Booker's Just Made Its Biggest Change in Decades for The Reserves 2025
We taste Freddie Noe’s boldest experiment yet: tequila-finished bourbon
September 9, 2025 –––––– Sean Evans
The Fred. B. Noe Distillery, on the sprawling grounds of James Beam’s Clermont, Kentucky, campus, is Freddie Noe’s innovation playground. It’s where the Beam family’s eighth-generation master distiller gets to experiment on a smaller version of Jim Beam’s big still—in a building a stone’s throw away—and unlock new flavors, production enhancements, and more. It’s also where Booker’s and other higher-end, smaller batch Beam whiskeys are made.
It’s a bit of a shrine to the Booker’s brand itself. Enter and look left to see a bottle of every batch ever made, including the first one Booker Noe (Freddie’s grandfather) made back in 1979 as a gift for his distributors. The distributors loved the uncut, unfiltered, high-proof bourbon so much that the response was, “Why aren’t you just selling this?”
Booker began doing precisely that—and sending a delightfully pointed rejection letter to one detractor who had requested the proof be toned down. Booker’s letter didn’t mince words, telling the recipient they just didn’t seem to understand the point of the bottle. (Said letter is on display in the Fred B. Noe entrance, too.)
Freddie Noe, however, gets it. And his 2025 release of Booker’s The Reserves—straight bourbon finished in tequila barrels—shows how committed the 37 year old is to pushing the boundaries of bold flavors and experimentation. Before we dive into how it tastes, a little contextual backstory may help frame the forthcoming notes.
How Was Booker’s The Reserves 2025 Made?
In 2018, Booker’s released its 30th Anniversary batch, a 62.9% “rambunctious bourbon that throws the full weight of its barrel behind a flavor-packed punch,” we concluded in our review, where it earned a score of 93. Noe and team sent the 30th Anniversary empty barrels to Jalisco, Mexico, for the Camarena family to use to age special El Tesoro tequila for an 85th anniversary edition release. When those were released in 2022, the same barrels boomeranged back up to Clermont, heavily imbued with agave, primed for one more aging.
Noe whipped up a batch of Bookers and parked it in those now-El Tesoro seasoned barrels for 2 to 3 months, making Booker’s The Reserves 2025 (SRP $129.99, limited release, available nationwide). It’s the first time that Booker’s has ever had a finish, and the first tequila finish for any product in the Beam portfolio.
What’s Booker’s The Reserves 2025 Taste Like?
Freddie lands the plane perfectly. The 8 year, 10 month, and 12 day product is really fun, and drinks below its 61.65% proof. There’s a mineral, earthy note that pops early on the nose, owing to the tequila finish, that moves directly into the typical aged bourbon aromas of caramel, vanilla, and brown sugar, plus a discernible trademark Beam note of toasted nuts. Some call that hazelnut, I think it’s more peanut.
On the palate, the agave brings a brightness to the pour that works nicely, a little zing in there before the big roundness of the bourbon, which grows to a nice warming, lingering finish. There’s a bit of drying clove and spice on the finish—as was present in Booker's The Reserves 2024—but the agave shows up in the end here to soften it a touch.
Working best is the marriage and balance between the finish and the bourbon itself. The tequila brings light sweetness; the agave’s presence is subtle, never shouting too loudly. It may be a departure for Booker’s, but if this is the direction Freddie’s taking the brand, buckle up and enjoy the ride.
