The first Booker’s batch of 2024 is called the Springfield Batch to honor Booker Noe’s hometown of Springfield, Kentucky.
Fast Facts about Booker’s – Springfield Batch
- Style: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
- Mashbill: undisclosed
- Proof: 124.5
- Age: 7 years, 7 Months, 8 days
- Warehouse Compositon:
- 17% came from the 5th floor of 9-story warehouse G
- 7% came from the 4th floor of 9-story warehouse H
- 31% came from the 5th floor of 7-story warehouse Z
- 45% came from the 4th floor of 7-story warehouse 3
- Price: $89.99
- Availability: Now, Limited Quantities Nationwide
Full Details From Fred Noe:
The first Booker’s batch of 2024 is called the Springfield Batch to honor my dad’s hometown of Springfield, Kentucky. This rural town in central Kentucky is where Booker Noe, my dad was born and raised. He worked on many farms when he was growing up, from the hay fields to tobacco patches.
The color of this Booker’s batch is a rich golden amber from over 7 years of aging in the new white oak barrels. The nose has a nice, pleasant aroma of sweet brown sugars and vanilla. The taste is balanced with a pleasant heat. The finish is long and warm which I appreciated during the cold days we experienced in January here in Kentucky. I know Dad would love tasting this batch and sharing stories about his hometown. I hope you enjoy this first batch of Booker’s for 2024.
Inspiration for the Label
You never forget your hometown, and this batch is in honor of Dad’s. I hope you enjoy it as much as he would have.
Fred Noe, 7th Generation Master Distiller
Many people think Dad was from Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World, but it wasn’t until later in his adolescence that he moved into the Beam family home there. As a boy, he grew up in Springfield, Ky., a small rural town about 18 miles down the road. While the town has grown over the years alongside bourbon and a few other industries in the area, it was a farming community with many residents working in tobacco when Dad was young. Many, many years before he became the Master Distiller he was known for, he got his sense of hard work from his time as a farm hand in Springfield.
Dad was a natural storyteller. While out on the road to promote his namesake bourbon, he would tell anyone who would listen about how Booker’s Bourbon came about. Distributors and other industry folks thought Jim Beam hired an actor – that’s how good he was. He told a lot of different stories, but one of his favorites took place during a visit to Chicago. While eating at a nice restaurant, Booker was served a so-called “country ham.” However, it didn’t quite match up to his idea of a true, bona fide country ham. So he leaned over to his publicist and right-hand man and asked him to retrieve the ham he had stashed in his trunk for an upcoming Alaska fishing trip. Booker wanted to show the chef what genuine country ham tasted like. After a bit of back and forth, the ham made its way into the restaurant, where Booker generously shared it with both the chef and the other diners. That story always got the whole room laughing.
One thing most folks don’t know about the Springfield area is that it was where Abraham Lincoln’s legacy began. Beyond that, I’d say Dad is probably one of the more recognizable figures to come from Springfield. Even when he moved away, he spent a lot of time going back for family dinner, holidays and even the extended Noe family reunion every summer.
About Booker’s Bourbon:
Inspired by a 200-year-old family tradition, Sixth Generation Beam Master Distiller Booker Noe first created Booker’s Bourbon as a Christmas gift for close friends and family. Booker took barrels found in the center-cut of the rack house and bottled the bourbon straight from the barrel. To this day, Booker’s Bourbon is still bottled uncut and unfiltered. Each batch is released in limited quantities and features a unique label and batch name that honors Booker Noe, his love of family and his spirit of experimentation.
Image Credit: James B. Beam Distilling Co.
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