Happy Birthday, Baker Beam!
“Shhhh…don’t tell anyone”
As I would bring a bottle of Baker’s small batch Bourbon to the checkout counter at my favorite whiskey store, inevitably the clerk would say something like “Man, that is good stuff” or “That’s the most underrated Bourbon we carry”. My response would be “Shhhh…don’t tell anyone”.
When the secret gets out on a relatively hidden gem of a Bourbon one of two things happens. One, it becomes impossible to find. Or, two, the price skyrockets. In many cases, unfortunately, both things happen.
As many Bourbons were going NAS (non-age stated), Baker’s continued to carry a 7 year age statement. It also weighed in at a to-be-respected 107 proof. How could you not love this Bourbon, especially if you are already a fan of Jim Beam? Yet, this underappreciated, stellar whiskey continued to fly under the radar.
Baker’s Bourbon was almost as unknown as the life of its namesake, Baker Beam.
Why Would They Want Me To Sign a Bottle?
The place was packed. This was in the days before social distancing (if your memory can actually take you back there). On a crisp October morning, Bourbon fans were stacked as tight as barrels in a rickhouse inside the Jim Beam American Stillhouse. The official release of the new Baker’s Single Barrel was that day and the crowd was waiting for Baker to arrive and sign bottles.
I can never gauge how these things will go. I’ve been to some events that I thought wouldn’t be that crowded and the line ends up being around the building. I’ve been to others where I expected a long wait and it ended up being easy. I didn’t want to take any chances, so I showed up at Jim Beam about three hours before the event started. At that time of the morning it ended up being just Booker, Jim and me enjoying the sunrise together.
It wasn’t long before the crowd did catch up to me. I talked with one couple who had ridden their motorcycles from Ohio. Another group drove in from Missouri. One lady came up from Tennessee and was excited to get a bottle signed by Baker for her husband’s birthday which was the next day. Too often the talk while waiting at these events is polluted with bottle flippers and their chatter about secondary prices. Not today. The Beam campus was packed with people excited about Baker’s Bourbon and excited to meet Baker, himself.
As Baker came out and took his place at the signing table, I was first in line. As he sat down he looked at all the people gathered to see him, turned to me and said: “Why would they want me to sign a bottle?”.
I was surprised that he would wonder that, but that is the trademark humility of the man. “Well, sir. You are very respected and have done more for Bourbon than most people realize. These people appreciate you for that”, was my response to his question. A question he probably wasn’t actually looking for an answer to.
Motorcycles and Leather Jackets
Baker started working at the distillery in 1954 at the age of 18. Even though he was Jim Beam’s great nephew, he got no special treatment. Baker started his distilling career in the labor pool. This basically meant if there was a grunt, dirty job to do at the distillery, someone in the labor pool did it…Baker did it. After a couple of years he graduated to being a relief operator on the dump floor. As a relief operator he would fill in on various jobs to replace people who were absent from work that day.
By 1959, Baker was named night shift supervisor at the distillery. He was known to ride to work on his motorcycle sporting a leather jacket. The James Dean look didn’t seem to fit the humble, hard-working personality.
Finally in 1974, he took over as the head distiller at the Clermont plant following the retirement of his father, Carl Beam, who had been Master Distiller. At that time, Baker’s cousin, the legendary Booker Noe, was the Master Distiller and oversaw the Boston plant. Shortly before Baker retired in 1993, Booker honored his cousin with the release of Baker’s Bourbon as part of the Beam Small Batch Collection. In 2007, Baker was rightly elected to the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.
Baker’s vs. Baker’s
At my first opportunity, of course, I tried the single barrel and the small batch side by side. I actually did this with a few friends as a blind tasting. We all enjoyed both, but unanimously preferred the small batch to the single barrel. All the classic tasting notes are there in Baker’s small batch: vanilla, corn/cornbread, a touch of oak…but the caramel and the creamy nuttiness leads the way to me.
Now, as a single barrel, Baker’s still carries that 7 year age statement and 107 proof point. I’ve had the first three single barrels that have been released and all were actually aged over 8 years. Each barrel retains the soul of the Baker’s small batch, but presents its own uniqueness, too. Barrel 1 is citrusy. Barrel 2 has wonderful cherry notes. While baking spices are more prevalent in barrel 3.
When it was announced that Baker’s was going to a single barrel, I thought that it might join Knob Creek as a private selection option at Jim Beam. I asked Beth Burrows, American Whiskey Ambassador for Beam Suntory, if that was going to happen. She tells me that is not the plan as of right now.
Happy Birthday, Baker!
Today is Baker’s birthday. Not to tell his age, but he is two cases of Baker’s Bourbon years old. For sixty-six of those years he has been dedicated to learning, working and promoting the family business. That has, in turn, benefitted the Bourbon industry and Bourbon fans for decades.
I think back to that bottle signing and remember Baker asking me my name and then how to spell it. I told him “K-e-v-i-n”. With the noise of the crowd it was difficult to hear, so he asked again and I told him the same. The bottle was still signed to “K-e-v-a-n”, but I didn’t care one bit. I got to shake hands with Baker Beam.
