Basil Hayden Toast Is An All-New Brown Rice-Based Bourbon That’s Both Familiar And Ambitious

Basil Hayden Toast details review

Basil Hayden


  • Basil Hayden Toast is an all-new brown rice-based bourbon from Basil Hayden that is a permanent addition to the Basil Hayden portfolio
  • In lieu of the traditional malted rye, wheat, and/or barley grain, Basil Hayden Toast used Brown Rice for the bourbon and the barrels are toasted instead of charred
  • Read more BroBible articles here

A delicious new innovation from Clermont, Kentucky hit shelves this month. Basil Hayden Toast is a new permanent addition to the ultra-premium Basil Hayden portfolio and it’s one that will expand the palate of every whiskey drinker.

First thing’s first, you’ll notice the name change. What was formerly Basil Hayden’s is now Basil Hayden. It’s a slight change but one that also indicates that the wheels are in motion at the James B. Beam Distilling Company in Clermont.

In addition to the name change, Basil Hayden Toast also features an entirely new mashbill. A Bourbon mashbill requires 51% corn but the final percentage is usually higher. The other grains most commonly used are malted rye, wheat, and/or barley (or some combination of them all).

Basil Hayden’s flagship mashbill is comprised of 10% malted barley, 27% rye, and 63% corn. Basil Hayden Toast swaps the high rye for US-grown brown rice and that’s not the only change!

Basil Hayden Toast Is Big On Innovation

Basil Hayden Toast incorporates toasted barrels instead of just the straight charred oak barrel that all bourbon is aged in:

“Basil Hayden Toast is made using US-grown brown rice, which imparts a hint of sweetness and a touch less spice, while a secondary toasted barrel finish draws out notes of caramelized sugar and toasted wood. After aging, the toasted brown rice bourbon is blended back with more brown rice bourbon, which has been rested in level four char barrels, to achieve a final product with complex flavor grounded in sweet vanilla and rich roasted notes.”

A different grain?! A secondary toasted barrel finish?! You’d expect this to be a drastically different bourbon from what most whiskey drinkers are accustomed to but that’s the beauty of this release. Basil Hayden Toast is both familiar and innovative. The toasting gives Toast heavy vanilla notes and of course, you’ll get that toasted flavor in each sip.

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Basil Hayden Toast details review

Basil Hayden


8th generation Jim Beam distiller Freddie Noe is the brains behind this innovation. He has previously experimented with Brown Rice bourbon in other releases, my favorite of which was last year’s Little Book Chapter 4: Lessons honored. (Check out my Little Book Chapter 5: The Invitation review here)

“bourbon that opened people’s minds to what bourbon can be”

Freddie credits his late great grandfather, Booker Noe, as the motivation behind this release:

When my grandfather Booker Noe first made Basil Hayden, his intention was always to create bourbon that opened people’s minds to what bourbon can be. Inspired by his mission, I’ve spent many years working to produce a new bourbon that speaks to this sense of discovery.”

I’ve had the chance to sip Basil Hayden Toast neat and mixed into a cocktail. It’s recommended to drink it however you prefer your whiskey: neat, on the rocks, a big ice cube, mixed with some water, or in a cocktail. Don’t let anyone out there tell you how you should drink your bourbon, drink it however you enjoy it best!

Basil Hayden Toast is now available nationwide with a suggested retail price of $49.99 (750/ml) and at 80-proof it’s very easy to sip neat but you can drink it any number of ways.

The new bottle also marks a new ‘design-forward packaging update’ from Basil Hayden that has elevated the distinctive metal loop into a monogrammed belt. You can hit that ‘shop now’ button below to search for it on Drizly and have it delivered to your doorstep today!

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Cass is a partner at BroBible and he’s been found here for the better part of a decade. He’s based out of Florida and you can contact him on Twitter at @casspa or via email cass@brobible.com




The BroBible team writes about gear that we think you want. Occasionally, we write about items that are a part of one of our affiliate partnerships and we will get a percentage of the revenue from sales.