US EditionJim Beam pauses production at main distillery as bourbon inventories rise
Jim Beam will halt distillation at its main Kentucky distillery in 2026 to invest in upgrades amid record bourbon barrel inventories and ongoing trade tensions, officials said.
- On January 1, 2026, Jim Beam will pause distillation at its main Clermont campus for all of 2026, the company said.
- Jim Beam said it is adjusting production to meet future demand and recently met with its team to discuss production volumes for 2026, Suntory Global Spirits said the pause will allow upgrades and site enhancements.
- Bottling and visitor operations will continue at Clermont even as distilling pauses, with bottling and warehousing operations, the James B. Beam visitor center, and The Kitchen Table restaurant remaining open.
- As of Saturday, no WARN notice was posted and management is in talks with the United Food and Commercial Workers; no layoffs have been announced while assessing nearly 1,500 employees from last year.
- Industry experts link the pause to a record 16.1 million barrels aging in Kentucky, with the Distilled Spirits Council reporting exports below $10 million in the second quarter of 2025 and changing drinking habits.
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Popular Kentucky Bourbon Maker Jim Beam to Pause Production at Main Distillery
Kentucky bourbon maker Jim Beam says it plans to stop production at its main distillery on Jan. 1, as the state faces growing inventories. Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariff agenda, Kentucky has faced a swelling supply of aging barrels amid trade uncertainty. In October, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association confirmed that the Bluegrass State maintained a record high of 16.1 million aging barrels of bourbon in …
Jim Beam halts production at key US distillery amid bourbon glut
Bourbon maker Jim Beam plans to pause production at its main US distillery for all of 2026 after slumping demand caused an oversupply of whiskey. The brand, owned by Japanese alcohol giant Suntory Holdings Ltd., said it’s halting whiskey distillation at the James B. Beam campus in Clermont, Kentucky after an assessment of its production levels against consumer demand, according to a statement on Monday. The company plans to use the downtime to…
Associated Press News
Cloudy future for bourbon has Jim Beam closing Kentucky distillery for a year
Jim Beam is pausing production at a Kentucky distillery for at least a year starting in 2026. The decision comes as the whiskey industry faces tariffs and declining demand.
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