Jun. 27: Drammers NYC - Jim Beam's Master Distiller Freddie Noe...
NYC Drammers!
Do we have some exciting news for you! We’re thrilled to be able to say that on Monday, June 27th at 6:30pm, we’ll be welcoming none other than Freddie Noe, the 8th Generation Master Distiller at Jim Beam, who recently took the helm of running their newly opened James B. Beam distillery. We don’t need to tell you how rare of an opportunity this is — he’ll be spending the overwhelming majority of his time now at the new distillery making new products, and will not be spending much time out on the road like this (maybe he’ll be in NYC once a year kind of thing). So we are incredibly humbled and grateful that we’ll be able to welcome him for this special in person tasting, which will take place at Charlie’s apartment from 6:30pm to 8:30pm on Monday, June 27th.
Well, you know what we’re going to say next — not like we’re going to welcome Freddie to the club with anything less than the bottle equivalent of 4th of July fireworks. We’ve assembled some of their most famous and sought after bottles to taste on Monday, and they’ll be bringing a couple of new unreleased craft expressions themselves. Btw, you’ll remember that we featured the Bookers 25th anniversary bottling when we welcomed Adam Harris and Tim Heuisler for a big online Jim Beam tasting during covid, so this time we’re going arguably even bigger with the Booker’s Rye. Btw, we’re also thrilled to welcome back fellow Drammer and longtime friend Tim Heuisler, who was recently promoted to be Jim Beam’s National Brand Ambassador (congrats Tim!). Ok, let’s check out what we’re drinking, drumroll please…
Booker’s Rye 13yo 2016 Release. It doesn’t get any bigger than this folks. Search online for yourself, and you’ll see the few bottles still floating around the secondary market go for many thousands of dollars a bottle, and when you taste it, you’ll understand why. This was the first rye released under the Booker’s label. Distilled and filled by Booker Noe in 2003 as one of his last masterpieces (he sadly passed away in 2004). His son Fred oversaw these barrels, had them aged in Booker’s favorite rackhouse, and bottled in 2016, uncut and unflitered. They were released in June of that year. We can’t imagine a more appropriate headliner given that Freddie will be overseeing future Bookers releases in his new role. It’s one helluva tribute to Booker himself. 68.1% abv.
Little Book #1. Next we turn to Freddie’s debut — the first release in his Little Book series. The name “little Book” is a reference to what Booker used to call Freddie. Freddie had been working at the distillery for many years, but this was his coming out party — the first release fully created by and attributed to him, and an obvious first step that eventually led to the recent news where they named him the 8th generation master distiller. I can’t even imagine the pressure he must have felt on this first release — reportedly he tried more than 25 different blends over more than a year before settling on something he thought was deserving. This was released in October 2017 as the first in a series of special annual releases. And, take note, this whiskey is a blend! (Bravo!). Reportedly it features a blend of 4 year old bourbon, 13 year old corn whiskey, 6yo “malt whiskey” (presumably malted barley) and 6yo high-rye whiskey. This has been creeping up in price over the years, and now pretty hard to find for less than $800 + tax, and you increasingly are seeing it listed for north of $1k/bottle. 64.1% abv,
1986 Porcelain “Labrador Retriever” Decanter Jim Beam, 100 Months Old. The Beam family rightly celebrates their incredible family history, and we figured it was only appropriate that we did too. So, for this tasting, we’ve tracked down one of their famous porcelain decanters from 1986. We’ve opened a few of these over the years, and they are yummy. It lists the age statement as 100 months old, but this was released in the bourbon dark days that were 1986 when all brown spirits were out of favor, and so it is very likely that this decanter features considerably older bourbon. We’ll have to see for ourselves. 40% abv.
NEW & UNRELEASED: Hardin’s Creek - Colonel James B. Beam 2yo. Next up, we’ve got exciting soon-to-be-released expressions that Freddie and Tim are bringing for us to try. And again here we see Freddie flexing his blending muscles a bit - how many new master distillers are confident enough to come out of the gate swinging with a 2 year old! Kentucky Straight bourbon. Freddie and his father Fred have launched Hardin’s Creek as a new series of experimental releases, named after the actual creed that founder Jacob Beam used to run his mill when he got started back in 1795. For the first two releases, most of the crowd is focused on Jacob’s Well aged just over 15 years, but this was the one that immediately grabbed our attention. 2 years!? Yup. It comes off the still at a lower proof (57.5% abv), which we’ve long heard whispers was a secret to why (perhaps) some older bourbon tasted better. Let’s not forget, after all that until 1962 the definition of bourbon didn’t allow the entry proof to be higher than 55% abv (in 1962 it was raised to 62.5% abv). We don’t know the exact entry proof here, but obviously if it’s coming off the still at 115 proof, it’s going into the barrel a lot lower than the industry standard 125. So here, perhaps, we get a peak into what old Jim Beam would’ve tasted like (why 2 years? Because back in Jacob’s day, that was the minimum required by law). Bottled at 54% abv, this will be a fun one to try.
NEW & UNRELEASED: Hardin’s Creek - Jacob’s Well. But yeah, 15 years is fun too, ha. This was aged 184 months and features a blend of the regular Jim Beam mashbill with high rye Old Grand Dad, which has recently had a resurgence within the company (happily!). In some ways, this is Jacob’s Well 2.0 - an earlier release featured the same mashbill but aged 84 months and bottled at 84 proof (vs this at 184 months and 108 proof). Early feedback has been raving about this one, and truth be told, we got to try a small sip of it at the Nth Ultimate Whiskey Experience in Las Vegas a few months back — damn tasty stuff.
Old Tub Distillery Exclusive Edition. Speaking of newish releases, one of the most criminally under-appreciated releases of the covid era was this, Jim Beam’s Old Tub, bottled in bond, unchillfiltered, and you could find it for $25ish dollars a bottle when it was released in June of 2020. We’re guessing the unfortunate timing of coming out in early covid is mostly to blame, but you can still find these gems on occasion on store shelves, and we regularly cite this as one of those expressions that you should buy every bottle you find. It was previously only available as a special release at the distillery, and for our tasting on Monday, that’s what we’ll be tasting, some of the old 375ml batches of Old Tub. The name “Old Tub” incidentally was the Beam’s best-selling brand when back in 1892 back when James and Park Beam took over operations, so much so that they named the distillery after it (the name itself is a reference to the giant mash tubs they used to cook and stir the whiskey by hand. 50% abv.
That’s our lineup so far. We’ll be adding a couple bottles for sure (trying to see if we can track down some of the Brown Rice bourbon they released a few years ago), and you never know, Freddie and Tim just might bring something special as a surprise bonus, you never know! :)
We hope you can join us. The event will include pizza as usual.
Cheers,
Drammers Club