Caramel | Apple | Classic potpourri | Raspberry | Brown sugar

Butterscotch | Rich sweet oak | Cocoa powder | Sweet

Carmel chew candy | Brown sugar |  Cinnamon | Barrel char | Clove | Mildly tannic | Warm with lingering dryness

Every release of Jim Beam’s Little Book features a title that encapsulates the theme of the latest chapter. According to the company, Chapter 9 titled “None For Granted” pays tribute to the “founding flavors” of American whiskey. It only takes a sip to notice the immediate impact that caramel and oak play in this release.

The nose begins with warm caramel right out of the gate before transitioning to a lovely bouquet of apple, raspberry, and punchy potpourri, before ending on brown sugar. The palate starts with butterscotch before layering in rich, sweet oak and cocoa powder. The finish offers caramel chew candy and brown sugar, followed by  warm cinnamon, dense barrel char, and a hint of clove. A lingering aftertaste of dry tannic oak, clove, and cinnamon is quite noticeable as the whiskey’s proof is most apparent at its tail end.

Little Book Chapter 9 is all about its many shades of caramel and oak. The caramel begins each part of the sip on the sweet side, before its oak component takes over. The palate is relatively simple compared to its complex finish - but no less potent. Some may be put off by the sip’s lingering dry tannic oak note, but part of that comes with the territory. With oak this pronounced, the whiskey tastes older than its age suggests.

Little Book Chapter 9 is meant to be a throwback to the flavors that American whiskey was built on, but there is also enough going on here that expands beyond that. With a part of its bourbon component made with brown rice, a throwback to the brand’s Jim Beam Signature Craft Brown Rice Bourbon (which featured an 11 year age statement), this inclusion helps add a degree of diversity to its taste. While Little Book Chapter 9 isn’t a showstopper at first sip, there is a lot to enjoy for those willing to spend time with it.