In an era of algorithmic everything, there’s something comfortingly analog—almost Edenic—about bourbon. Especially when it’s a bourbon steeped not just in oak, but in heritage. Such is the case with Lineage Batch #2, the newly released, 15-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon from Jim Beam, the world’s top-selling bourbon brand. And this isn’t just another high-proof bottle with a commemorative label—it’s a moment, a marker in time, and perhaps a turning of the generational page.
Crafted as a collaboration between Fred and Freddie Noe, the seventh and eighth generation of Beam Family Master Distillers, Lineage Batch #2 is a deeply personal—and highly limited—expression. It’s the first bourbon in the Jim Beam portfolio to bear Freddie Noe’s name, a symbolic gesture that marks his gradual ascension in the Beam family dynasty.
The whiskey, priced at $250 for 700mL, is available exclusively at The James B. Beam Distilling Co. campus in Clermont, Kentucky, making it both a collector’s item and something of a pilgrimage reward for bourbon lovers. There will be no airport duty-free bottles, no sleek online drops. If you want it, you go to the source, the red dirt, the rickhouses.
And what do you get for your journey? In the glass, Lineage Batch #2 presents a rich mahogany hue, the color of long afternoons and hard-won patience. Its aroma is a tangle of creamy toffee, vanilla, and seasoned oak. The palate opens with leather and char, slowly yielding to sweet crème brûlée, a flavor profile that bridges the rustic and the refined. The finish is full-bodied, lingering with matured oak, not unlike the lasting impression of an heirloom story told by a grandfather, then echoed by a son.
“This release is about legacy,” Fred Noe has said in various iterations. “It’s about what we’ve built and what we’re becoming.”
And perhaps, more than anything, it’s about place. Not just Kentucky as geography, but Clermont as memory and promise—the kind of place where a father and son might stand quietly next to a barrel, nod in agreement, and pour something into history.
For more more information on Jim Beam Lineage Batch #2, head over to the official website.
