Toasted cinnamon | Caramel | Burnt sugar | Toasted & charred oak | Mixed nuts

Vanilla extract | Caramelized cinnamon roll | Sweet oak

Mixed berries | Mixed nuts | Spicy charred oak

The second Booker’s release of 2025, “By the Pond Batch,” is named in honor of the warm afternoons Fred Noe spent with his father, Booker Noe, sitting by their backyard pond. “By the Pond Batch” was created using bourbons aged in eight different warehouses.

Booker’s Bourbon never strays too far from its typical flavor profile, but offers enough differences between batches to be noticeable - especially to Booker’s diehards. Booker’s Bourbon 2025-02 “By the Pond Batch” is more of the same as what came before, but that doesn’t make it any less impactful.

The aroma hits with toasted cinnamon, caramel, burnt sugar, and a mix of toasted and charred oak scents in tow. The palate, rich with vanilla extract, is offset by delicious amounts of a caramelized cinnamon roll and sweet oak. The finish concludes with a mix of dark berries and mixed nuts with a noticeable uptick of spicy charred oak at the very end.

Booker’s Bourbon 2025-02 “By the Pond Batch” is not an overly complicated sip, but it also doesn’t need to be. It hits its flavor peaks well, brings with it adequate intensity, and delivers flavors you know and love from the brand. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, nor does it have to. It continues to be one of the better ongoing barrel proof pours on the market. You don’t always want to spend $100 on a bottle, but if you do, you’re rarely disappointed.