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Booker’s, the high-octane, barrel-proof member of the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection, comes out in four (sometimes three) batches per year, each one differing in terms of proof, age, and makeup. And each comes with a name that represents some person in or part of the history of the James B. Beam Distilling Co. The last batch of 2025, however, is named after a weirdly specific thing, but the whiskey itself is (as is usually the case) very good.
Booker’s was founded by its namesake, the late master distiller Booker Noe, back in 1988 as a special bottling for his friends and family. In 1992, it joined the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection, along with Knob Creek, Baker’s, and Basil Hayden. To this day, Booker’s, which is now overseen by Booker’s son Fred and grandson Freddie, remains the only consistently uncut and unfiltered member of that lineup. Each batch is different, but generally falls between 120 and 130 proof and about 6 or 7 years old. There are some exceptions, however, like the 30th Anniversary Edition, the rare and collectible Booker’s Rye, and the two Booker’s the Reserves (the last of which was finished in tequila casks, a first for the distillery).
Could it be that the Beam team is running out of things to name Booker’s after? As mentioned earlier, sometimes that’s a person, other times it’s a thing that Booker (or someone else) was known for or just interested in. Batch 4 of 2025 is called Phantom Pipes, and while that sounds like the name of an obscure prog-rock album, it actually refers to what the brand mysteriously calls . . . a “mystery.”
Apparently, a series of pipes that Booker installed were discovered in the rafters of Beam’s Boston, Kentucky distillery that didn’t actually lead to anywhere or connect to anything. That might sound kind of like Howard Hughes-esque obsessive behavior, but his son Fred provides some context. “Dad was always tinkering with the distillery equipment, finding new ways to connect one thing to another with pipes that stretched across the plant,” he said in a statement. “At first maintenance would take them down at night. But come morning, Dad was already putting them back up. Eventually, the boys just left them there, at the ready for whatever experiment came along next. Today, you can still see sections of them scattered across the ceiling.”
Whatever the case, this is probably the best Booker’s batch name since they started getting names a decade ago (“Toogie’s Invitation” is a close runner-up), and the bourbon in the bottle might also make the top ten. The whiskey was aged for a minimum of seven years, six months, and 15 days and bottled at 126.4 proof, a welcome mid-level strength for a Booker’s release. You can find the details regarding which barrels came from which rickhouse at the website if you are interested in that type of thing, but the majority of casks were were pulled from the sixth floor of the seven-story warehouse G (Waterfill).
Booker’s Phantom Pipes Batch is available at retailers around the country (SRP $100) now, and you can find previous releases—including the excellent Reserves—at websites like Total Wine.
Authors
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Jonah Flicker