The Amazing Booker Noe
I can’t stress this enough. Booker Noe was an incredible man. The titans that paved the way for the modern bourbon age that we find ourselves in were not CEOs or marketing strategists. They were country boys with a love for bourbon. Before Prohibition, wealthy tycoons like Colonel Blanton, Colonel E.H.Taylor, Isaac Wolfe Bernheim and Samuel Bronfman led the way. After the bourbon collapse of the brown spirits market in the 60’s and 70’s, it was largely the perseverance of a few (now legendary) Kentucky distillers that brought bourbon back. Booker Noe was one of those men. Frederick Booker Noe II was the grandson of the famous Jim Beam. He was born in 1929 and was the son of Jim Beam’s daughter, Margaret Noe. Booker began helping at the distillery as...
Jim Beam’s “Small Batch” Collection
Jim Beam is one of the most famous names in the American whiskey world. The historic roots of the Beam family cover over 200 years in bourbon making, but the Jim Beam brand name actually dates back to 1933 when James Beauregard Beam (Jim Beam) built the family’s Clermont distillery (after Prohibition) near Bardstown. Jim Beam, the great-grandson of the patriarch of the Beam family, Jacob Boehm, was responsible for keeping the Beam’s bourbon legacy alive after Prohibition ended. A second, larger distillery was later built about 9-10 miles away in Boston, KY in 1953. Jim Beam’s grandson, Booker Noe Jr., was responsible for launching Jim Beam’s small batch collection. Blanton’s (created by Elmer T. Lee in 1984 at the George T.Stagg Distillery) had created the first...
What is the Difference Between a Flavored Whiskey and a Liqueur?
I was just speaking to a bartender that wanted to know the difference between flavored whiskey and liqueur. Hopefully, by now, most of us are aware that Southern Comfort (made so famous by Janis Joplin) is a liqueur, not a whiskey. It is “grain neutral spirit, sugar, and a fruit concentrate in which the dominant fruit is apricot.” (Chuck Cowdery) That means it is basically vodka with flavorings. Flavored whiskey, however, is a different animal. By law (TTB regulations), Flavored Whiskey is described this way- -Whisky flavored with natural flavoring materials, with or without the addition of sugar, bottled at not less than 30% alcohol by volume (60 proof) -The name of the predominant flavor shall appear as part of the class and type designation, e.g.,...