A Finished Rye for Booker's The Reserves & A Beam Family Blend For Little Book The Infinite

A couple of years ago, Beam master distiller Freddie Noe debuted two higher-end spin-offs of both Booker’s and Little Book. For Booker’s, it was called The Reserves, and it launched with a blend of 8 to 14 year old bourbons and then followed up last year with a tequila-finished bourbon, marking the brand’s biggest change in decades. The new Little Book series, meanwhile, was named The Infinite; both editions thus far have included bourbons made by three Beam master distillers, including Noe, his father Fred, and his grandfather Booker. The third editions of both The Reserves and The Infinite have now hit the market.

Booker’s The Reserves rye 2026

The newest release within The Reserves is a rye. Historically, Booker’s has focused on small batch bourbons, but there was one notable rye released in 2016: Booker filled 100 barrels of rye in 2003, a year before he passed, which then aged for 13 years in Jim Beam warehouses D and E. That whiskey was named our 2016 American Whiskey of the Year, and we cited it as one of the best whiskeys Booker ever made.

The Reserves 2026 recalls this whiskey, but it also takes inspiration from the apple wine that Booker would make each winter; his recipe included apples, bourbon barrels, and cinnamon, while the new whiskey, a 6 year old rye, is finished in apple brandy casks and infused with cinnamon sticks. Given that The Reserves is the most ultra-limited of Booker’s releases, the incorporation of cinnamon sticks into the barrels might come as a surprise—after all, who could blame you if you associated cinnamon-flavored whiskey more commonly with the likes of Fireball, or even Beam’s own Jim Beam Kentucky Fire. But Beam is making The Reserves 2026 sound like an apple pie, with notes of bright apple, sweet caramel, vanilla, and cinnamon baked apple throughout.

As with all Booker’s whiskeys, this one is bottled at cask strength, coming in at 62.55% ABV. It’ll be available in limited supply nationwide for $130.

Little Book The Infinite Edition III blend

Now in its third year, Little Book The Infinite continues what its two predecessors started. Edition III begins with a base of both Editions I and II—the former included a blend of four bourbons, including 20 year old distilled by Booker, 14 year old by Fred, and 7 year old by Freddie, while the latter included 22 year old distilled by Booker, 10 year old by Fred, and 7 year old from Freddie. With these whiskeys Freddie then blended the unique Edition III components, among them a 23 year old Knob Creek distilled by Booker (the oldest component ever included), 11 year old Knob Creek made by Fred, and 9 year old Baker’s distilled by Freddie.

The Infinite Edition III is bottled at 59.15% ABV, and available for $200. If Booker’s is Beam’s ode to small batch, cask strength whiskey, Little Book is its tribute to blending. New “Chapters” are released annually, and they highlight Freddie’s creative license. The most recent release, Chapter 10: “All the Wiser,” seems a blueprint for the third release of Edition III, as it too blends Knob Creek and Baker’s bourbons (as well as Booker’s, Basil Hayden, and Jim Beam).