The Big Man of Jim Beam

Epilogue

Since Booker Noe's death in 2004, the bourbon industry has experienced explosive growth. In 2015, sales of bourbon and American whiskey were up close to 8 percent. Interest in America's native spirit is soaring. In 2015 more than 900,000 people visited what is now referred to as the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky, and dozens of new bourbon-themed restaurants, bars, and hotels have opened up throughout the Commonwealth to accommodate their growing numbers.

The bourbon boom has sparked significant growth in smaller distilleries. Seemingly daily, a new micro- or craft distillery opens its doors to an insatiable public clamoring for all things bourbon. These distilleries are no longer confined to Kentucky. The prospect of bourbon being made anywhere but the Bluegrass State, once unimaginable, is now a reality, with small distilleries sprouting up across the country in cities and states such as Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and New York.

At the forefront of this growth remains Beam Suntory. The third-ranking spirits company worldwide, it now produces more than half of the world's bourbon. In 2015 the company listed more than 20 different bourbons.

Booker would be proud, both of Beam Suntory and the industry. That the innovation he cherished is so alive and well is a testament to his vision and his love of bourbon. While the Boston distillery has been renamed the Booker Noe Plant, and a statue of him was erected at the Clermont distillery in 2005, it is this innovation that ...