The Whiskey Professor
© Copyright 2011 Bernie Lubbers - All Rights Reserved.
Welcome to my blog! I’m Bernie, Whiskey Professor for Jim Beam. I’m the ambassador for some great brands like Knob Creek, Jim Beam, Old Grand Dad, Basil Hayden’s and many more, but all bourbons are pretty damn special in my world. I wanted to have a forum to share some of my insights from working the Bourbon/Whisk[e]y Trail. I travel over 100,000 miles each year educating folks about out native spirit; BOURBON.
This is not a daily blog (I have twitter and facebook for that) but since I’m a Whiskey Professor, I will go in depth here on this site with many articles and diagrams to educate folks on the different aspects of bourbon. From Mash Bills, production, aging, everything from grain to glass. You should always enjoy what you like, but know WHY you like it too.
You’ll also be able to see my calendar and where you can join me for a tasting, or book signing – and OH, speaking of that, I just wrote a book, “Bourbon Whiskey-Our Native Spirit” and you can order a copy from this site as well! I’d be happy to sign it for you too, so just let let me know how you want it made out, and I’ll do so. And if you’d like one in e-format, it’s now available for kindle and soon to be on the Nook!
Travel the Whiskey Trail and around the country with Bernie Lubbers as he reveals the history and process of making and selling America’s spirit.
NEWS FLASH!!! BOURBON WHISKEY-OUR NATIVE SPIRIT IS TEMPORARILY SOLD OUT Y’ALL!!!!
But a NEW EDITION will be out in the Fall. New pictures, and expanded content…STAY TUNED.
Just like a fine dram, drinkers will savor Bernie Lubbers’ Bourbon Whiskey. It’s a personal and very enjoyable guide to America’s native spirit.
Bernie asked me to write a foreword for his new book, so I figured I should tell ya’ll just who the hell I am. I’m Fred Noe seventh-generation distiller in the Beam family. My greatgrandfather was Jim Beam. He’s the one most people know of since his name is on the bottle, and he’s the one who started our distillery again after Prohibition in 1934. Pretty amazing for a guy to restart a whole distillery at 70 years old. But it was his great-grandfather, Jacob Beam, who started our family legacy by distilling and selling his first barrel of whiskey back in 1795. To think our family has stuck in this business for over 200 years is really amazing. I’m glad they did, because I don’t know what I’d be doing otherwise. It’s literally and figuratively in my blood.
My dad, Booker Noe (of Booker’s Bourbon), taught me all about the business, and I think he was one of the very best. I remember traveling with him on trips where we would promote the small-batch bourbons that Pop created in the early 1990s, actually creating a new category. He taught me not only about distilling, but also how to be a guardian and an ambassador for the brands he created. You see, brands have lives and live on way longer than us human beings. When Dad passed away a few years back, it was just me serving as the ambassador for these brands, and the world was craving more bourbon, more stories, more everything.
I have a son, Freddie, but he needs to get out of college before he can even think about joining the family business. Bourbon is so popular now that we couldn’t wait for him to graduate, so we brought in Bernie Lubbers to help promote Knob Creek and our other bourbons. Now Bernie’s not from a distilling family, but he caught on pretty darn quick. I had heard Bernie’s name and voice on the “Bob & Tom Show” radio program in the morning, so I knew he’d have a leg up, as a lot of this job is being able to talk to just about any type of person around and to communicate a fairly complicated topic like bourbon.
I guess he had a lot of passion for it since his dad and grandfather worked in a brewery in Louisville, so maybe something rubbed off on him, or poured off on him somewhere along the line. Bourbon is something you don’t just learn overnight. It takes years—really it takes a life time—and even though there’s a lot more for us all to learn, I’d say Bernie knows his shit pretty damn good.
Being bourbon ambassadors, we have people who come up to us and tell us that they could do our jobs since they love bourbon. But being an ambassador requires quite a few unique skills. Enjoying bourbon and having bourbon knowledge is a good start, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. You’ve got to enjoy traveling. And when I say traveling, I mean flying more than 100,000 miles a year, sometimes to several cities in a week.
A typical ambassador is gone at least two to three weeks a month. We do staff trainings and educational tastings at bars and restaurants with our sales people during the day. Then we might have a bourbon dinner or other type of consumer event that night. Then there are the whiskey shows, where thousands of people attend to taste their favorite whiskies and try new ones. Drink bourbon all night, all day and night sometimes. The next morning you might have to wake up early and catch a plane to somewhere to do it all again, or maybe be on a morning radio/TV show and look and act fresh, and be the life of the party all over again wherever they take you afterward. But if you can, it’s a true brotherhood of people, and it’s a truly incredible ride.
I think Bernie’s book brings some of that to life for you, and I think you’ll also learn quite a bit about bourbon, even if you already know a lot about bourbon. Once you finish this book, you may want to come visit us here in Kentucky at our distillery. Come on down and come thirsty and come by and say hey to me and Bernie. If you keep drinking it, I’ll keep making it. Here’s lookin’ at ya.
The Mint Julep It’s a Kentucky thing; or is it? The Mint Julep has certainly been associated with bourbon and Kentucky for a long time. Its origins are somewhat sketchy, but I’ll throw my 2 cents worth in on why it’s so connected to bourbon, and to the great Commonwealth of Kentucky. A drink with [...]
Continue readingSome Good Package Liquor Stores For When You Visit The Bourbon Trail…and you will visit! So you’re in Kentucky visiting distilleries, and you’d like to go purchase some bourbon to take back with you? Where do you go? Also, you’re in Kentucky, so certainly there’s some bourbons you can only get here, and not where [...]
Continue readingI pledge, to open my heart and my taste buds to the native spirit of the United States…BOURBON! I acknowledge the history and heritage of this unique spirit. I understand that all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whisk[e]y, is bourbon. I pledge to always have bourbon whiskey available. For those who arrive as strangers, [...]
Continue readingThere’s always a time where you want to give the gift that keeps on giving and pouring, and that’s bourbon. Here’s a few quick suggestions for you, and to help you figure out what the person your giving it to likes, and what they might like from that. I call it finding someone’s Bourbon Common [...]
Continue readingI believe that it’s not just important, but essential to know how to read a bourbon/whiskey label. Since bourbon is regulated in the U.S. by the TTB, it’s easy to read a label and it’s fascinating and the result is that I can tell a lot about that product just by seeing exactly who made [...]
Continue readingThese are the different types of bourbons that a master distiller produces: Main Line Bourbon We call the marquee or franchise brands of a distillery the “mainline bourbons. In most cases, these brands are not expensive. But this does not mean that they are not made as well, or under the same strict standards that [...]
Continue reading
Bernie sings a song he wrote about the Native Spirit of the U.S. – Bourbon. See if you can pick out the 18 bourbons mentioned in the song as well as famous bourbon icons, and other bourbon “stuff”.
Great Whisk[e]y Debate Manhattan
Great Whisk[e]y Debate Manhattan Part 2
Watch the video by clicking continue reading! (more…)
BOURBON WHISKEY – OUR NATIVE SPIRIT is temporarily SOLD OUT!!
There is SUCH an interest in Bourbon Whiskey, and I’m proud to say that the first edition of my book is SOLD OUT!
Hang in there and a NEW, enhanced edition will be out Fall of 2012…Keep tuned in here to my website though and learn more about our native spirit – Bourbon!
***still available on Kindle and nook!
Just like a fine dram, drinkers will savor Bernie Lubbers’ Bourbon Whiskey. It’s a personal and very enjoyable guide to America’s native spirit.
What can I say, finally a book for the bourbon lover written by someone with the inside line. Bernie pulls no punches here but he is also the consummate entertainer and educator. I am actually amazed, given the amount of travel he does for his ambassadorial role, that Bernie has found the time to write a book. But I am glad he has. His liquid lessons have kept audiences thrilled across the USA and now those of us that cannot make his tastings can have his wisdom on our shelves. This is not just something to dip into, this is a book to delve into, soak up and appreciate.
As the world takes more interest in whiskey generally, the world of bourbon has been crying out for a modern accessible book to tell its story. Bernie Lubbers has provided it. Its not just a solid account of what bourbon is, it is a work of passion, Lubbers love for Kentucky and its whisky flowing freely from every page.
“Ive drunk bourbon and hung out with Bernie Lubbers, and it’s always been a grea time; lots of stories, lots of whiskey talk, and a whole lot of laughs. Pour yourself a shot of Knob Creek, and you can have the same great time, because reading Bourbon Whiskey is just like being with Bernie…without the hangover. You know, the book might be better than Bernie!”
Besides the entertaining stories about his life, the Bourbon business and up-to-date information about visiting the region, Bernie’ most remarkable contribution to whiskey scholarship is that bourbon, specifically Kentucky Straight Bourbon, is delicious by law. Production is so sctricly regulated, that many of the variables that determine the character of the final product can be verified by reading the label. After years of lecturing about the label, Bernie shares his methodology in print, giving the readers empiricle talking points to distinguish their favorite bottlings.”
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