Col. Steve Reviews 2022 Little Book

St. Louis Starts the Little Book Rollout

by Colonel Steve Akley

For the second year in a row, St. Louis is the first market that you can get Little Book in. That’s actually pretty cool. Be forewarned… Little Book has gone from a release that used to last a few weeks on the shelves, to a few days the last couple of years to a few hours now. You need to be highly in-tune with your retailers if you want to grab a bottle this year.

Freddie Noe presenting in St. Louis at the rollout of Little Book I in 2017

Back in 2017, when the first Little Book came out, Freddie Noe made St. Louis his first stop on his rollout tour. During this presentation, he promised Little Book would be a wild ride. He had access to anything in the Beam Suntory portfolio at his disposal to create these unique blends and he wanted to push the boundaries with these offerings each year.

Fast forward to 2022, and all I can say is, “Giddyup,” because this wild ride has definitely started.

Here’s what is in the 2022 release, which is titled, “To The Finish.”

  • 4-Year Straight Malt Whiskey Finished with Cherrywood Staves

  • 4-Year Straight Malt Whiskey Finished in Applewood Smoke Barrels

  • 4-Year Straight Malt Whiskey Finished in Hickory Smoked Barrels

  • 4-Year Malt Whiskey Finished with Maplewood Staves

  • 5-Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon

This blend comes in at 117.4 proof and has a suggested retail price of $125.

So now we’re talking combining something pretty familiar to all of us in 5-year Kentucky Straight Bourbon, to something we’re not as familiar with coming from Beam and that’s Malted Whiskeys. The use of different finishing techniques (barrels and staves) means that you can just envision Freddie in “mad whiskey scientist” mode experimenting with all of this.

Of course, it always has to come down to taste. What does this one having going on, right? Well, here’s my tasting notes (glass rested for 15-minutes after the whiskey was poured):

On the nose, I’m getting cherries, hickory and a savory component, kind of like a Chicago steak seasoning.

The taste yields a sweet start, with fresh citrus blast (it has a 7-Up lemon/lime thing going on here), caramel and a light pepper finish. The taste lingers for a long time with the center of the palate going through a few rounds of “rye blast zingers” on the tongue and roof of your mouth.

This is an absolute delight. I don’t score my reviews, but I think even the Russian Judge would have to concede this thing is 10 out of 10 if this tasting was an Olympic Event.

Freddie Noe is quickly becoming a national treasure. He’s bringing a new approach to a large organization and I know from my time in the corporate world getting a big company to shift is no easy task. Freddie is clearly up to the challenge of making the most unique offerings he can and this is a testament to his ability to take some really unique base ingredients and apply some interesting techniques and create a blend where the final product is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

If you get the chance to get your hands on a 2022 Little Book, don’t miss out. It’s fantastic!

Steve Akleybourbon, ABV Network, #ABVNetworkCrew, flaviar, whiskey club