Booker’s ‘The Reserves’ Is Blended Bourbon Perfection
A blend of eight whiskeys aged between 8 and 14 years brings Booker’s into super-premium territory.
Year after year, every batch of Booker’s is a great Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, but beginning with 2024, it’ll have something to contend with: an older, richer, and harder to find evolution called “The Reserves.”
Booker’s “The Reserves” is the latest Jim Beam whiskey to level up in recent years—Knob Creek and Baker’s both added super-premium entries in the last few years, and even Basil Hayden has found a flavor identity or ten with a series of special finishes and batches.
Booker’s, meanwhile, has always been left untouched by the Beam family, save for a 2018 anniversary release for the 30th anniversary. Part of the reason: It’s hard to improve on greatness. The other part: It’s scary to touch art, lest you destroy it.
It has taken Booker’s grandson and eighth-generation distiller Freddie Noe to finally find the right pathway forward.
“I created ‘The Reserves’ series to commemorate my granddaddy Booker,” shared Noe. “Liquid like this can take a while to find, but when I do, it feels like the big man himself picked them out. It’s just the kind of bourbon I believe my granddaddy would be making if he were still alive with us now.”
While The Reserves are a wholly new line in the Booker’s brand of whiskeys, the first release shares some similar DNA to the infamously delicious Booker’s 30th release from 2018. While 30th Anniversary was an uncut batching of 9-year and 16-year bourbons, The Reserves combine bourbon aged between 8 years and 14 years for a similar achievement of depth.
In a release announcing the bourbon, parent company Beam Suntory shared a complete breakdown of the component whiskey batches used to make this limited edition:
- 8 Years, 2 Months, 12 Days on the 4th floor of warehouse G
- 8 Years, 5 Months, 19 Days on the 5th floor of warehouse I
- 8 Years, 5 Months, 20 Days on the 5th floor of warehouse Z
- 9 Years, 2 Months, 3 Days on the 5th floor of warehouse Q
- 9 Years, 2 Months, 4 Days on the 6th floor of warehouse J
- 9 Years, 5 Months, 18 Days on the 7th floor of warehouse H
- 10 Years, 3 Months, 2 Days on the 4th floor of warehouse X
- 14 Years, 4 Months, 16 Days on the 6th floor of warehouse I
At 125.9 proof, you frankly don’t notice the heat. This whiskey teases brulee and vanilla cake on the nose before sending you on a rollercoaster of deeper flavors. Whereas 30th was distinctly dominated by layers of oak and notes of pipe tobacco, dark tea, leather and inky varnish, The Reserves is, well, a little more reserved with those big flavors. Tobacco, tea and leather share the space with dark chocolate peanut butter cup, vanilla buttercream, and a generally fruit-forward high end.
It’s classic Booker’s, in a sense, but aging gracefully—silkier, deeper and darker, but still with a lot of life in it. Frankly, it’s a more complex and well-executed whiskey in many regards, though if you were to ask me which I’d wish for a case of, I’d be forced to beg for a split.
Except, there’s one key difference: There will never be another 30th anniversary of Booker’s, while The Reserves is a recurring release. This super-premium line will announce new releases annually. And if, for some inexplicable reason, you find yourself not falling in love with this batch, next year’s may be entirely different.
In the stillhouse named for his father, Noe told experts that he was considering all mashbills within the Booker’s portfolio for this project going forward, including the now-legendary Booker’s Rye. Noe—whose Little Book line of whiskeys often innovates through the blending of bourbon, rye, and other styles—did not dismiss the possibility of us one day seeing a return of rye, or a blend of bourbon and rye, under this flagship. For now, though, the premier batch is an absolutely delicious achievement. At $130 per bottle with limited volumes, it’s also going to be an achievement to get it for retail.
Booker Noe was famous in the bourbon world for making incredible whiskey. Knob Creek, Basil Hayden, and his namesake Booker’s were all created by the legendary “big man” nearly four decades ago. Those whiskeys have been immortalized with dozens of accolades in the years since. Unfortunately, Booker has since passed, but if he were here today, he’d be proud of what grandson Noe has added to his legacy.
G. Clay Whittaker is a Maxim contributor covering lifestyle, whiskey, cannabis and travel. His work has also appeared in Bon Appetit, Men’s Journal, Cigar Aficionado, Playboy and Esquire. Subscribe to his newsletter Drinks & Stuff for perspectives on drinks, and stuff.
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