Author: Patrick Burns, 10/24/2001
Historic Pottsville, Pa., Brewer Hosts Heir to Jim Beam Bourbon Dynasty
Oct. 24--POTTSVILLE, Pa.-- Frederick B. Noe III's visit to the D.G. Yuengling & Sons brewery Tuesday was one for the history books.
Noe, a seventh-generation member of the Jim Beam bourbon family, joined sixth-generation beer brewer Debbie Yuengling Ferhat for a tour and tasting at Yuengling's original brewery in Pottsville as the nation's oldest family spirits distiller met its beer-brewing counterpart.
Jim Beam Brands Co. traces its Clermont, Ky., roots to 1795, while Yuengling was founded in 1829.
"It's conceivable that people could have been drinking our bourbon and Yuengling beer in this town almost 200 years ago," Noe said.
Noe, a beefy imbiber with Southern charm, quickly assumed dual roles as bartender and bar patron at Yuengling's rathskeller following the tour.
"Every time I come to Pennsylvania I drink Yuengling," Noe said. "I had no idea that it had corn in it like bourbon. No wonder I like it."
Noe, who is promoting Jim Beam and a handful of bourbon specialty products, talked about the bourbon-making process, explaining how the whiskey attains its color from resting in oak barrels for at least four years -- a requirement to legally label a whiskey as bourbon, Noe said.
Noe, 43, figures eventually to inherit the master-distiller duties from his 70-year-old father, Booker Noe, Jim Beam's grandson.
While Jim Beam successfully reintroduced bourbon following Prohibition, the company has gained great respect recently for its small package bourbon collection aged up to nine years.
Noe offered samples from bottles of Knob Creek, Basil Hayden, Baker's and his father's namesake liquor, Booker. Booker is the first bourbon to be bottled straight from the barrel unfiltered, uncut and at between 121 and 127 proof.
"My father used to joke about how my mother blew the door off the oven twice by using Booker to bake a pork roast," Noe said. "He said she was a slow learner since she did it twice."
Until escaping his father's tutelage, Booker will perform the tasks involved as the company's bourbon ambassador. As part of his worldwide mission, Noe recently oversaw the first delivery of bourbon to Russia.
"It's pretty tough to get the Russians to switch from their vodka, but they liked it," Noe said. "We're hoping to get in emerging markets like China.
We've done very well in Japan."
John D.W. Reiley, secretary of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and mayor of Pottsville, convinced Noe to visit the brewery between trips to Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and Orlando, Fla.
"There is a strong connection between the PLCB and Pottsville," said PLCB Chairman John J. Jones, also a Pottsville resident. "It doesn't hurt that we (the PLCB) are probably the biggest purchaser of Jim Beam in the world."
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(c) 2001, Reading Eagle, Pa. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.