Beam Master Distiller Talks New Single Barrel

Last week I had a chance to participate in a bourbon dinner/tasting with Jim Beam Master Distiller, Fred Noe. Beam ran a competition that let people submit toasts or statements and the winner would be on their new Single Barrel release.The new Beam Single Barrel will be released soon and will be around the 6-8 year mark. Per Fred, they will be pulling barrels from all around the warehouse to show off the diversity that aging in different portions provides. Each bottle has a winning toast on the back inside of the bottle.

Lucky for me one of the winners, Joshua Stewart, was from Jacksonville, FL. Look for Josh’s quote “Toast to the past and the adventure ahead” on the new Jim Beam Single Barrel. Since the Jacksonville bourbon scene is still relatively small and doesn’t draw a lot of attention from major bourbon brands I jumped at the opportunity to join a tasting with Fred Noe.

We tasted 3 bourbons that night: Jim Beam White Label, Jim Beam Single Barrel and Jim Beam 12 year (I was slightly disappointed we weren’t trying the new Quarter Cask but beggars can’t be choosers :)). Drinking and listening to Fred Noe talk was one of the best bourbon experiences I’ve had. It was an hour mixed with history, stories and bourbon wisdom. It’s crazy to listen to a man whose family history is so rooted and influential in bourbon history. I can’t imagine what it’s like for Fred to walk in to almost any bar in the world and see his dads or great-granddads name on the bars shelf. I once saw my dad on TV sitting in the stands at a Jaguar game and thought he was famous.

How to Taste Bourbon by Fred Noe:

Before we started the tasting Fred gave us his outline for tasting bourbon (passed down from Booker).

1 – Color – The darker the color the deeper the flavors.

2 – Nose – Most tasting is done through your nose so it’s important to take your time on the nose. Also, make sure your lips are parted when smelling the bourbon to prevent taking in too much alcohol and burning your nostrils.

3 – Taste “Kentucky Chew” – Take a small sip and begin to move the bourbon around your mouth in so that the bourbon covers your entire palate. This looks like your chewing the bourbon hence the name.

4 – Finish – The finish grades the flavors and intensity as you swallow the bourbon.

While I wanted to pull out my phone and take notes on the Bourbonr app I decided my time would be better served listening to a bourbon hall of fame inductee and not worry about what I thought. What’s interesting is Fred didn’t give any notes during the tasting. In his words “if I say I taste oak you’ll taste oak”. This is true and we often ignore the power of suggestion during tastings.

The first bourbon we tasted was Jim Beam White Label. If I’m being honest the last time I drank Jim Beam White was probably done by taking pulls from a handle right after college. To my surprise I enjoyed the white. It’s sweet with notes of maraschino cherries and licorice. White is not complex but could easily be used as a good mixer. Second, we tasted Jim Beam 12 Year. The 12 year was oaky sweet, with the same licorice note as the white but balanced better with dry flavor of the wood. Single Barrel was the last bourbon we tasted and my favorite of the night. The was cherry sweetness, spice, spearmint and char. To me, all of the bourbons had a similar finish with a charcoal sweet taste. This probably comes from the filtering process and tastes like a toned down version of the Lincoln County Process.

While Beam is often written off as the bourbon giant mass producing whiskey it’s impossible to sit with Fred and not be impressed by the level of passion he has for the bourbon they make. It’s also easy to overlook how innovative Beam is. Ultra-premium ultra-aged bourbons are the new trend. Beam has been doing that with their Distiller’s Masterpiece collection since the early 2000’s. Bourbon finished in different casks? See my last point. They were also experimenting with different grains in the mashbill over 11 years ago. But, when you’re the largest producer of bourbon in the world you have some freedom to experiment and you’re not forced to get it right every time.