Whiskey Shortages? Not at Beam Suntory, Reports Whisky Advocate

On May 8, Buffalo Trace sent a media-wide press release that detailed looming Bourbon shortages. From there, whiskey shortage stories became a trendy subject for mainstream journalists on slow news days. With that said, the shortage is real, to some extent, Whisky Advocate reports. The industry is feeling heavy demand with no end in sight.

But the world’s largest Bourbon maker, Jim Beam—now part of the new Beam Suntory organization—has been relatively quiet in these doom-and-gloom whiskey stories. There’s good reason. According to Clarkson Hine, Beam Suntory’s senior vice president of corporate communications and public affairs, Beam was ready for the demand. “We have been investing substantially over the past several years to increase our Bourbon capacity, including the recently announced third still at Maker’s Mark and construction of new rackhouses,” Hine says. “Given the laydown decisions made years ago, we currently have supplies across our Bourbon brands to support consistent healthy growth.”

According to Impact Databank, several Beam Suntory Bourbons showed impressive U.S. progress last year. Jim Beam rose 6% to 3.7 million cases, Maker’s Mark increased 5% to 1.7 million cases and Knob Creek was up 18% to 230,000 cases. In addition, Beam has identified Basil Hayden’s—whose net sales jumped nearly 30% last year—as a key emerging brand within its small-batch Bourbon stable.

Hine says the company’s marketing strategy for Basil Hayden’s has led to consumers discovering the 80-proof whiskey for the first time. “We made a strategic decision last year to boost investment behind Basil Hayden’s, particularly in the on-premise and in social media,” he notes. “We believe the brand has the potential to be the next break-out star from the Small Batch Collection, building on the ongoing success of Knob Creek.”

Meanwhile, on the new product front, Beam Suntory plans to release two new editions in the Jim Beam Signature Craft Harvest Bourbon collection this fall; one will add brown rice to the mashbill in place of rye, the other will replace rye with red winter wheat.

Tagged : Beam Suntory, Bourbon, Jim Beam, whiskey, Whisky Advocate

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