Bourbon Review: Booker’s Bourbon The Center Cut

, it’s spicy and cinnamon strong: You can taste the high (127.2) proof. It burns a bit going down—but sometimes that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes you want your booze to taste like booze, you know? Even with the spice and strength at first sip, it finishes long, smooth and straightforward. This is one where you might want that glass of ice next to you to drop in a single cube or a few sprinkles of water. True to its name (and slab of meat adorning the label), this definitely would go well with a meat of any cut, where its richness would be tempered by the 2015-03’s high, spicy notes. I also found myself craving something salty with it. I wanted to like this so much, but I found it paled in comparison to other Booker’s I’ve tried; it lacked nuance. It tries too hard to be too many things to too many people. Booker’s website claims that in 1992 they introduced the world to small batch bourbon—and coined the term. While the Peanut Gallery certainly wouldn’t be throwing back Booker’s, I do feel like this might have been a case of TMBI (Too Much Bourbon Information), and that’s why I’d give it a 79.