Clermont Steep American Single Malt Whiskey

VITALS:

- $60

- 94 Proof

- 5 Years

- Kentucky

I'm not going to lie.  I was weirdly excited for this release.  I've done the American Single Malt thing. I've tried some that I've really enjoyed, and I've had some that were clunkers. What excited me about this one was that it was Jim Beam getting into the American Single Malt fray. 

There haven't been too many single malt releases from the Kentucky big boys. And, I'm particularly fond of most Beam products. So, when these finally hit the shelves, I made it a point to grab one right away. I figured, as with most of their other stuff, Jim Beam would at the very least produce a new and interesting and delicious product that would be a mainstay on the shelves.

I was wrong.

The nose was pretty good, and gave me a bit of hope, even if it didn't smell anything like the single malts I've come to know and love. It had notes of pear and cinnamon, almost like baked pear. It had a brown sugar sweetness to it, as well as a sweet tobacco leaf note. It also gave off a sort of brown butter note.

As to flavor, though, the predominant note was Cheerios.  And it wasn't even Honey Nut Cheerios, or Frosted Cheerios. It was just plain old, tasted like cardboard Cheerios.  There was also a fruitiness to it, but it wasn't a light or crisp note, but rather that baked pear note again. From there it seemed to go downhill.

I got a medicinal cherry note that is immediately a turnoff for me whenever I find it in a pour. I love a good cherry note, I hate the cough syrup note I get in some brands. And this was that cough syrup note. It also went beyond the pear note to include other weird stewed fruit notes, perhaps apple and plum. But there was no spice to go with those notes--no cinnamon, no allspice, no anise. It was just a bit weird.

And the finish kind of sealed the deal for me. I never did get that malty backbone that I love in a single malt. I never got any of the bright notes or floral notes or even fruity notes I've experienced in good single malts. Instead, what I was left with on the finish was an artificial sweetness, like corn syrup.  It wasn't even something I'd put on pancakes. It had that fake, syrupy sweetness of hard candy, and that seemed to linger longer than I wanted it to.

I wanted to like this, but I just struggled to find a reason to.  I think I'll just stick to Beam's bourbons from here on out.

Grade: D