Beam sends six-grain spirit to limited outlets

Jim Beam is known mostly for the consistency of its standard version of bourbon. That's one reason it is such a favorite with cocktail makers for such classics as the Manhattan.

Now, the Brown-Forman company that owns the brand has come up with a new six-grain expression called Jim Beam Signature. It is being tried at the moment as a product available only through what is known as "travel retail" -- in other word, European duty-free shops -- at 29.99 euros per bottle.

It is made from a blend of spirits distilled from corn, barley, wheat, triticale, rye and brown rice. (And, no, "Start Trek" fans, triticale is not the same grain used in the immortal episode "The Trouble With Tribbles." That was quadro-triticale.)

The limited-production spirit -- 13,800 bottles of the six-year-old, 89-proof spirit, to be precise -- is, says a gramatically-challenged company statement, "a result of us mingling different bourbons together. Each were made from a standard bourbon recipe (high percentage of single grains). For instance, we distilled a high wheat, small grain bourbon; a high triticale, small grain bourbon; and a high brown rice, small grain bourbon. Each were barreled separately then mingled together prior to bottling."

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