For years the angels have been getting their share of whiskey as it evaporates into the atmosphere. Because of breathability of oak casks, a barrel loses two to four per cent of its volume during the maturation process at the distillery. This phenomenon is commonly known as the Angel’s Share.

Now Jim Beam, the Kentucky bourbon, has decided it is time for the devil to get his cut. The Devil’s Cut uses an old technique of “sweating the barrel” to produce what is known as barrel whiskey. Technically, they get this whiskey using a mechanized system that resembles paint being mixed. Fred Noe, a seventh generation, Beam family descendant, put his thoughts about the Devil’s Cut out on YouTube.

As a master distiller, Fred explains how to get the barrel whiskey. “After we dump the bourbon from the barrels, we add water to the barrels, agitate it to draw out more of the bourbon that is left in the wood.”

This barrel whiskey is the devil’s cut. “It is then used to reduce six-year-old Jim Beam down to the bottling proof of 90,” said Fred. I got my own tasting shortly after its UK launch at the end of September. I find the Devil’s Cut noticeably smoother. It has aromatic notes of vanilla and oak while flavours of butter, caramel and toffee are present. It is very easy to drink by itself, but does make a nice cocktail if you dare to mix it after paying £26 a bottle from whiskyshop.com.

Tomorrow night at 7pm, S H Jones wines is holding its Christmas tasting at The Cellar Shop, Banbury. www.shjoneswines.com.

On Monday, Berry Bros. & Rudd will be holding its Christmas tasting at the Royal Horticultural Society. Tickets are £35 each, but expect an opportunity to try everything from the best Burgundy and Bordeaux to Bollinger. www.bbr.com/browse-events On Tuesday, Dec 4, Patrick McGrath MW, is presenting a Champagne Taittinger dinner tasting at the Cherwell Boathouse. Tickets are £49.95 per person; contact Theo Sloot, theo@oxfordwine.co.uk