FULL BEAM AHEAD
STEVE Jacobi could be Jim Beam’s biggest fan — but he doesn’t drink it.
The North Shore business owner has what might be the world’s largest Jim Beam collection, with about 4000 different items ranging from still-full 50-year-old decanters to model cars, clothes, clocks and more.
Steve isn’t sure why he started collecting the mer- chandise, but he’s certain it wasn’t because he enjoyed the taste of the Kentucky bourbon whiskey.
“It’s just grown on me,” he said. “I started off with some of the old cars, and that sort of got me interested — now I’m hooked. I’ve got the bug bad.”
“I’m not (a Jim Beam drinker); can’t stand it, to be honest. I show people the collection and they go ‘Gee, you must love Jim Beam’, and I go ‘Nah, I hate it’, and they look at me as if I’m lying.
“No one can understand why I’d collect Jim Beam and not drink it.”
Much of the incredible collection once belonged to a former neighbour of Steve’s, Lennie Ellmer.
Lennie — a Geelong identity himself who passed away in 2016 — was renowned as one of the leading collectors of Jim Beam knickknacks, with a dream of opening up a museum of his collection.
After buying a large chunk of the collection from Lennie’s wife following his death, Steve now plans to achieve his mate’s dream by turning part of his Nas Karts business into a museum.
“I’d known Lennie since I was a kid, I grew up across the road from him,” Steve said.
“Lennie had been collecting for about 52 years before he passed away about 18 months ago. I ended up buying a fair bit off Gayle (Lennie’s wife), and she’s letting me display the rest of it.”
“Lennie’s dream was to open a museum, and now that’s what our intentions are.”
The collection is currently on display at Nas Karts (90 St Georges Rd, Corio), where Steve hopes to dedicate two floors to the swelling collection.