September 9th, 2020 was the last day that I saw any of my family in person. In this case, it was my mother-in-law and brother-in-law who needed tech support getting a wi-fi signal into a steel garage sitting a couple of hundred feet from her house. The combination of a large house, a steel garage, and the distance between them made for a tricky issue. You couldn’t get even a weak signal inside the building.
I like problems like this. I know enough to do the research on how to solve the problem and it allows me to learn something new. Thankfully, I knew that if I could get a signal into the building, a wi-fi repeater would allow the computer that they used in there to get a connection. And with a little time and experimentation with the position of the router and repeater, I got everything to work.
It was a fun project. I’d originally set up the network quite a few years ago when there was no need to get a connection to the outbuildings (and when the tech would have necessitated a physical connection to get there anyway). But as time passed, needs (and tech) changed. And so I got to do something new and interesting with it.
On the way home, I stopped into one of the liquor stores I traveled past in order to see what I could get in the state of Wisconsin that I couldn’t get in my home state of Minnesota. And while I was picking up my bottle of Four Roses Small Batch Select, I also noticed a bottle of Jim Beam Single Barrel that was 108 proof.
Now as you are probably aware, I usually know a fair bit of what goes on in the bourbon world just because the companies reach out and tell me. But somehow I’d missed that in late 2019, Jim Beam Single Barrel was refreshed. The old white-labeled 95 proof version was retired in favor of a new 108 proof version. Much like with my mother-in-law’s home network, tastes changed since the original was created. The bourbon public wants higher proof, non-chill filtered options. And it seems that Beam was happy to cater to those changing tastes.
Jim Beam Single Barrel - 108 proof
Purchase Info: $38.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Marketplace Foods, Menomonie, WI
Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.60
Details: 54% ABV. Barrel#: JB 000207013
Nose: Mint, ginger, caramel, light citrus, and peanut.
Mouth: Caramel, mint, cinnamon.
Finish: Medium length and warmth. Lingering notes of cinnamon, peanut, and oak.
Thoughts: This bottle is deceptively drinkable at 108° proof. I like it neat with no ice. Overall, I’d say that it is a very nice upgrade/refresh from the old 95° version. And I like that the price stayed about the same even more.
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