and this one tuff:
"To Noe, Booker's is his favorite of favorites and he admits its more out of sentiment than anything else, not just because "it was my dad's baby," but also because it is like tasting the past. In 1988 Booker Noe (Fred Noe's father) introduced it as Booker's True Barrel Bourbon because it is, in fact, "true barrel." The elder Noe wanted to make bourbon the way it was "uncut, straight out of the barrel." This was how whiskey used to be distributed, before the days of bottling, when drinkers would bring jugs to the distillery and have them filled straight from the barrel for a price of fifteen cents a quart. Prior to his father's death, Fred Noe would select barrels for this high-proof bourbon with Booker, creating many memories the younger Noe has held on to and leading to his preference for the "true barrel bourbon that reignites the flames" of the past.
Being bottled straight from the barrel, Booker's is proofed between 121 and 127, depending on the barrels chosen and is meant to be cut with water or another mixer to bring it to a more palatable proof. This is how it was done in the old days and this is how it is intended to be done now. Noe does not suggest drinking Booker's neat because it is simply too hot, but when cut with water the flavors open up, leading to a bourbon drinking experience from times long gone. Booker's has intense aromas that jump out the glass, led by the vanilla and caramel taken from the barrels which have a #4 char (the heaviest allowed). Noe also describes Booker's as hot and smooth with a warm finish, the entire experience being that of "full, real bourbon."