A little more than two decades ago, there was no such thing as small-batch bourbon. And yet, it existed all the same. The problem was that no one had yet coined a term that adequately described all those incredibly rich limited-production bourbons that were being made by some of America’s best distillers.
That marketing dilemma was solved by Jim Beam Brands (now Beam Inc.) in 1992, when the master distiller, the late Booker Noe, coined the term “small batch” to categorize a series of four boutique bourbons th…