Review: Little Book Blended Whiskey Chapter 9: “None for Granted” (2025)

Chapter 9 of Freddie Noe’s Little Book project “takes us back several decades, to an era when whiskey as we know it was just finding its feet.” That’s the conceit for this blend of (mostly) bourbon and rye, which showcases “the backbone of American whiskey,” per the brand.

What’s in the blend this year is fairly straightforward:

11 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
8 year old Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
8 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
7 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
7 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (a different bourbon, it seems)

Proportions are not disclosed. Cask strength, of course.

Let’s give ‘er a whirl.

Little Book Blended Whiskey Chapter 9: “None for Granted” (2025) Review

I wasn’t around at the time, but the backbone of American whiskey seems to be based in the candy shop, with Little Book #9 offering bold aromas of butterscotch and lightly scorched caramel, set against a backdrop of beef jerky and sultry garam masala. Incense rises from the glass, but it’s tamped down by brooding, slightly barnyardy notes.

The palate is quite the opposite, and leans on some bourbon-centric essentials. It’s both iconic and complex, featuring waves of peppermint then cloves, cardamom then brown banana. Chocolate notes are prominent, pairing well with flavors of toasted walnuts and a greener, spearmint quality. Fruit-forward cherry notes, plump with sugar, add a dessert-like vibe, though the whiskey pulls back into more savory territory thanks to some black pepper notes cracked over the top. On the finish: even more mint, cut with hints of the saddle leather evoked by the nose.

Little Book continues to enthrall with its moveable feast approach to whiskeydom. This year’s installment plays things fairly traditionally, but it’s a winner nonetheless.

121.8 proof.

A- / $160 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]

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