Anyone who loves bourbon has heard of Jim Beam. In fact, I think it is safe to say that almost everyone has heard of Jim Beam. The world’s #1 best-selling bourbon has been produced in Kentucky by the Beam family, known as the ‘First Family of Bourbon’, since the late 1700s.
Over the centuries, much of Jim Beam’s traditional recipes have remained constant, endearing the brand in the hearts of consumers. The Beam family has been able to perfectly strike a balance between tradition and innovation.
And so, with the recent relaunch of the iconic Jim Beam Black, I was curious as to how this balance was achieved. From a new label to a new age statement, many changes have been made to Jim Beam Black. And yet, the expression is as recognizable as ever.
I sat down with the father-son master distilling team, Fred and Freddie Noe, to discuss the relaunch of Jim Beam Black, and how Beam’s ethos shines through in each and every one of their products.
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The Father-Son Master Distillers
You can tell that Fred and Freddie are father and son. They speak in a very similar manner and are equally excited to sit down and discuss the relaunch of Jim Beam Black.
Fred and Freddie are direct descendants of Jacob Beam, the pioneer of Beam Distilling, through his great-grandson, Jim Beam. This makes Fred and Freddie 7th and 8th Generation Master Distillers, respectively.
Freddie, the younger of the two Noes, was appointed as Master Distiller alongside his father at the James B. Beam Distilling Company in May 2022. I asked Freddie what it means to him to work alongside Fred in the family business.
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“It’s a big honor. I think the best part about it is it becomes easy when you have someone like my dad standing there, ready to answer any of my questions. Ready to help me sharpen my tools, and help me have a better perspective on both the history of distilling in our family, or even his vision of current operations,” says Freddie. “I am also grateful for the support of the team around me; the distillery team, the operations team. It takes more than one person to create our products and I am humbled to work alongside them.”
Fred is clearly a very proud father, excited to watch his son grow in the industry. “I am very proud of the way that Freddie has seized this opportunity. For myself and my father, and the generations before him, the opportunity was there, but it was never forced. My Dad even said to me, when I graduated high school in the 70s “Don’t bank on this business being here.” Bourbon sales were down at that point, so he wanted me to get my college degree so that I could pursue other avenues.
“Luckily, Dad and some of his friends in the industry were able to rekindle the fire. And today, the opportunity was there for Freddie. He could have done anything, but he chose to come into this business and he has a passion for the job. A lot of fathers aren’t as lucky as I am to have a son that you can work beside and watch him take the business forward.”
The Relaunch of Jim Beam Black
Working together over the past two years, Fred and Freddie have been planning the relaunch of an iconic Jim Beam expression: Jim Beam Black. First introduced as “double aged” in 1978, the expression was matured twice as long as the standard Jim Beam White 4 Year Old bourbon whiskey, making it an 8 year old.
In 2015, Jim Beam Black was rebranded as “extra aged”, with the exact age of the whiskey in the bottle undisclosed. The newest relaunch has seen the return of the age statement: Jim Beam Black is now 7 years old. I asked the Noes what prompted the relaunch of Jim Beam Black.
“Really, it started with a simple question: Can we improve the quality of Jim Beam Black?” said Freddie. “We tasted through all of the historical references that we have: the 101 months 90 proof, the 8 year old 86 proof and 90 proof, and the no-age-statement 86 proof. In these expressions, there was a lot of good flavor that we really resided with. And so, when we went back to the drawing board, the question became: How can we bring the elements that people love about Jim Beam Black and its history to the forefront whilst maintaining consistency in the product?”
Why 7 Years Old?
Given that Jim Beam Black had previously been as mature as 8 years, I was curious as to what made Fred and Freddie choose a specific 7-year age statement for the new Jim Beam Black.
“As we started tasting through prototypes we started to pick up that the seven-year mark was a great place for more depth of flavor. My Grandad always said it with Booker’s Bourbon, he loved the 6 to 8-year mark in aging. In that time frame, there are a lot of flavors that start to come out of the barrel, specifically vanilla and caramels. We noticed at 8 years you could taste more smoky notes, but we really loved the beautiful wood sugar of the 7 year old, and that is why we landed on that age statement,” Freddie says.
Fred adds: “If you are not working towards a specific age statement, you see the consistency of the product begin to vary slightly. For example, you can blend a whiskey to have a certain taste profile. But, as Freddie mentioned, we began to notice the consistent vanilla and caramel notes in the 7-year bourbon. So, if we bottle all Jim Beam Black whiskey at 7 years old we see a more consistent product across the board.”
Striking The Balance
Of course, Jim Beam has a strong global brand identity and a huge fanbase. Consistency is key to said brand identity. That being said, so is innovation if the long-term goal is to push the brand forward. I asked Fred how he and his son went about striking the balance between keeping Jim Beam Black’s iconic profile consistent, whilst also innovating the whiskey.
Fred tells me that it is all about knowing where you came from, and understanding that the traditional framework of Jim Beam is something that many consumers identify with. “We continue to stay within the guardrails of Jim Beam White, the world’s #1 bourbon. The mash bill remains the same, but we can always experiment with other parts of the process: fermentation time, aging, and the way the barrels are blended in the warehouse. We just looked at everything we could do to increase the quality, whilst paying homage to the groundwork laid by our ancestors.”
The resulting Jim Beam Black, according to Fred and Freddie, is “the Swiss army knife of bourbons” that can be enjoyed neat, with water, or in a cocktail.
“Now summer is upon us, people have begun looking for refreshing cocktails. My mom always created a frozen whiskey sour using Jim Beam Black, and it was delicious,” says Fred.
Jim Beam Black’s New Packaging
In conjunction with the new 7-year age statement, Jim Beam Black has also been given a makeover, with new sleek black packaging. The look certainly has a premium feel to it. However, the new packaging is still recognizably Jim Beam.
The new label is matte black with gold detailing displaying the iconic Jim Beam rosette, and the age statement of 7 years.
Freddie explained that the packaging was a continuation of the “core elements of the brand”. The addition of the age statement to the label, he said, “is an integrity marker for us to share with the consumer. Everyone knows that each drop in the bottle is 7 years old.”
Moreover, the gold foil detailing hints at an important point in Jim Beam’s history: “We have always used gold throughout our labeling. If you go way back and take a look at Bonded Beam [from the 1940s], it was a gold label. So a lot of the redesign was taking some of the iconic markers of Jim Beam and bringing them onto the new label, but in a more modern sense. It is a more modernized version of what Jim Beam has stood for historically.”
“Beam: No Finer Whiskey In All This World, Yet Moderately Priced”
Of the many attributes of Jim Beam Black, its affordability is one that has further endeared the brand to drinkers.
The whiskey market is expanding and has been for some years. High-age statement, old, and rare scotch has seen a particularly rapid premiumization. A bottle of Macallan 1926 60 Year Old currently holds the record for the most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold at auction. In the USA, brands such as Pappy Van Winkle, George T. Stagg, and Col. E.H. Taylor command a high premium, and more brands are following suit.
Despite this, Beam whiskey has remained affordable and accessible in this rapidly changing industry. The new Jim Beam Black 7 Year Old is priced at just $24.99. I asked Fred and Freddie how important it is to them to make sure Jim Beam Bourbon is attainable for the average consumer.
Freddie’s response shows just how much influence being in a family company can have. He says: “When I first started working at Beam, I was shown a lot of historical marketing documentation. The first image I was shown is still my favorite I have ever seen.
“It’s a picture of Jim Beam and his son, T. Jeremiah, and his cousin Carl Beam. They are standing on Michigan Avenue in Chicago in front of the first billboard for the brand. The billboard said “Beam: No Finer Whiskey In All This World, Yet Moderately Priced”. And that was Jim’s vision for his whiskey. That has always stuck with me.”
This accessibility is something that Fred has seen the effects of firsthand: “Something surprising happened during one of our bottle launch signings. One little fella had a taste of Jim Beam Black. He was looking at the bottles and said “How many can I buy?”. I said “All you want!”. I think it’s great for all of the fans of our products to be able to acquire them and enjoy them with family and friends.”
The Seventh Sense Launch Party
Jim Beam Black was officially launched on June 12th at a launch in New York City named ‘The Seventh Sense’. The event was based on the traditional five senses, taste, smell, touch, sound, and sight, with intuition being the sixth sense. According to the brand press release at the time, “[t]he seven-year statement will then define the seventh sense – the unspoken feeling of connection when sharing with others.”
Fred and Freddie attended the event and enjoyed a night of music and bespoke cocktails crafted using Jim Beam Black. Speaking about the party, Freddie said: “Our products are made to be enjoyed and when you can bring people together in a space like that – a space to experience each sense and each element of the product – it becomes a buildup of sensations leading to the sensorial experience of tasting Jim Beam Black.”
The Seventh Sense event launch party was the perfect emulation of Jim Beam’s ethos of family and sharing good whiskey with others. Freddie adds: “I don’t know how many of those people knew each other, but you’d have thought we were at a high school reunion!”
I comment that this must be rewarding to see, especially when the Noes place so much emphasis on family and community through their brand.
Freddie agrees wholeheartedly: “Dad grew up an only child, and I am an only child. But, the community that we were brought up in – in Bardstown and at the distillery – really felt like a family in and of itself. And as the brand has branched out, it very much feels like that sense of community has spread.
“Fred and I can do things like this [interview], travel, or have people visit the distillery and, at the end of the day, when you kick your feet up, you are always with friends and family. That is how we break bread here in Kentucky.”
Visit The James B. Beam Distilling Company
This familial sense of community is something that is extremely important to Fred and Freddie, and those that visit Jim Beam.
The distillery has recently seen expansions to its visitor experiences, including a variety of new tasting experiences, and new available dates for the Clermont Supper Club.
The supper club involves sitting down at The Kitchen Table restaurant for a curated meal, cocktails, and whiskey tastings with Fred and Freddie Noe.
I admire the fact that they are so involved with their visitors, and tell them as much. Fred says: “I think that it’s important to treat people like you would want to be treated if you were on the other side of the fence. I think we have done that with the expansion of the campus and our involvement in the experience. It has opened us up and allowed more people to come. I love it, because when you walk up to someone, you never know what accent you’re going to hear. People come from all over the world.”
It follows, then, that bourbon fans across the world are always recommending a visit to Jim Beam to fellow spirit fans. Fred says: “The best advertising in the world for us is when someone comes and visits the distillery. They go home and they say to their friends “If you go on the Bourbon Trail, you gotta stop at Jim Beam”.”
Jim Beam Black & Beyond
The relaunched Jim Beam Black is joined by such whiskeys as Jim Beam White, Jim Beam Single Barrel, and Jim Beam Devil’s Cut in the brand’s portfolio. A new flavored series offers something for everyone with expressions including Honey, Apple, Peach, and Orange.
Jim Beam Black is the first such whiskey to receive a makeover and relaunch, and Fred tells me to watch this space for more product news.
The Beam family also has a huge amount of incredible whiskey brands under its portfolio, including Booker’s Bourbon, the brainchild of Booker Noe (Fred’s father). Little Book is another such brand, created by Freddie in tribute to his grandfather.
Basil Hayden, Knob Creek, Old Overholt, Baker’s, and more are all under the stewardship of Jacob Beam’s descendants.
Thank You, Fred & Freddie!
I want to say a huge thank you to Fred & Freddie Noe for giving me their time, and a peek behind the curtain at the relaunch of the iconic Jim Beam Black expression.
Keep an eye on The Whiskey Wash for more Beam news, and an upcoming review of Jim Beam Black.
And, if you ever find yourself in Kentucky, be sure to pop into the distillery and share a dram with the First Family of Bourbon.
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