Deep in Clermont, Kentucky, where the air smells like charred oak and time moves a little slower, the Beam family has been making whiskey the same way for over two hundred years. Most folks know the big name — Jim Beam — but inside the distilleries and among the men who actually run the stills, the real respect goes to the ones who kept the fire lit when nobody was watching. Baker Beam was one of those men.
Grandnephew to Jim himself, Baker spent his life behind the wheel of a rig, tearing up back roads on a Harley when he wasn’t hauling freight, and always — always — with a glass of bourbon close by. He wasn’t loud about it. He just lived the life a lot of us wish we could: independent, hard-working, no nonsense, and never far from a good pour. That’s the spirit Baker’s Bourbon has carried since they put his name on the bottle in 1992, a single-barrel Kentucky straight that doesn’t mess around with age statements or gimmicks. Just big, bold flavor for men who know what they like.
Now the brand is doing something different — something that feels right for the guys who crack open a bottle after a long week and actually take the time to enjoy it. Today Baker’s Bourbon released a run of only 125 pairs of collector gloves, each one painted by hand as a tribute to Baker Beam himself.
Image credit: The James B. Beam Distilling Co.
These aren’t some mass-produced piece of merch. Every single pair was made in collaboration with New York artist Elin Lundman Moses — the talent behind the handle @superhappyghostco — who took a plain leather work glove and turned it into a rolling piece of Bluegrass artwork. You’ll see Baker’s trademark trucker hat, the outline of that old motorcycle he loved, and little touches that only make sense if you knew the man or at least knew the stories. One glove might carry a tiny still, another a stretch of Kentucky highway. No two pairs are exactly the same.
Because they’re painted one at a time, every crease in the leather, every scuff that’ll come with age, makes them even more personal. Slip them on when you’re firing up the grill, wrenching on the truck, or just sitting out back with a pour of Baker’s 7-year or the new 13-year single barrel — they feel like they belong there. Tough enough to work in, good-looking enough that you don’t mind wearing them when company’s around.
Only 125 pairs exist. That’s it. Once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. They’re selling for $39.99 — about the price of a decent bottle — and you can grab them online right now or in person at The American Outpost over at the James B. Beam Distilling Co. if you’re ever passing through Kentucky. A lot of guys will snag a pair just to throw in the display cabinet next to their favorite Beam bottles, but plenty more will actually use them. Either way, they’re the kind of thing you hand down one day with a story attached.
Baker Beam passed a few years back, but every time somebody cracks a bottle of his bourbon or pulls on a pair of these gloves, a little bit of that truck-driving, Harley-riding, no-apologies Kentucky soul comes right back to life. For the man who’s earned his quiet evenings and his good whiskey, there might not be a better way to say it than wearing the proof on your hands.
