Spirit Of The Week: Gentleman’s Cut Player Exclusive José Andrés 10-Year-Old Bourbon
NBA superstar Steph Curry teamed with top chef Jose Andrés for a special edition bourbon that’s finished in Spanish sherry casks.
“Stephen and I have known each other for many years. Of course, I admired him on the court—as we all do!—and last year we shared a stage at [Napa Valley music, food, and wine festival] BottleRock, drinking bourbon and making Philly cheesesteaks while being serenaded by Bradley Cooper… I think everyone should experience that at least once in their lives!” José Andrés is sharing with Maxim the improbable origins of our latest Spirit Of the Week, revealing a narrative so extraordinary it could only be from the life of one the world’s most famous chefs.
“And Steph [Curry] and his amazing wife Ayesha do great work in the Bay Area with their nonprofit Eat.Learn.Play,” he continues. “World Central Kitchen, the organization I founded that brings food to people in emergencies, worked closely with them to feed the people of Oakland during the pandemic, where I got to see up close their dedication to helping others.”
The bottle in question is none other than the latest Player Exclusive chapter from Curry’s own Gentleman’s Cut bourbon label, dubbed José Andrés 10-Years Finished in Spanish Pedro Ximénez. The juice is a 10-year-old bourbon whose high corn mash bill (78% corn, 13% rye, and 9% malted barley) offers a heavy vanilla and butterscotch foundation, with its finish in the Pedro Ximénez sherry casks only adding to the sweetness with fig jam, raisins and honey.
Normally we hesitate to promote celebrity whiskeys, but the cause of Curry’s latest deserves promotion. Both Curry and Andrés promise a majority of proceeds from the very limited expression will benefit the latter’s World Central Kitchen—the widely celebrated non-profit Andrés founded in 2010 to provide food relief in communities facing crisis worldwide. So far we’ve seen Andrés and World Central Kitchen feed those devoted by disasters and crises in Puerto Rico, Haiti, Ukraine, and Gaza.
Of course it’s not just foreign help, World Central Kitchen also fed Californians after recent widldfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire, the Kincade Fire in 2019, and those that ravaged Los Angeles earlier this year. He’s also helped in Maui after their disastrous fire in 2023, provided relief to Texans following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and Florida following Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The man, and his World Central Kitchen, deserve all the praise he’s earned.
Knowing Andrés as a man of great generosity and empathy, that’s not all of course. “We also served together on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition – a true honor to join fellow chefs, athletes, and health advocates to find smart ways to improve communities all across America,” the chef continues of his partnership with the all time great Golden State Warrior Hall Of Famer. “So, when Steph approached me about a collaboration on a bottling of Gentleman’s Cut, how could I say no?”
Previous Player Exclusives bottles of Gentleman’s Cut were more personal for Curry, reflecting important chapters his life—personal milestones such as the 15-Year Limited Edition celebrating his 15-year NBA career, the Exclusive IV Edition marking his 4,000 career three-pointers, and Father and Son Edition paying tribute to his father Dell’s 16 seasons in the league. For this latest edition, it is the first time Curry and Gentleman’s Cut partnered with another celebrity. They hint that it won’t be the last, however.
“C’mon, you don’t have to be from America to appreciate the good things that this country produces…especially since it is aged in Sherry barrels from Spain!” Andres explains when asked how, as a born and raised Spaniard, he earned the appreciation of American whiskey. “And as a chef who loves vegetables, what I really love about bourbon is that it is mostly corn…so in reality, when I am having a glass of bourbon, what I am really having is corn on the cob, on the rocks!”
Only 800 bottles of Gentleman’s Cut Player Exclusive: José Andrés 10-Years Finished in Spanish Pedro Ximénez will be brought to market, tapped at 107-proof with a SRP of $375. Expensive yes, but at least the money’s going to help those who need it most. That’s a win/win.
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