Baker Beam
"High Storage Advocate"
Edward “Baker” Beam is the son of Carl “Shucks” Beam and the grandson of Park Beam, two legendary master distillers at the Jim Beam Distillery. Baker was born in July of 1936 in Bardstown, Kentucky, the “Bourbon Capital of the World.” As his father, Carl, was retiring, he and his cousin, Booker, were running the two Beam plants when the company released its wildly popular “Jim Beam Black” Double-Aged Bourbon. At that time, Baker was the Head Distiller at Beam’s Clermont plant, while Booker was the Master Distiller at JBB Plant #2.
Baker worked at both these distilleries himself and has his own small batch bourbon in the famous Jim Beam “Small Batch Bourbon Collection,” called understandably “Bakers”. Baker’s Bourbon was the 3rd of the collection released in 1992, which is the same year in which Baker officially "retired” after 38 years of working for the distillery named after his great-uncle. Though his distilling days are officially over, Baker still does a few appearances at the Beam distillery throughout the year. He is an avid fan of high storage in the warehouse for his Baker’s Bourbon. He believes 7 years is the maximum when you use high storage. Baker’s Bourbon is 107 proof, and at seven years old, is one of the few remaining age-stated bourbons. Thus, Baker’s follows the famous “7-7-7” technique: 7 years old, 107 proof, and 77% corn.
When Baker first started at the distillery, he worked as a night watchman and then in the labor pool. Baker and his younger brother, David, shared distiller duties at Clermont for many years. Their father,“Shucks” Beam, was distiller there before them, as was his father, Park Beam, who was Jim Beam's younger brother.
Baker and David grew up in the “big white house” (now called the T. Jeremiah House) on the hill above the distillery. As distillers, Baker worked days and David worked nights. At the same time, their cousin, Booker Noe, was a distiller at the Boston (Kentucky) plant that now bears his name.
Unlike Booker, Baker is soft-spoken and tactical. Like many in the Beam clan, he loves motorcycles and trucks. For many years after he retired, he would show up at the distillery just to ride along on the trucks going up to the corn silos in Indiana. As kids, Baker and David, along with their cousin, Parker (the late master distiller at Heaven Hill), would ride bicycles together in Bernheim Forest, which is right across the road from the Beam distillery. Baker’s latest “love” is his rescue cat, “Zero”, who rarely leaves his side, whether sitting on the front porch of the Beam home, strolling the distillery, or cruising the backroads of Kentucky in an old Chevrolet.
Baker Beam was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2007 in only its sixth class of inductees ever. Baker Beam became the 6th of 11 Beam family members to be inducted into the Bourbon Hall of Fame, behind only Parker Beam, Booker Noe, Colonel Jim Beam, Earl Beam, T. Jeremiah Beam and Carl Beam.
Jim Beam Black, the World’s #1 Premium Bourbon was released in 1978 during Baker’s tenure as Head Distiller at Jim Beam. It is aged 8 years and has looked similar in all its versions of packaging
Contributed by Colonel Craig Duncan, Columbia, Tennessee