Distilled By: Jim Beam Distillery

Location: Clermont, KY

Parent Company: Beam Suntory

Class: KY Straight Bourbon Whiskey partially finished in wine & sherry casks

Proof: 94 (47% ABV)

Age: NAS (appx. 4-5 years)

Mashbill: 75% Corn, 13% Rye, 12% Barley

Legent is a Beam Suntory collaboration between Fred Noe, Master Distiller at Jim Beam, and Shinji Fukuyo, Chief Blender at Suntory. It starts its life as a typical Jim Beam bourbon. Some of the bourbon is finished in wine and sherry casks before being blended back in with more straight bourbon to create this unique offering of Japanese style blended whiskey using Jim Beam bourbon as its base. The bottle is very nice with an image of the facial profiles of both Fred and Shinji on either side of the black brush stroke down the center. It also has a large engraved wooden topper on the cork with both “Kentucky” and “Japan” across the top and “Two Legends One Bourbon” underneath. The price is right at $35 for a 750 mL bottle.

BSG REVIEW:

Color: Amber/Red-tinted

Nose: Peaches, raspberries, brown sugar

Palate: Molasses, brown sugar, plum and a little hint of peanuts

Finish: Short-medium length and dry, cinnamon and oak with a very light KY hug

I get all sugary sweet aromas on the nose, with peach and raspberry dominant notes. This is typical for me with the wine and sherry finished whiskies. The taste switches it up a little with a molasses and brown sugar front end that transitions to more of a plum fruit flavor before giving off a hint of peanut as it goes down. The finish is short to medium in length and dry, which I also typically get from wine finished whiskies. It finally picks up a little spice with the cinnamon and oak coming through at the very end. This whiskey doesn’t give much of a KY hug, but the dryness lingers on the palate and is all I can concentrate on after it goes down. Legent was a cool experiment, and at this price I would recommend giving it a try if you like wine and sherry finished bourbons, but I cannot say this would be a repeat purchase for me. The nose had me reeled in, but, ultimately the finish turned me away in the end.

BSG Score: 76/100