Booker's Bourbon

Booker's Bourbon is the uncut, unfiltered, cask-strength expression born from Booker Noe's own barrel picks, the small-batch bourbon that set the template for what a modern American craft-tier release could be.

History & Heritage

Booker Noe, grandson of Jim Beam and the sixth-generation Master Distiller at the Jim Beam distillery, launched Booker's Bourbon to the general public in 1988. The story behind it is part of bourbon lore: Noe began pulling barrels straight from the rickhouse to share with family and friends, pouring it exactly as it came out of the barrel, no water added, no filtration, no adjustment. That habit became a commercial product, and Booker's is widely credited as one of the whiskies that kick-started the small-batch bourbon category as it exists today.

The brand is produced at the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, the same site that has anchored the Beam family's bourbon-making for generations. As of July 2026, Booker's is owned by Beam Suntory, a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings of Osaka, Japan, which acquired Beam Inc. in 2014. The Noe family's hand in the brand continues through Booker Noe's son, Fred Noe, and the distillery's craft operations still carry the Noe name today.

The Whiskey

Booker's is bottled uncut and unfiltered at cask strength, meaning proof varies batch to batch rather than being adjusted down to a fixed number. Each batch is aged six to eight years, and Jim Beam selects barrels from the center of the rickhouse, typically the fifth and sixth floors, where temperature and humidity conditions are considered ideal for maturation. It is distilled from Jim Beam's proprietary traditional bourbon mash bill, which the distillery does not publicly disclose, run through a 60-foot-tall, 6-foot-wide column still.

What makes Booker's distinct within the Jim Beam portfolio is scale: each batch totals roughly 350 to 360 barrels, the smallest batch size produced at the distillery. Batches are individually named and numbered rather than sold as a single static product. The most recent release referenced in current sourcing, Booker's Big Easy Batch Bourbon (2026-01), was aged 7 years, 2 months, and 15 days and bottled at 129.1 proof. Earlier named batches include Jerry's Batch (2025-03, honoring former Beam Master Distiller Jerry Dalton), the Phantom Pipes Batch (2025-04), The Beam House Batch (2024), and the Storyteller Batch (2023-04), alongside landmark limited releases like Booker's 25th Anniversary Bourbon (2014), Booker's 30th Anniversary Bourbon (2018), and the highly sought Booker's Rye (2016).

Why It Matters

Booker's has drawn sustained critical recognition since its release. It scored 95 points from Wine Enthusiast and landed in the top 90th percentile of all whiskies rated by Proof66, both in 2014. Food & Wine Magazine placed it at #2 on its list of "The 25 Most Important Bourbons Ever Made" in 2017, and it won its category (9 Years & Under, Bourbon) in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2016. Beyond individual accolades, Booker's occupies a specific place in bourbon history: it proved there was a market for cask-strength, minimally intervened whiskey at a time when most major producers were chasing consistency through heavy proofing and filtration, and it did so under the direct, personal endorsement of a sitting Master Distiller pouring his own barrel picks.

Visiting the Distillery

Booker's is produced at the James B. Beam Distilling Co. in Clermont, Kentucky, where tours are available daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST. The Fred B. Noe Craft Distillery tour gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the distillery's small-batch and innovation work, including Booker's. Reservations are strongly recommended and can be booked online in advance. The grounds and tours are ADA compliant, and while pets are not permitted, service animals are welcome. Note that primary distillation typically pauses for annual maintenance between mid-July and mid-August, though tours continue to operate during that window.