Master Distiller at the Jim Beam Distillery for more than 40 years, working closely with Master Distiller Jerry Dalton. In 1987 Booker introduced his namesake bourbon, Booker's, the company's first uncut, straight-from-the-barrel bourbon, and the first of the company's "Small Batch Bourbon Collection". Fred Noe (Frederick Booker Noe III, 1957–) became the seventh generation Beam family distiller in 2007 and regularly travels for promotional purposes. In 1987, Jim Beam purchased National Distillers, acquiring brands including Old Crow, Bourbon de Luxe, Old Taylor, Old Grand-Dad, and Sunny Brook. Old Taylor was subsequently sold to the Sazerac Company. On August 4, 2003, a fire destroyed a Jim Beam aging warehouse in Bardstown, Kentucky. It held 15,000 barrels () of bourbon. Flames rose more than 100 feet from the structure. Burning bourbon spilled from the warehouse into a nearby creek. An estimated 19,000 fish died of the bourbon in the creek and a river. Jim Beam was part of the holding company formerly known as Fortune Brands that was dismantled in 2011. Other parts of the remaining company were spun off as an IPO on the NYSE on the same day, as Fortune Brands Home & Security, and the liquor division of the holding company was renamed Beam, Inc. on October 4, 2011. In January 2014, it was announced that Beam Inc. would be purchased by Suntory Holdings Ltd., a Japanese group of brewers & distillers known for producing Japan's first whiskey. The combined company is known as Beam Suntory. On July 3, 2019, another warehouse caught ablaze which destroyed around 45,000 barrels () of bourbon. The fire led to the spillage of bourbon into the Kentucky River and Glenns Creek. Learning from the 2003 fire it was decided not to use water, letting it burn itself out to reduce runoff into the ecosystem. The estimated cost of the fire to Beam Suntory was around $45 million. The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (KEEC) released a statement via their official Facebook page stating the alcohol plume had reached between Owenton and Carrollton. The KEEC along with local and federal agencies used aeration to increase the oxygen levels in the water to prevent additional fish kill. Distillers Freddie Noe (1988–present) Fred Noe (1957–present) Fred Booker Noe II (1929–2004) T. Jeremiah Beam (1899–1977) James B. Beam (1864–1947) David M. Beam (1833–1913) David Beam (1802–1854) Jacob Beam (1760–1834) Distilleries James B. Beam Distilling Co. in Clermont,