Trade war with Canada has contributed to a significant decline in U.S. liquor sales

Jim Beam, one of the largest makers of American whiskey globally, is shutting down bourbon production at one of its Kentucky distilleries for a year.

The move comes amid Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, which has contributed to a significant decline in U.S. liquor sales after the country ushered in a boycott of American booze, and as more young adults are cutting back on drinking.

Jim Beam, owned by Suntory Global Spirits, is one of Kentucky’s biggest bourbon producers.

The Bluegrass state’s $9 billion whiskey bourbon industry has been struggling to manage its abundant supply of liquor against the drop in demand.

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[–] 15 points 9 months ago (9 children)

"We will continue to distill at our [Freddie Booker Noe] craft distillery in Clermont and at our larger Booker Noe distillery in Boston, we plan to pause distillation at our main distillery on the James B. Beam campus for 2026 while we take the opportunity to invest in site enhancements.”

They're going to keep making the craft bourbon, and I suspect they could coast for a decade on the barrels they have in rack houses. Bourbon doesn't really go bad.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

    No, but you can over-age it. Too long in oak changes the flavours and at some point it won't taste like your product. You can bottle it as a special edition, but whether consumers like the product or not is a toss up.

    I for one will never buy American again. I hope relations can improve to the point where my children can begin to normalize what was once one of the best international relationships in history.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Too long in oak changes the flavours and at some point it won't taste like your product.

    They can and do dump them into non-reactive tanks. Or bottles.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    At the cost of more tanks and storage space.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Sure, but if they're reducing new whiskey production at exactly the same time, I would think that they'd basically gain a bunch of space right at the time they'd need it. A rickhouse designed for barrels might not be a perfect fit for the big polyethylene tanks, but I'm sure a major shift in operations could result in a relatively low cost switchover as necessary.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    It takes 4-8 years to age it.

    But it's not that big of a deal, they've had fires and lost millions of gallons multiple times.

    This is at least planned, and you're probably right that they'll prioritize the higher priced items.

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