Fred Noe, the seventh generation of master distillers at Jim Beam in Kentucky wrote a book about his life and the brand. The book tells his story, a lot about his father (the legendary Booker Noe) and short insights in the family and brand history. It starts with a short chapter on the early beginnings of the brand when it wasn’t called Jim Beam yet (“Colonel James B Beam”). There’s also some stories about prohibition and how the family and distillery survived.

Beam, Straight Up

The prohibition chapter has a remarkable way of telling stories about the era but always keeps the Beam family out of any illegal activities. Whether or not that is true might be an interesting bit of research.

Anyway, the stories about how Fred Noe grew up and how his life and the distillery have always mixed is an interesting read. The stories that include his father, Booker Noe, are very interesting too. Apparantly he was a strict but just man that got the brand into modern times with the first small batch bourbons.

Apart from the well told story of Fred Noe’s life and Jim Beam the book is filled with little factoids about bourbon, distilling and Kentucky itself. I won’t go into detail since I’d like you to read the book for yourself. It’s not expensive and you’ll be through in a day or two.

So, all in all, highly recommended. Now I want a Knob Creek!

Available from Play.com for € 14.59