At Knob Creek, You Can Now Choose Your Own Barrel at the Distillery

Fans of Knob Creek’s single barrel bourbons and ryes are in for a treat: Knob Creek owner The James B. Beam Distilling Co. has created the Beam Private Barrel Club, which will allow them to select, buy, and bottle whiskey from their very own barrel of Knob Creek, right at the distillery. The program launches in January and is a first for Beam, which previously has offered this service only to retailers, restaurants, bars, and other members of the spirits trade.

The Knob Creek single barrel bourbons are aged for a minimum of 9 years, while the Knob Creek single barrel ryes are aged at least 7 years. Only barrels that pass Beam’s own review qualifications will be made available. For now Knob Creek will be the only Beam label on offer, though the company said it will be evaluating the possibility of adding some of its other whiskeys, which include Jim Beam, Basil Hayden, Booker’s, Little Book, Baker’s, and Old Grand-Dad.

Buying an entire barrel of whiskey is a fairly expensive undertaking, as a typical barrel yields anywhere from 100 to 175 bottles each. Beam plans to charge $60 a bottle of Knob Creek, or $6,000 to $10,500 for the entire barrel’s lot. But the price comes with perks that include a behind-the-scenes distillery tour, a tasting of several barrel options for bourbon and rye, and a chance to personalize the labels for your barrel’s bottles. Barrels will be available for individuals, whiskey clubs, families, and friend groups, with a maximum of eight people per buying group accommodated for the selection process.

Guests who are interested can start by booking online through Beam’s Private Barrel Club for a fee of $1,000, which will be credited toward the final cost of the barrel. From there, a Beam Legacy ambassador will reach out to confirm the details for a visit to the distillery and to schedule the barrel sampling. All of this takes place at The James B. Beam Distilling Co. campus in Clermont, Kentucky. The company’s Legacy ambassadors, who have helped retail and bar accounts choose private barrels of whiskey for years, will lead the program. But Beam added that its master distillers Fred and Freddie Noe just might pop in for surprise visits during the barrel selection process.

The experience begins with a guided tour of the Beam facility, including a stop at the Fred B. Noe Distillery where Knob Creek’s Single Barrel Reserve whiskey is bottled, and a visit to Beam’s Warehouse K. This part of the Beam campus is available only for curated tours and not open to the general public. After the tour, barrel buyers will visit a rickhouse and taste through a selection of Knob Creek single barrel bourbons and ryes to find their favorite. The chosen barrel will be pulled aside for bottling, and buyers can personalize the labels for each bottle of their private barrel selection. Following the tour and barrel selection, buyers will enjoy lunch at Beam’s The Kitchen Table restaurant on the distillery campus. Bottling an entire barrel of whiskey takes anywhere from one to four months, and buyers will pick up their finished products at Beam’s American Outpost in Clermont, Kentucky.

The launch of Beam’s Private Barrel Club coincides with the 230^th anniversary of the Beam family selling its first barrel of whiskey. Farmer and founder Jacob Beam sold his first barrel of whiskey in 1795. Since then, eight generations have led the distillery.