, Bill from The Whiskey
Dic is our Dungeon Master, Ed from The Rotgut Review is another player, as well as Molly from
Hugging the Cactus. We have so much fun for that. There's actually a podcast version of it now,
so just search your favorite podcast app for Dungeons and Drams. You'll find that. But

(06:09):
Alessio or Jason's character is his big thing. He's like, he's so dark. Well, this is the bourbon
for him because this is one of the darkest bourbons I've ever had. This one personally for me is
missing a little bit of the sweetness and that's where I'm hoping this Baker's brings it back out
because my experience with Baker's, at least the younger ones, the younger single barrels,
it has a bit more of a fruity note to it. So I'm really excited to try this 13-year-old version of

(06:32):
it and see how it compares directly with this Knob Creek because other than the off the still
proof, these two are very, very similar. Now the Baker's 13-year comes in at 107 proof,
so it's a little bit lower proof. I only wanted to try the Knob Creek first because that's my
go-to Jim Beam product, especially at the older ages. But this one is going to be a little bit

(06:52):
lower proof, about 13 proof points lower. The MSRP was $100, but again, I saw it one time in a store,
they were charging $150 and I was like, yeah, I'll find it cheaper and never did. So thank you.
Thank you, David, for the opportunity to try it. So let's go ahead and move on over to
the Baker's 13-year single barrel. Now first glance, by the way, I have both of these poured

(07:14):
at the same time. The Baker's is a little bit lighter in color. I'm actually surprised about
that. Now it is lower proof. There is a little bit more water added to it, which is most likely
contributing to that, but I definitely wasn't expecting it to be so different just color-wise.
But let's go ahead and give it a nose. Oh yeah. Wow. Very different. I kind of was expecting it,

(07:34):
but I'm also kind of caught off guard by how different it is. I will still say it has those
lovely oaky notes that are there, but this one's to me less nutty. It's more of like a sweeter note.
I can't quite place the sweetness on the nose. I've always said, you know, I'm not the best at
nosing. I think I really can understand flavors a bit more once I've tried them, but on the nose,
I think I'm getting a little bit of that caramel brown sugar sweetness that I kind of thought I

(07:57):
would find on the Knob Creek, but maybe that's more of like the younger ones or even some Booker's
releases. Yeah. It wasn't getting any of that sweet caramel kind of vanilla note on the Knob
Creek, but let's go ahead and try the Baker's 13 and get a first taste of that one. Cheers.
Oh wow. Wow. That is so good. And this is coming from a Knob Creek lover. That

(08:22):
just caught me off guard with how fruity, how like, I almost feel like it's rye forward. I'm
getting a lot more rye spicy, even though this is the same mash bill, as far as I'm aware.
All of my charts, you know, link them together. It's the same, the same mash bill, but man,
there's a lot more fruitiness, a lot more sweetness. You know, they do age these in different,
you know, parts of the Rickhouse as well. It's not just the off the still proof. There are other

(08:46):
factors that contribute to them being different flavors, but wow. Was not expecting this 13 year
Jim Beam produced bourbon to taste like this. This one, to me, it still has the richness and
the depth of the 13 year old Knob Creek, but it doesn't go as dark. It has the oak. I would say
the oak is probably equally as dark, but it's definitely a bit toned down. The nuttiness again

(09:07):
is maybe, I don't want to say nowhere to be found because there's a little hint of it there as with
all Jim Beam products, but there's something about the fact that this has so much influence from this
fruitiness, the sweetness that to me that screams bakers. Like I said, I've had some of the seven
year old Baker's. I've had even some of the eight year old single barrels. I think I've had the
oldest I've had. It's like eight years, nine months. This one though, fruity, sweet pokey,

(09:32):
man, this is my jam. And that's coming from someone that absolutely adores Knob Creek.
Now this one, MSRP is a hundred dollars. Have I found it for that? No, it came out back in 2019.
I've never seen another bottle other than that one that I saw for 150. I would absolutely love
if this were a regular on the shelf. Again, a hundred dollars, you know, you're getting a 13
year old bourbon. How often can you find a bourbon over the age of 12 years? That's basically that

(09:57):
price. Of course, I've got to talk about, you know, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, one of my favorite
bourbons from my other favorite distillery, Heaven Hill. That one is a 12 year old barrel strength,
you know, batch release. There are some single barrels coming out. I know the single barrels of
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof that I've seen that are picks, especially are somewhat younger. Some
of them are like the nine, 10, 11 year old range. I'm paying around 80 to 90 for those.

(10:21):
So for a single barrel Jim Beam, 13 year old product for a hundred dollars with bakers,
I think that's a solid win. Now, again, both of these are wins. Again, the Knob Creek was $60.
At least, I don't know about this particular pick again. This is sent to me, thankfully,
from my friend Swan. But if you are a Knob Creek fan, you can often find single barrel picks for

(10:41):
around 50 or $60. Now, nowadays, they're going to be a bit younger than the age statement of,
you know, 13, 14, 15 years, like we saw a few years ago. But I mean, for the price, the proof,
those are fantastic. However, if these were the same price, the Knob Creek 13 versus the Baker's
13, I'd have to go with the Baker's. I think it's more balanced. I think it's more interesting. It

(11:06):
has that fruitiness, that sweetness. It's all these layers of, you know, age where it comes
from the oakiness. There's a bit of like a leather note there as well, combined with the sweetness,
the brown sugar. There's like a bit of a fruitiness. There's a dark fruit. But I mean,
it's way more balanced. Yeah, the finish is a little bit shorter than the Knob Creek. I think
the Knob Creek definitely was the winner there. But overall experience and flavor profile and

(11:32):
based on my love of Jim Beam, Baker's 13 has the win here. Like I said, that's based on if these
were the same price, you know, the Knob Creek's a good bit cheaper. They're both winners in their
own category. I just don't think these are comparable. I think the Baker's 13 year is a
step above, significantly above Knob Creek. Now, compared to like a Booker's, again, this is like

(11:54):
over twice the age of a Booker's, about the same price these days. I'll be honest with you. You
know, last week's podcast I reviewed a vintage Booker's from 1995 compared to a Booker's from
2020. I would take this Baker's 13 year over both of those any day for the same price. So I know
I've been on a little bit of a Jim Beam kick here, but like I said, one of my favorite distilleries.

(12:17):
So I wanted to share my thoughts with you guys about these two releases. I'm curious to hear
if any of you have had either of these, you know, do you love the older Knob Creek's, you know,
the 13, 14, 15 year releases? Or do you prefer the younger ones that are coming out now that are,
you know, nine to 10 years old? Let me know if you want me to come back and try this, you know,
older Knob Creek release versus one of the more recent, you know, nine to 10 year old releases.

(12:40):
Maybe I prefer the younger ones. I don't know. I've never done a side-by-side, but if that's
something you want to see, let me know on our Whiskey and Gaming Lounge Discord server,
or you can find it at bourbonbytes.com. We have a channel to discuss all the episodes of the
podcast. So really looking forward to your feedback on this episode. But yeah, I mean,
I'm so glad to try both of these side-by-side. Bakers gets the win today, but I don't plan on

(13:01):
stopping buying Knob Creek. I love them both. I just wish I could get the Bakers 13 in 2022
for a decent price. So we do have a couple pieces of news here to discuss, one of which was brought
to my attention by patrons of the show on our last Hangout. Apparently the nation of New Zealand is
having a pretty severe bourbon shortage. Now, of course, you know, we're experiencing a lot of

(13:26):
across the world right now with supply chain and things like that. But apparently the supply
chain issues, the shipping delays and a growing popularity of hard liquor, especially bourbon
in New Zealand is really causing such a bottleneck on the spirit. So this has been kind of an
international issue since 2021, you know, the pandemic kind of shutting things down.

(13:46):
But New Zealand seems to be hit hard by this, especially when it comes to bourbon.
They say that people were drinking significantly more during the pandemic, which I'm right there
with them. But they say for months, retailers and especially the customers have been struggling to
get some of their favorite brands. Now in New Zealand and Australia, ready to drink bourbon
cocktails are very popular. I know there's quite a few wild turkey ones that are exclusive

(14:09):
overseas. A lot of those have been hit by the fact that bourbon is hard to get as well as
CO2. They're facing a pretty significant CO2 shortage, which is really hitting the ready
to drink cocktail industry hard. And we saw how popular those have been rising. I mean,
I just did a stream with my friend Brandon where we compared a bunch of different canned cocktails
that were, you know, most of them carbonated. So apparently overseas, they're having trouble

(14:31):
keeping up with the demand. It says this year there was a 22% increase compared to two years ago
when it comes to the demand for bourbon buyers. People are buying more than 2 million liters of
bourbon a year in a nation that has only got 3.65 million adults. So that's like a pretty big
increase compared to previous years. And fun fact, there's also a shortage of chicken nuggets

(14:54):
in New Zealand. This is also apparently impacted by the lack of CO2 access. Sounds like one of the
major factories down there is under maintenance until August. So they're not able to create their
own CO2 and their sources are having to be shipped in and it's a whole mess. So if you want your
bourbon and nuggies, you may not want to go to New Zealand anytime soon. But in more positive news,

(15:15):
this has kind of been talked about on several podcasts and shows, but we have to mention
the legend herself. Jackie Zykan, former master taster of Old Forester, is leaving the company
to start her own lineup of bourbon. So she's launching Hidden Barn Spirits in collaboration
with 5280 Whiskey Society as well as Neeley Family Distillery President Royce Neeley. So she's going

(15:40):
to be working as the master blender there, which is super exciting. It's going to be a very small team
but I feel like this is well-deserved. I mean, she's obviously one of the best tasters,
one of the most prominent, not just women in the Kentucky bourbon industry, but
she's known as the master taster. So I'm so excited for her to kind of go on, branch out.

(16:02):
She's made such a name for herself at Brown Foreman and Old Forrester. I can't wait to see
what she does as a master blender. She's been doing quite a bit of that kind of with the,
I think it was the 117 Series at Old Forester. So she definitely has, you know, incredible
experience she's learned there. But to go on and do her own thing, I think this is the perfect
time for her. I think last year that was the first time she ever got her name on a bottle

(16:24):
at Old Forester. So she's left her mark figuratively and literally at Old Forester
and this seems like a very, very exciting move. It says, at Hidden Barn, she'll be focused on
tasting and ensuring post-distillation quality, similar to the experience she had at Old Forester.
She tells Forbes Magazine that she's looking forward to transitioning into ownership at

(16:45):
Hidden Barn and using her tasting skills to grow a brand on her own. And apparently as early as later
this month, Hidden Barn will be releasing their first small batch Kentucky Straight bourbon
whiskey. It's going to be from the Neeley Family Distillery. Now, of course, this is the first
release. We don't know how long this has been aging. I have no info on it other than it's going
to be a small batch Kentucky Straight bourbon whiskey. So definitely not super young, but still

(17:08):
it makes me excited for things to come. And most of all, congratulations, Jackie. That's
such a big move. Not that she's really listening to this, but she might, you never know. Super
excited for you, not just for making a name for yourself, but just being a champion for women in
the industry. I think you are just a role model inspiration and just an amazing person. So
congratulations. So that does it for this week's episode. I know it was very whiskey focused,

(17:31):
but we're going to have to throw in some video game references at least next episode. Thank y'all
so much for listening. If you do want to support the show, make sure you follow me on your favorite
podcast platform. Leave me a rating and review if it's available and make sure to tune into my
Thursday night YouTube live streams at youtube.com/BourbonBytes. Thank you to all my patrons
and Byte Club members over on YouTube. Y'all really make this show possible and couldn't do

(17:54):
it without you. So until next time, this has been the Bourbon Bytes podcast. Cheers. And I'll talk
to you next episode.