MASTER DISTILLER NOTES
This batch is made up of two different production dates that were stored in three different warehouses. Pulling from some of the centermost floors of the rackhouse – just as Dad did to find the shiny barrels – the breakdown of barrel storage for this batch is as follows:
18% came from the 6th floor of 9-story warehouse D
39% came from the 4th floor of 9-story warehouse E
43% came from the 4th floor of 9-story warehouse J
The “Shiny Barrel Batch” is something to marvel at, with a great chestnut color that is the same as the beautiful horses you might see in the Kentucky Derby. The nose is rich with the vanilla notes my father always looked for that is signature to Booker’s Bourbon, while the taste is warm and pleasant. The finish is medium and warm that gives you a nice “Kentucky hug” after swallowing. The “Shiny Barrel Batch” is one that Dad would enjoy, and I am sure he would be proud that it bears his name.
LABEL INSPIRATION
“I’m proud to release the second batch in the Booker’s® Bourbon 2019 Collection, called Booker’s® Batch 2019-02, “Shiny Barrel Batch.” It is an ode to a bygone distillery “tradition” that helped inspire my dad, Booker Noe, to create his namesake bourbon more than 30 years ago.
Back in the day, some of the distillery’s rackhouse workers would carry around “mules” – pieces of plastic tubing they carried in the front of their overalls – and use them to thief out a taste of whiskey (or two) straight from an aging barrel. Some of these men had, shall we say, prominent physiques. When they went in for a taste, their bellies would rub on the side of the barrel, removing dust and shining it up. Some used to say, “the shinier the barrel, the sweeter the whiskey,” and most often, Dad would find these shiny barrels in the center cut of the rackhouse where the temperature and humidity were just right.
When Dad was ready to lay down the first barrels of bourbon that would eventually bear his name, he knew it had to be in the same rackhouse location as the shiny barrels because that’s where the good stuff was. And while the days of mules are long gone, we still age Booker’s Bourbon in the middle floors of our rackhouses to uphold Dad’s high standards for his namesake whiskey. I hope you enjoy this batch as much as I do!”
-- Fred Noe, Beam Family's 7th Generation Master Distiller
