Booker’s Bourbon has launched its third release of the year: The Master Distiller’s Batch.
Each release of this whiskey has a unique name that alludes to the people, places and/or history behind the brand.
This batch is named in honor of a group of distillers Fred Noe, 7th generation master distiller of The James B. Beam Distilling Co., came to admire, the company says. The work of these distillers in the late ’80s and early ’90s helped American consumers reconnect with bourbon and made the industry what it is today. This group included Fred’s father, Booker Noe, and his peers at other distilleries during this time. To that end, much of this batch was produced in 2016 on Booker Noe’s birthday, December 7th.
“These guys the ‘elder statesmen’ as we call ‘em paved the way for master distillers to get recognized for their craft,” says Fred. “They even became the very first class inducted into the Bourbon Hall of Fame. I remember once I was with my dad when they all met up in Chicago for a festival. We were catching up at a bar and to most of the people there, we were just six random guys drinking bourbon. But someone pointed us out to the bartender and said, ‘you’ve got bourbon royalty in here.’ We all laughed and raised our glasses.”
“While it’s true enough now, it wasn’t always like this. Back in the day, being a master distiller just meant running the distillery,” he adds. “But these elder statesmen changed all that, raising the bar for all of us. The job went from spending every waking moment in the distillery, to traveling the world, all the while introducing people to our beloved bourbon. They became spokesmen and celebrities in their own right. They made the job as big as they were. I’ve looked up to these guys my whole life. They showed me the ropes of how to make great whiskey and built my love and respect for everything that goes into the craft. I’m proud to follow in their footsteps and honor them with this batch.”
The Master Distillers Batch is made up of two production dates stored in four different aging warehouses. The breakdown of barrel storage is as follows:
- 10% came from the 6th floor of 7-story warehouse Z
- 11% came from the 6th floor of 7-story warehouse 1
- 42% came from the 6th floor of 7-story warehouse 3
- 37% came from the 3rd floor of 9-story warehouse J
The age is 7 years, 8 months and 7 days. This whiskey is 130.3 proof.
Booker’s Master Distiller’s Batch is now available nationwide in limited quantities with a suggested retail price of $99.99 for a 750-ml. bottle.
This follows the launch of Booker’s The Beam House Batch.
