Jim Beam is both the best-selling brand of bourbon and the pivotal character in the family saga that created that success.
Jim Beam the man was James Beauregard Beam, born in 1864 into a family that was already established in the bourbon distilling business. The Beam family had been making whisky since the 1790s, shortly after the arrival in Kentucky of Jacob Beam (who was born Jacob Boehm, most likely in southeastern Pennsylvania). He was of German descent, as were many of the distillers in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Jacob moved west and made whisky from corn, which grew well in Kentucky’s rich soil. See corn.
Jacob’s son David, and his son, David M. Beam, made bourbon at their Old Tub distillery, and the Old Tub name gained some distinction through the late 1800s. Jim Beam was David M.’s son. He took over the operation of Old Tub in 1892, along with his brother-in-law. Jim’s son T. Jeremiah Beam joined the company in 1913, getting in about six years of experience before Prohibition arrived and shut everything down. See Prohibition and Temperance in America.
When Repeal arrived in late 1933, Jim Beam, still spry at age sixty-nine, gathered his family—his brother Park, Park’s sons Carl and Earl, and T. Jeremiah—and family tradition recalls him saying, “Boys, time for us to get back to work.” By the following August, he had raised sufficient capital from the Blum family of Chicago and their National Brokerage Co. and started construction; the Beams would manage operations, the Blums would own the business. Distillation began 120 days later. To Jim’s chagrin, he learned that he had lost the rights to the Old Tub name, so the whisky became Colonel James B. Beam Whiskey, soon to become the familiar “Jim Beam.”
Booker was master distiller at Jim Beam through four decades. He created several new expressions of whisky, including the Beam Small Batch collection in 1992. This was inspired by the Beam Christmas gift to top accounts: bottles of Booker’s own special selection, uncut, unfiltered, just the way he liked it himself. “Booker’s Bourbon” was a hit, and was soon for sale, along with three more Booker-selected whiskys as the Beam Small Batch Collection.
Booker not only developed these whiskys; he promoted them. His gravelly voice, plus-size presence, and absolute authenticity were solid support for Jim Beam whiskys. After he retired, his son, Fred Noe, stepped into his big shoes and has grown into the ambassador job. Beam whiskys led the growth of bourbon in the early 2000s, more so after the company acquired the fast-growing Maker’s Mark brand (and distillery) in 2005 (the company had already acquired the National Distillers Co. portfolio, including the historic Old Overholt and Old Grand-Dad brands, in 1987). See Maker’s Mark and Old Overholt.
The Jim Beam story took a major turn in 2014, when Japanese whisky maker Suntory bought the company, creating Beam Suntory Inc., a company that owns and produces whiskys in all the major regions: Japan, America, Canada (Alberta Distillers Ltd.), Ireland (Kilbeggan, Connemara, and others), and Scotland (Teacher’s, Bowmore, Laphroaig, and others).
Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, a four-year-old 80-proof whisky in an iconic square bottle with a white label, remains the best-selling bourbon. Other Jim Beam brand whiskys include the Black (extra-aged, 86 proof), Bonded (gold label, 100 proof), Devil’s Cut (90 proof, “extracted” from the barrel), Rye (green label), and a changing variety of flavored bottlings.
See also Booker Noe II, Frederick; Suntory; and whisky, bourbon.
Beam Suntory website. https://www.beamsuntory.com/ (accessed February 17, 2021).
Pacult, F. Paul. American Still Life: The Jim Beam Story and the Making of the World’s #1 Bourbon. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2003.
Regan, Gary, and Mardee Haidin Regan. The Book of Bourbon and Other Fine American Whiskeys. Shelburne, VT: Chapters, 1995.
Rothbaum, Noah. “The Jews Who Made American Whiskey.” Daily Beast, December 16, 2015. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-jews-who-made-american-whisky-1 (accessed February 17, 2021).
By: Lew Bryson