Booker’s Bourbon has unveiled The Southern Thunder Batch, a cask-strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon bottled at 127.3 proof with a suggested retail price of $99.99 (£75). The limited release draws on barrels aged more than seven years and takes its name from the booming voice of late master distiller Booker Noe.
Southern Thunder is composed of whiskey from five different production dates and stored across five different warehouses, with the barrels specific warehouses and locations all noted.
- 23% were stored on the 5th floor of warehouse 3, a seven-story house
- 21% were stored on the 3rd floor of warehouse G, a seven-story house (Waterfill)
- 22% were stored on the 6th floor of warehouse 6, a seven-story house
- 20% were stored on the 4th floor of warehouse 4, a seven-story house
- 14% were stored on the 4th floor of warehouse M, a seven-story house
The youngest barrels selected were seven years, eight months and 14 days old.
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READ THE STORYThe name honors a signature trait of the brand’s founder. According to the brand, “There was no missing one of the biggest things about Booker Noe: his deep, resounding voice…that Southern Thunder.”
The release recalls the rare praise Noe handed out at the distillery. “Fred Noe loved to hear that voice say, ‘DONE GOOD,'” the brand said, adding that the compliment “didn’t come easy or often as Booker wasn’t big on compliments, but you knew you were doing it right if Booker shared those words with you.”
For the official tasting notes from the brand, the nose carries aromas of vanilla and oak. The palate is described as “big and bold, and unmistakably Booker’s Bourbon,” while the finish is “long and delightful.”
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Booker’s forms part of the Beam Small Batch Bourbon Collection. The Jim Beam Small Batch Collection includes four premium bourbons: Knob Creek, Booker’s, Baker’s, and Basil Hayden, all produced and aged at the Clermont, Kentucky campus.
In 1988, sixth-generation master distiller Booker Noe released Booker’s Bourbon straight from the barrel, uncut and unfiltered, after first bottling similar selections as gifts for friends and family.
Fred and Freddie Noe still follow that approach. Every batch of Booker’s carries a name and personal approval from Fred. The whiskey is typically aged between six and eight years and bottled at barrel strength. You can read more about the Beam Small Batch Collection on the distillery’s website.
