Tracing the lifespan of a whiskey can sometimes be an “X marks the spot” endeavor: After all, the journey of a barrel, down to its exact location in a Kentucky rickhouse, helps tell the story. And the latest Booker’s “The Reserves” 2025 is the result of a journey south of the border (and back) for the James B. Beam Distilling Company, using ex-tequila barrels to deliver a striking new spirit.
The Booker’s line bears an impressive enough lineage without experimentation, the result of a late 1980s debut that saw distiller Booker Noe (the grandson of Jim Beam) offer up 1,000 cases of barrel-strength whiskey to consumers. Previously, the barrel-strength bourbon was only set aside for lucky family and friends. But never before had James B. Beam Distilling experimented with a tequila barrel-finish for Booker’s, nor any of its prized whiskey stock: The results manage to speak for themselves, as Maxim found out during an exclusive visit to the rolling hills of the distillery’s Kentucky home earlier this month.
Calling them “particularly well-traveled,” the iconic distillery turned to barrels used to age its 2018 30th anniversary edition, sending them south of the border to El Tesoro tequila distillery and noting that “there’s a time-honored practice of collaboration between distilling families.” But here’s where things took a turn for the better (an already high bar to clear), as El Tesoro then sent the barrels back north: Enter Booker’s Kentucky straight bourbon.
While Booker’s “The Reserves” 2024 was an intricate blend of eight-to-fourteen-year-old whiskies blended and delivered at 125.9 proof, the 2025 edition leans on liquid aged to precisely 8 years, 10 months and 11 (or 12) days, with exact timing noted on the hand-numbered label And while the proof clocks in at 123.3 and the color is no less rich and sumptuous, the distinction is noticeable, at least in a side-by-side tasting. A “story as unique as its flavor” marks the offering, which manages to feature bright, utterly subtle and yet near-citrus like notes with a light touch of agave on the nose. It’s a curious and utterly delicious prospect that assuredly warrants the $129.99 suggested retail price.
Eighth-generation Beam family master distiller Freddie Noe said the Reserves line marks “something new, inspired by my granddaddy’s boundless curiosity and relentless pursuit of flavor.” Noe continues to carve out his own path in substantial fashion, as his own name recently graced a bottle of Jim Beam for the first time (in the Jim Beam Lineage 2025 offering).
The fact that bright cooked agave notes shine through on both the nose and finish in the latest Booker’s release, along with charred oak on the palate, speaks to an experiment done the right way, opening the door for further tequila-related releases, likely from both companies (at least, bourbon enthusiasts can dream).
Delivered as per tradition in a striking wooden display box that echoes the illustrious center-of-the-rickhouse barrels from which it was born, there’s a sense of tradition further extended and made modern by the younger Noe. From the 2023 debut of an American single malt to this year’s use of an altogether-new finishing process for the legendary distillery, Jim Beam handily proves the best whiskey is worth taking on a journey from barrel to bottle and onto your bar cart.
