America's Bourbon Industry On The Rocks Due To Unforced Error
Category: World News
Via: bob-nelson • 10 months ago • 30 commentsBy: Andrew Fleming - Wonkette’s token Canadian. Boat captain. Vancouverite.
Pour one out for Jimmy Beam.
WHY?????????
Trump shot his mouth off, and now an iconic brand - and thousands of jobs - are disappearing.
WHY???????
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
You may remember the Bowling Green Massacre from eight years ago that was an early flashing red warning sign of MAGA's loosey-goosey relationship with reality. It seems like some of them wanted to believe Kellyanne Conway's hallucination about a massacre in Kentucky so badly they've manifested one of their own, only this time it's more of an economic bloodbath instead of just another garden variety American mass shooting.
We're now nearly a year into the dumbest trade war ever, and one of the first major casualties appears to be the Bluegrass state's $9 billion brown liquor biz, due in no small part to Canadians suddenly taking a hard pass on the red state's world-renowned hard stuff.
Global exports of American spirits fell by nine percent overall in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the previous year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States . Which is just a drop in the bucket compared to the 85 percent drop in sales to Canada over the same period, which CEO Chris Swonger diplomatically blamed on "persistent trade tensions" rather than us just being grossed out by y'all's Nazi bullshit and not wanting to risk lining the pockets of anyone who voted for it. Jim Beam, one of the industry's biggest players, recently announced it's shutting down production at its main Happy Hollow distillery for a full year while continuing to operate two smaller ones and hoping things might turn around.
"We are always assessing production levels to best meet consumer demand and recently met with our team to discuss our volumes for 2026," the company said in a statement. "We've shared with our teams that while 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."
No word on what will become of the 1,500 employees represented by United Food and Commercial Workers at their flagship operation, but the company says it's in talks with the union as it continues "to assess how best to utilize our workforce during this transition." The news came not long after Brown-Forman, the manufacturers of both Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey and Woodford Reserve, announced it is laying off 12 percent of its own workforce — roughly 650 people — and will soon shutter its Louisville facility.
It's a Pyrrhic victory for Canadians at best, and it's hard to wish for anyone apart from ICE goons, Bari Weiss or Cabinet members to lose their gig in today's depressing job market.
But it's also tough to summon up much sympathy for workers in a state Ol' Treasonballs won by 30.5 percent in the last election, up from 26 percent in 2020. Jim Beam's parent company, Japanese conglomerate Suntory Global Spirits, is also a longtime GOP supporter and even ponied up $100,000 last year to give their Kentucky lair a $4.2 million facelift . Blame it on whiskey goggles but fuck around and find out, although there's certainly no need for ritual seppuku.
American hooch has been off Canadian shelves for months, and several provinces auctioned off their remaining bottles over Christmas for charity with obviously no plans to re-stock any time soon. Even Knob Creek's special maple-flavored batch is unlikely to entice us back, and I regrettably had to end a longterm relationship of my own with Wild Turkey, which I developed a taste for as a pretentious undergrad trying to rip off Hunter S. Thompson. My own local liquor store made an exception for Skrewball in the early days because the peanut butter goodness is made in a blue state but it's long gone now too.
Trade talks between the two countries have been on hold since October after Dear Leader pitched a fit over an ad by Ontario preem Doug Ford that aired during the World Series featuring a speech from Ronald Reagan about the suicidal stupidity of imposing tariffs on trading partners. They're tentatively scheduled to begin again later this month but * gestures broadly at everything .
Insane tariffs aside, the bourbon industry is facing a perfect storm of other challenges as well. Alcohol consumption, particularly among the youngs, has been declining steadily for years. It doesn't help on the domestic front to attract new customers when the US has one of the highest legal drinking ages in the world at 21, a select club the land of the free shares with the likes of the UAE, Malaysia, Equatorial Guinea, and the glorious nation of Kazakhstan. Add inflation, a shot of supply chain issues and a warehouse full of whiskey that won't be ready to sell for another six years to the mix and you can see why Big Bourbon might be reaching the bottom of the barrel.
It's been roughly 230 years since a German immigrant named Johannes Bohm first arrived in Kentucky, anglicized his surname like a common Friedrich Drumpf , and started running a commercial still, which is a pretty good run for a family business if this truly is the beginning of the end of a global cool factor for Jim Beam.
Which ain't too shabby as it's nearly as long as American democracy itself lasted.
Whatever
Tags
Who is online
86 visitors
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid
You can say that again!
'
What is the point of this seed then? That Canadians can't get a bottle of proper whiskey?...
Seagram's Crown Royal rye whiskey is as good as any.
Sure, I suppose if you don't have access to a good Bourbon....
Man, you have no idea.
What makes you think I don't - I don't live in Canada.
bourbon is over rated
I didn't know Seagram's made Crown Royal. That's the only whiskey I drink. When I drink whiskey
It originated as a brand of Seagrams, but the brand was sold to Diageo in 2001. However, I'll always think of it as a Seagrams brand. It has an interesting history.
LINK -> The Ultimate Guide To Crown Royal Whisky | The Whiskey Wash
If you're a Scrabble player, the bag makes a perfect holder for the tiles.
Ugh. That hurts my soul.
Why?
I’m just messing with ya
I use the bag for my poker change
It has many good uses.
It's always a pleasure to see that a reader has so clearly understood an article.
The point is that the era of the US rebuilding the post WWII world and allowing everyone trade surpluses is over.
At the expense of leading the world politically. I admit you seem to be okay with that, but I don't think you've thought it through the long term implications.
Some things - like Bourbon - only come from one place. Others - like coffee - come from a very narrow range of places. Not every trade deficit is bad. And not every surplus is good. “Trade deficit” is just a political buzzword right now. People use it without thinking.
This has been explained repeatedly (and in detail) since before Trump took office. Clearly, some ignore facts that do not support their partisan objectives.
I anxiously await trump's new "make america drink again" campaign ...
tough shit for maga goobers now out of a job. you voted for it, so you fucking deserve it. hopefully this curtails their inbreeding ...
i think the attitude of those that can drink choosing NOT to is a bigger factor than whatever boycott is out there or tariffs, the younger generations are simply not drinking as hard as those before them , so a loss of consumers is to be expected .
when it comes to bourbons , JB products are not even on my taste list , my go to is buffalo trace .
others not in the bourbon category would be johnny walker products , can be drank neat or as a mixer , my go to mixer has always been jack D products from the sour mash to gentleman jack .
So I am of the opinion that the biggest factor along the points of this article and seed , is the changing consumer tastes and attitudes and practices .
Yep, my parent generation drank less than their parents generation, we drank less than our parents generation and now our kids generations are drinking less than us and so on. As awareness grows about the ills of alcohol consumption, alcohol consumption has gone down. I think it’s pretty much that simple.
As far as good booze selection, the choices are almost endless these days. Love me some Buffalo Trace as well. Especially the price point. Another one i like in that price point is Eagle Rare 10. And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of good Bourbon options out there.
Nope
"Alcohol consumption, particularly among the youngs, has been declining steadily for years. It doesn't help on the domestic front to attract new customers when the US has one of the highest legal drinking ages in the world at 21, a select club the land of the free shares with the likes of the UAE, Malaysia, Equatorial Guinea, and the glorious nation of Kazakhstan. Add inflation, a shot of supply chain issues and a warehouse full of whiskey that won't be ready to sell for another six years to the mix and you can see why Big Bourbon might be reaching the bottom of the barrel."
End of story.
It was the boomers who first made the switch from alcohol to drugs.
Speak for yourself brother …….
Actually, I'm trying to keep the flame alive.
Hey, I’m doing my part. My liquor cabinet is 6 feet high, and full. Also, we just polished off the bourbon advent calendar.
I get mine locally. My current bottle (a Christmas gift from my son) BØDALEN Straight bourbon whiskey made in Hallock, MN.
Good to see our younger generations reducing consumption, but it may also be why besides personal hand held computers(phones), that they have the social skills of an Iguana in Siberia. A red state that voted for Trump due to his promises, also called LIES, is getting what they never anticipated, though should have, if their heads weren't buried by and from, the propaganda pushed by the Fox trying to guard and get the Newsmax impact out of that bullship that has sunk into feeble minds, that don't, till it affects them. As that Bullship has begun to sink in now, cause how's that saying go again, elections have Consequences! FAFO