Bourbon Bookers, Johannes Reginald Beam immigrated to the United States from Germany after the American Revolutionary War ended, and he eventually made Kentucky County his home. John J. Bowman, a military governor, presided over Kentucky County, which was still regarded as a part of Virginia at the time. Beam started collecting corn after moving to Kentucky, and he started a family custom of turning the extra grains he collected into whiskey. Since then, the Beam family has been producing whiskey for the firm of the same name for seven generations (the company is named after James Beam, who saved it during Prohibition).

Strength of Booker’s Small Batch Cask Booker Noe, Jim Beam’s grandson, is honored with the name of Bourbon Whiskey. Noe first bottled the bourbon, which was made from a mash made mostly of corn, to give as presents to close friends and family. The bourbon is now aged in virgin American oak casks located in the middle of a Kentucky rickhouse, where the humidity and temperature are ideal for whiskey maturation. The bourbon is bottled at cask strength (around 130 percent) without the addition of artificial coloring or cold filtering after it has matured for seven to nine years.

In honor of original distiller Booker Noe and his distinctive approach to bourbon tasting, Booker’s Batch 2018-03 was named. A whiskey writer who had a good time tasting bourbon with Booker decades ago was the first to use the word. Booker would take a drink of bourbon, work it about his mouth, and then smack his lips a couple of times so that it looked like he was chewing on the beverage to achieve a good “Kentucky Chew.”

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Notes on Tasting

The nose is characterized by citrus, toasted nuts, cocoa, fruit, caramel, vanilla, oak, and baking spice. Fruit, caramel, vanilla, chocolate, candy baking spice, and orange zest all contribute to the complex and oaky tongue. The notes of vanilla, baking spice, and wood are still present in the end.