Tasting: 2 Bourbon Evolutions from Beam (Booker’s The Reserves, Little Book: The Infinite)

In the last few years it has often seemed like Jim Beam has been barreling toward some kind of mandate for new products and line extensions–it feels like not a month passes without the company unveiling some new creation or broadening the purview of one of their existing brands. The latest to get this kind of treatment–not once but in dual fashion–is the venerable Booker’s, the cask-strength bourbon originally created by former Beam master distiller Booker Noe in the late 1980s. That made Booker’s a serious outlier when it first showed up on the scene, at a time when most bourbon expressions were far less potent and the enthusiast market hadn’t reached the intense levels of interest it would garner decades later. Booker’s has been releasing moderately aged, cask strength expressions of Beam bourbon ever since, and was joined by the Little Book series in 2012, a more experimental arm of the Beam library that was meant as a conceptual playground for Freddie Noe, the latest scion in the company’s now eight generation family tree. And now, with September’s National Bourbon Heritage Month as a convenient enough anchor, the company has debuted new versions of BOTH Booker’s and Little Book.

Those releases are the inaugural expressions of Booker’s Bourbon ‘The Reserves,’ and Little Book: The Infinite. The former is rather more simple to wrap one’s head around–it’s basically just an extra-aged take on the classic cask strength formula, blending in significantly older stocks in an effort of Freddie Noe (who blended both of these expressions) to replicate some of the special cuts of Beam bourbon that Booker Noe would have set aside in his day. Little Book: The Infinite, on the other hand, is a significantly headier concept that invokes the Beam/Noe family legacy as Freddie Noe blends together liquids set aside by each of the last three generations, including his own. Both are meant to be limited, annual releases. So with that said, let’s get to tasting each, side by side.

Booker’s Bourbon ‘The Reserves’ 2024

ABV: 62.95% (125.9 proof)
MSRP: $130

Booker’s The Reserves is an interesting release to me, because like so many other bottles in the crowded Beam bourbon demographic, it comes close to stepping on the toes of some other existing brands. The selling point of Booker’s has always been its cask strength nature, and this is tempered by lower age statements that are typically in the 6-7 year range. At the same time, the company has a 12-year-old Knob Creek bourbon that is typically easy enough to find on store shelves, but the flip side is that particular bottle being only 100 proof. So if you’re putting out an older, age-stated Booker’s, does that not move into some of the territory occupied by Knob Creek, or the still-ongoing releases in the Hardin’s Creek series?

Regardless, this is a blend of cask-strength bourbons–8 different production dates and warehouses, actually–that range from 8 years, 2 months old to 14 years, 4 months at the top end, although the majority of barrels here are between 8 and 9 years. Interestingly, the MSRP only raises a very modest $30, going from the $100 of Booker’s to $130 here. That’s rather surprising, as one would typically expect the company to boost that significantly more given the annual status and significantly older stocks involved. Perhaps it’s an admission that Booker’s has still been somewhat hard to sell at $100, even though that price feels significantly more fair now (thanks to inflation and other brands raising prices) than it did a couple years ago. Regardless, it’s interesting that Little Book: The Infinite commands $200, while this is at $130.

On the nose, this one displays quite decadent, rich layers of sweetness and roast. I’m getting lots of very dark brown sugar and huge vanilla notes, into salted and sweetened, roasty peanut butter, which along with dark chocolate can’t help but suggest a certain peanut butter cup vibe. Barrel char with wisps of smoke and earthiness are present, with espresso and subtle black cherry that is kind of like a dried fruit note. Over time, more tobacco creeps in as this is exposed to the air.

On the palate this is also very rich, with a very silky mouthfeel that is a nice highlight. Giant vanilla tones shine through, almost to the point of being a little overwhelming in that dimension. It evokes creme brulee that has been torched to the point where it’s just beginning to burn. I’m getting a little smoke, French roast coffee and the slightly sour tang of oak. The roastiness here is huge, with intense barrel char and hints of funky old rickhouse oak and leather. The oak provides moderate tannic dryness, but what you keep returning to in each sip is different dimensions of vanilla–wafers, vanilla pudding, etc. It dominates this dram in a way that some may love, and some may find unbalanced. One thing it does do impressively is incorporate its 125.9 proof, which feels quite a bit more gentle than that. All in all, I find myself liking the intensely roasty profile, though I think it might be a bit of an acquired taste.

Little Book: The Infinite, Edition 1

ABV: 59.65% (119.3 proof)
MSRP: $200

Where Booker’s The Reserves can be summed up easily enough as an “older Booker’s,” The Infinite feels like a more personal project for Freddie Noe. This project seeks to bring together barrels laid down by the last three generations of Beam distillers–Booker Noe, Fred Noe, Freddie Noe–and built something of an infinity bottle or solera system out of them, with each release incorporating portions of the past liquid in order to create a bottle that will perpetually incorporate some small portion of everything that has ever gone into it.

That perhaps puts extra significance in this original batch to set the initial expectations/profile for the product, as does the especially luxe $200 price tag. This batch brings together four component parts:

— Booker Noe component: Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey aged 20 years
— Fred Noe component: Bourbon aged 14 years
— Freddie Noe component: Bourbon aged 7 years
— “Shared Family Component”: Bourbon aged 8 years

It’s unclear what exactly that “shared family component” entails, but once per year Freddie Noe will be revisiting this “multigenerational liquid” to augment the existing blend with new components. Its $200 MSRP reflects the novelty of the concept and some of the particularly old bourbon involved. You’d be lying if you said that Beam didn’t clearly see this one as a collector’s item.

On the nose, the character here is also sweet, but it’s not as bombastic or in-your-face with its character as Booker’s The Reserves was–we should of course note that the proof is a bit lower. Instead, this is a little more nuanced–there’s is plenty of vanilla once again, but also a more toasted, almost doughy characteristic that makes me think of baking pastry. It’s a little buttery, with cinnamon spice and perhaps a bit of dark plum fruitiness, along with clove and charred wood. Rye spice contributes a solid, herbal and spicy undertone. I think this may be a bit more complex than Booker’s The Reserves, but more difficult to assess at the same time.

On the palate, I feel like this expression has preserved more of the classic Beam bourbon characteristics than The Reserves, both in the sense of older and younger Beam bourbon flavor notes. It’s less immediately driven by the oak than The Reserves, and instead features more caramel and brown spice, and less of the sweet roastiness. It’s also significantly more herbaceous and layered with rye spice and more savory elements of dried herbs (slightly green and resinous) and pronounced leather. There’s a whole lot of vanilla cream as well, and some praline. With that said, it then steadily pulls away from those more herbal characteristics and into strong barrel char and roast over time, turning slightly bitter and a little dry on the back end, though I don’t find it to be dry at a distracting level.

At the end of the day, I think there’s a decent amount of evolution happening here in this sip, which is probably what they were going for in the higher MSRP expression. With that said, in terms of bombastic flavor, Booker’s The Reserves probably wins the day. Beam bourbon geeks will no doubt be curious about both of these bottles, but may want to decide if they’re more interested in intensity or nuance.

Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident beer and liquor geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.