Jim Beam Distillery (Source: commons.wikimedia.org)

1790: 30-year-old Johannes Jakob Böhm,son of a German immigrant, moves from Maryland to Clermont, Kentucky. After his arriving in Clermont, he builds a watermill and begins to distill surplus corn into whiskey. He takes on the name Jacob Beam.

1795: Jacob Beam sells his first whiskey under the label ‘Old Jake Beam’. The distillery is known as Old Tub.

1820: David Beam takes over the distillery from his father.

1850: David hands over the distillery to his son David M. Beam. The distillery is relocated to Nelson Country to capitalize on the growing network of railroad lines.

1894: David M. Beam’s third son, James Beauregard Beam, takes over the family business.

1919: Prohibition begins and the distillery is closed.

1933: Prohibition ends and James ‘Jim’ Beam, now 70 years old, rebuilds the distillery in Clermont. ‘Old Tub’ is renamed to ‘Jim Beam’ in honor of James Beam.

1947: Jim Beam’s son T. Jeremias Beam is appointed as the president of  the ‘James B. Beam Distilling Company’.

1950: Frederick Booker Noe II (or just Booker Noe), the grand-grand-grandson of Jacob Beam, joins the family business at the age of 21.

1954: A second distillery near Boston, Kentucky is build in order to cope with the rising demand.

1960: Booker Noe is appointed as the ‘Master Distiller’.

1987: Jim Beam acquires National Brands, including the brands Old Crow, Bourbon de Luxe, Old Taylor, Old Grand-Dad and Sunny Brook. Old Taylor gets sold to the Sazerac Company (owner of Buffalo Trace) afterwards.

2005: Frederick ‘Fred Now’ Booker Noe III, the son of Booker Noe, takes over the family business, now in the 7th generation.

2014: Suntory takes over Jim Beam for 16 billion Dollar.

Tasting Notes

• Baker’s 7 Years Old
• Basil Hayden’s 8 Years Old
• Booker’s 7 Years and 9 Months Old (Batch B95-C-31)
• Knob Creek 9 Years Old

All other brand names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used for descriptive purposes only.