Jim Beam White Label 750ml

Jim Beam White Label is the bourbon most bars are built around: neither light nor heavy, but a mellow baritone of a spirit with more finesse and nuance than its ubiquity suggests. It comes from Kentucky and sits at 40% ABV, and it is distinctive precisely because it is consistent.

The nose is quite sweet, with gentle vanilla and cut hay, a touch of fresh corn fields and a little cereal sweetness that speaks of Kentucky bluegrass country. The palate has good body, with toasty oak and all the requisite vanilla and crème anglaise, a little spice and pepper alongside a faint acetone lift. The finish brings toasty oak and resin with some lingering sweetness.

Drink it on the rocks, long with ginger ale and lime, or use it as the base for a whiskey sour or an old fashioned. It handles grilled meat and smoky food, and it is the bottle you buy by the case rather than by the bottle.