* Note: This article uses information from the U.S. Department of the Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Whiskey labels are approved by the TTB weeks or months ahead of their release and public announcement, so details about pricing and availability aren’t available yet. Furthermore, any proof statements on the label may be placeholders and might change before the official release announcement. However, everything else on the label will appear as it does here, so this gives us a great early look at an upcoming release.
Hardin’s Creek Golden Origins Corn Whiskey is an upcoming release from James B. Beam Distilling Co. as part of their Hardin’s Creek brand family.
While Beam is no stranger to experimenting with their mashbills, this appears to be their first corn whiskey and first appearance of this new mashbill, and will be arriving with an impressive 11-year age statement.
Corn whiskeys differ from bourbons in several important ways: they must be made from at least 80% corn, and if aged, it must be in either uncharred or previously-used oak barrels. Bourbons, on the other hand, must be at least 51% corn and aged in first-use, charred oak barrels. As a result, corn whiskeys typically are much lighter-hued than their bourbon counterparts.
Beam’s standard recipe is estimated to use 75% corn, so this 80%+ corn recipe used in this expression is likely the first time it is being made available to the public.
The label was approved by TTB on December 15, 2023.
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Front label
