Jim Beam Coolers are sometimes great, sometimes gross and never taste like bourbon

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage (or food) that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

Jim Beam needs no introduction. It’s like Honda or Budweiser, a staple of its industry and ever-present wherever you go.

The Kentucky bourbon has been around since the 1700s, evolving slowly, then very quickly as whiskey suffered through downswings (prohibition, the 1980s) before exploding. But just making a decent bourbon isn’t enough in a landscape where hard seltzers and legal cannabis are gobbling up market share. So Jim Beam is jumping into the canned cocktail space.

Well, the “malt beverage” space. I’m not sure there’s any actual bourbon involved in the brand’s Kentucky Coolers, and it turns out it’s pretty much impossible to find a full ingredients list online. So you get platitudes about “bourbon taste” and “bourbon notes” but nothing that says “YES, THERE’S ACTUAL JIM BEAM BOURBON IN HERE.” Which, not to get all Tommy Boy on you, is a guarantee I would like to see on the can.

Maybe that’s just semantics, but Absolut’s mashups with Ocean Spray promise actual vodka in each can. “Malt beverage,” too often, is the realm of neutral spirits. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if I’m drinking Jim Beam branded products I would really like to be able to taste the Jim Beam inside.

Will Kentucky Coolers come through despite their obtuse labeling? Let’s find out.