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Our second distillery was Jim Beam in Clermont, Kentucky. I have had a soft spot for Jim Beam because one of their products, The Devil’s Cut came in with high marks in a blind tasting we held at our house. There were no super premium bourbons in the mix but definitely some that were pricier.
Jim Beam claims that they make 50% of all the bourbon in America. This distillery gives you a sense for the industrial nature of whiskey making. Our tour guide had a background in chemistry and worked in sales for Jim Beam.
The legendary Fred Noe, a direct descendant of the Beam family became the face of the distillery and the one to lead Jim Beam down the same road as Maker’s Mark.
Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark both operate as individual entities, but they are now owned by a large corporation, Beam Suntory. It is the affordable white label version of Jim Beam that is the most famous and recognized product around the world. They use a yeast strain that is a foxier, spicier, and smoother than most 4 year bourbons.
American whiskey was originally made with rye in Pennsylvania but switched to corn as whiskey making moved southwest to Kentucky. After the grain is mixed with water and yeast, which produces the alcohol, it is run through a still. It is still clear at this point and what you would know as moonshine. Then, the white spirit ages in the barrels, mixing with the oxygen and chemicals in the wood.
Today, most all of the Kentucky distillers including Jim Beam get their barrels from Independent Staves which is headquartered in Lebanon, Missouri but also has a cooperage in Lebanon, Kentucky.
After the tour, we tasted their craft whiskies Basil Hayden and Knob Creek as well as a few others. All these small batch brands must have helped bourbon because eventually bourbon sales surged.
The truth may be that the bigger guys can make better bourbon. They have more barrels to choose from and get discounted grain so they can certainly be more affordable. Whiskey is heavily industrialized, and historically, it flourished along with the industrial revolution.
But now we are there is a new trend in the industry and bourbon is going full circle, back to the locavore, grain to glass movement.
We enjoyed that tour, but it wasn't my husband's favorite.