A rarer hard to find bottle of Jim Beam's aged smoother stronger stuff.
Baker’s Bourbon has always been somewhat of a sleeper release in Jim Beam’s Small Batch Collection that includes Booker’s, Knob Creek, and Basil Hayden. In a way, the Baker’s brand has always felt like the older brother in the family, with such an age gap between him and his next-closest siblings that he gets less attention bestowed on him, as if he was the sibling that’s too busy or off at college doing his own thing. Yet every year, Jim Beam sends him a birthday card reminding him that he’s not forgotten. That yearly attention comes in the form of Baker’s 13 Year Old Limited Edition Single Barrel Bourbon.
Named after Baker Beam, the long-time employee and grandnephew of Jim Beam, this year’s Baker’s Bourbon release honours his 90th birthday. Once again, released in single barrel form and aged 13 years, it continues the brand’s tradition of being a solid, classic sipper that forgoes flash and gimmicks for a thoroughly enjoyable no-nonsense pour.
Right from the start, leather and oak are on display, which is at the core of every part of this release. Raspberry and sweet corn offer a slight reprieve from the heavy oak. The palate adds tobacco to the leather and aged oak, layering in traditional Jim Beam nuttiness, this time in the form of toasted walnut. In the finish, rye spice rises before blueberry and blackberry add a welcome layer of fruit to the mix. The finish in particular is on the dry side, with gentle tannins rounding things out as the flavours fade away.
TASTING NOTES
Nose: Leather | Raspberry | Sweet corn | Cedar | Brown sugar | Charred oak
Palate: Leather | Tobacco | Aged oak | Toasted walnuts | Burnt caramel
Finish: Rye spice | Leather | Blueberry | Blackberry | Touch dry | Gentle tannins
About Baker's
The story of Baker's Jim Beam is deeply intertwined with the history of the Jim Beam family and the bourbon industry. Baker Beam, the grandnephew of Jim Beam, has played a significant role in the creation and selection of Baker's Bourbon. His connection to the Jim Beam family and his knowledge of bourbon distillation have influenced the quality and craftsmanship of Baker's Bourbon. Baker's Bourbon is a small-batch, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey that holds its own within the vast Jim Beam family. It is crafted using a specific mash bill that reflects the family's long-standing recipe, combining corn, rye, and malted barley to create a complex and well-balanced flavour profile. Baker's Bourbon is aged for a minimum of seven years, allowing it to develop a robust character and a smooth finish. Despite its connection to the Jim Beam family, Baker's Bourbon is a distinct brand on its own, known for its unique flavour profile and meticulous blending process.
Whiskey roots dig deep across the industry, with interconnections weaving through heritage lines, fledgling distillers maturing into their own brands, and invaluable techniques shared from moonshiners to entrepreneurs. That's why it's no surprise to find an intricate web cradling the histories of both Baker's Bourbon and Jim Beam. Both hold designations of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, but one gets its foundation straight from the other. That's because Baker's is a branch of the Jim Beam family tree, albeit from an exclusive small-batch line. Here's how those binding whiskey ties play out.
Baker retired after 38 years of spirited service, but his name only brandished a label after his infamous cousin, Booker Noe, launched the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection of premium bourbons. Baker Beam's time in the spotlight finally came, though the old-time distiller reportedly preferred his niche in the everyday workflow of making good bourbon. The 13-year-old version of Baker's Bourbon is having a renaissance of sorts after being reintroduced in 2019.
Also, like the man whose name it bears, it's one of a kind, in the sense that each batch in the current 13-year-old release is created in a single barrel, which can take on varying nuanced characteristics depending on the individual barrel and which Jim Beam campus it ages within. But consistency is somewhat maintained through standards such as seven-year minimum aging in the single charred oak barrel, and a 107-proof distillation. By contrast, the mainstream Jim Beam bourbons are more uniform in taste, aged for only four years, and distilled at 80-proof. There's no question the historical connection between Jim Beam and Baker's is strong, intricate, and everlasting. It's also complex, as all family relationships tend to be. While the other three bourbons in the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection routinely enjoy recognition by whiskey connoisseurs, Baker's roars in and out of the scene. But it's still all in the Jim Beam family, with Booker's, routinely landing on Best Bourbon lists, being named for none other than Baker's notorious cousin, Booker Noe.
