It didn’t take long for me to work my way through most (all?) of the Jim Beam catalog…a month after our Kentucky trip, I had tried all 3 of the Booker’s batches I brought back, I bought my first bottle of Jim Beam Black (the new version with the 7-year age statement), and picked up the long-anticipated Baker’s. (I had already tried white label, Basil Hayden, and several versions of Knob Creek.)
Baker’s was created in 1992 by Booker Noe (the one who also created Booker’s…not a big surprise there). He named it after Baker Beam, grand-nephew of Jim Beam who had worked at the distillery for 38 years. It was one of the early examples of single-barrel bourbon releases. It is a regular release, but each barrel is unapologetically different from others, so you shouldn’t expect the product to be terribly consistent…although I’d be surprised if it varied too much, either. Each bottle has a serial number that you can look up on the company’s website to see where your barrel lived and how it is distinguished.
My barrel was homed on the Clermont, Kentucky, Campus of Jim Beam, barreled in March 2015. It was aged on Floor 6, Rack 46, and because of Beam’s practice of not rotating barrels…that’s where it began and that’s where it finished, enduring a high temp of 101º and a low of -5º, before being dumped in January of 2023, for a total of 7 years and 10 months. All Baker’s is bottled at 107 proof in an effort to preserve at least some level of consistency.
Taking a nose of Baker’s I got apple and vanilla notes. When I took a sip neat, I was greeted by a medium sweetness on the front of the tongue, a little molasses, and a good amount of charred oak. The finish got a little spicy and lingered on a moderate amount of time, although nothing like the “uncut and unfiltered” Booker’s. Truly a very fine sipping bourbon, whether you decide to go neat or with a couple ice cubes in the mix. I would definitely put this on my “buy occasionally” list…at about $70/bottle it’s moderately expensive, but worth the experience it delivers…at least with this barrel!ø
