Parker Beam
Photo of Parker Beam, provided by Heaven Hill
"Master Distiller Emeritus"
Parker Beam was named after his grandfather, distiller Park Beam (who was the brother of Jim Beam). Blue Blood to the core, Parker naturally learned the craft from his grandfather and his father, Earl Beam, at Heaven Hill. As a grandnephew of Jim Beam, Parker Beam was born into a family that traces its whiskey-making roots in Kentucky back to 1795, when Jacob Boehm (later, “Beam”) set up his first still.
Parker’s career as a whiskey-maker spanned more than a half-century at the Bardstown, Kentucky-based Heaven Hill. “He was a true industry giant long before the current bourbon renaissance. Without question, he was committed to our industry and possessed a real passion for the craft of distilling,” said Max L. Shapira, president of Heaven Hill Brands. Parker Beam was responsible for distilling and aging Evan Williams, the world’s number-two selling bourbon, as well as dozens of other Heaven Hill whiskey brands.
Working alongside his father, Parker Beam began his career at Heaven Hill in 1960. The job of Master Distiller shifted from father to son in 1975, when Earl Beam retired. Reins of the company in hand, Parker quickly developed the industry's first super-premium small batch bourbon in Elijah Craig Small Batch and the company's first single barrel bourbon in Evan Williams Vintage Single Barrel.
“If you were a Beam, you sort of were destined to follow in the footsteps of either your father, grandfathers, cousins, uncles,” Parker Beam said in a 2007 interview with the Associated Press. Another industry patriarch and legend, Bill Samuels Jr., referred to his longtime friend as ‘One of the good guys.’ “ For some people, living up to a legendary family name can be a burden, but not so for Parker,” Samuels said. “In his case, he lived up to and exceeded the burden of having the most famous name in bourbon,” continued Samuels, who retired after a long career as the top executive at Maker’s Mark.
During the last 20 years, many of Parker's creations, including Evan Williams, Elijah Craig Small Batch, Elijah Craig Single Barrel, and Rittenhouse Rye, have won numerous and well-deserved awards and international recognition. Because of this, Parker became a respected mentor to countless distillers, historians and writers, and took his rightful place in the inaugural class of inductees to Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2001, where he also became the first and one of only four men to ever be given "The Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2015. In fact, the Lifetime Achievement Award was actually named in Parker Beam’s honor.
Parker Beam was among a small fraternity of master distillers who oversaw production at various Kentucky distilleries during bourbon’s “revival”. In fact, Parker, along with Elmer T. Lee of Buffalo Trace and his cousin Booker Noe of Jim Beam, are the three men widely credited with restoring Bourbon to its rightful place among spirits, reinvigorating the entire craft, and re-establishing security in the entire bourbon industry through innovation and quality.
A line of Top Shelf Bourbon and Whiskey expressions, which are released as Limited Edition every year in honor of one of the greatest minds in Bourbon history, Parker Beam. The line is called the “Parker’s Heritage Collection. Pictured above from left to right are five of Parker’s releases; 2018 Parker’s Heritage Orange Curacao Barrel Finished (12th Edition, 110 Proof), 2017 Parker’s Heritage 11 Year-Old Single Barrel (11th Edition, 122 Proof), 2016 Parker’s Heritage 24 Year-Old Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon (10th Edition, 100 Proof), 2015 Parker’s Heritage Single Malt Whiskey (9th Edition, 108 Proof), 2014 Parker’s Heritage Original Batch Wheat Whiskey (8th Edition, 127.4 Proof).
A line of Top Shelf Bourbon and Whiskey expressions, which are released as Limited Edition every year in honor of one of the greatest minds in Bourbon history, Parker Beam. The line is called the “Parker’s Heritage Collection. Pictured above from left to right are five of Parker’s releases; 2013 Parker’s Heritage Promise of Hope (7th Edition, 96 Proof), 2012 Parker’s Heritage Blend of Mashbills (11th Edition, 131.6 Proof), 2011 Parker’s Heritage Cognac Finish (5th Edition, 100 Proof), 2010 Parker’s Heritage Wheated Bourbon (4th Edition, 127.8 Proof), 2009 Parker’s Heritage Golden Anniversary Bourbon (3rd Edition, 100 Proof).
In 2009, Parker began to notice strange symptoms in his arms and legs: Twitching, muscle weakness, fatigue. He was promptly diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a progressive disorder for which there is only management, but no cure. Due to near constant exercise and new medications for ALS, the disease stayed relatively dormant for a few years, but then worked quickly on Beam, who normally jogged three miles a few times a week and sometimes sweated through two sweat bands while riding his ever-present stationary bike. Within a couple of years, Parker had lost complete control of his arms and could only move his legs and hands a small amount. Through it all, a grateful Heaven Hill continued to pay Parker his usual salary as “Distiller Emeritus”. Linda, Parker’s devoted wife of over 40 years, clothed him, fed him, bathed him, while millions of bourbon fans prayed, cried, and sent him well-wishes from all over the world. His longtime friend and fellow “old-school” distiller, Wild Turkey’s Jimmy Russell, said of Parker, “What he’s done for the Bourbon industry, what he’s continued to do, all of us are proud of what he’s done. For over 40 years, I have been proud to call him my friend.”
At the age of 75, Parker Beam eventually succumbed to ALS in January of 2017, leaving behind Linda, two daughters, Leslie and Julie, and son Craig Beam, who followed in his father’s footsteps as a 7th generation distiller and who is the current Master Distiller at Jackson Purchase Distillery.
Contributed by Colonel Craig Duncan, Columbia, Tennessee
Parker Beam and Jimmy Russell in 2015, where Jimmy helped present his friend Parker with the bourbon industry’s first “Lifetime Achievement Award”.
