Per Freddie Noe: The first release of Little Book draws inspiration from something close to home for me—the components of making a great bourbon whiskey. Little Book “The Easy” features uncut, unfiltered Kentucky Straight Bourbon blended with corn whiskey, rye whiskey, and malt whiskey- the three ingredients commonly found in a bourbon mash bill—to create an easy-drinking whiskey that's blended to be one of a kind. It all started when I was working in our Global Innovation Center, learning all about blending. I looked at the different types of whiskies available and saw that we had individual corn, rye and malt barrels. I wondered, “If you blend those together to the exact proportions of a bourbon mash bill, will it taste like bourbon?” So I tried it. I blended 4-year-old corn, rye, and malt whiskey, and let me tell you, it didn't taste like bourbon at all! The corn whiskey overpowered everything else, since the rye whiskey also had some corn in it. It wasn't balanced at all. That's when I was inspired to blend in the fourth component—some actual finished bourbon whiskey. When I started my search, our team gave me access to nearly every barrel we had in storage. I tasted and tinkered with bourbon aged six and even nine years, trying to achieve just what I was looking for in my inaugural release. What I found was that blending in four-year-old bourbon did what those others could not—ensured that all ingredients could complement each other without a single piece overpowering the final taste profile.

Per Freddie Noe: Little Book Chapter 5, “The Invitation,” is the fifth chapter in the Little Book Whiskey series. The Invitation offers a chance for any curious whiskey drinker to expand their palette - both seasoned connoisseurs and newcomers alike. The name of this year's chapter offers fans of American whiskey an opportunity to experience liquid that I personally had a hand in creating and blending and showcases the innovation of Little Book chapters over the last five years. Little Book Chapter 5 is a blend of four different liquid streams with a vast range of ages, flavors and distillation styles. Three of the four liquid streams contained in Chapter 5 were distilled under my watchful eye, and I'm thrilled to offer drinkers a whiskey that is both expansive and complex. With the base of this blend being a 2-year-old bourbon, this chapter continues to push the boundaries of blending and challenges what some might assume of lower aged whiskies. The way these liquid streams complement each other makes this liquid extremely approachable, even for those who haven't given cask strength whiskey a try. The Invitation was one of the more difficult chapters to perfect. Harmonizing such varied liquids and ages requires delicate balancing of flavors and immense amounts of patience, but the effort was certainly worth it when you taste the final product. Little Book Chapter 5 is my way of inviting Little Book drinkers into different aspects of the whiskey space, regardless of if they've been along for the ride since Chapter 1 or are just tasting Little Book for the first time.