The maker of the popular Jim Beam bourbon whiskey says it will halt production at its main site in Kentucky for all of next year.<\/p>\n
The distillery will stay closed while the firm takes “the opportunity to invest in site enhancements,” it told to the BBC in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n
“We are always assessing production levels to best meet consumer demand and recently met with our team to discuss our volumes for 2026.”<\/p>\n
Distillers in Kentucky – famous for its bourbon – face uncertainty, in part, due to US President Donald Trump’s trade policies.<\/p>\n
The brand is owned by Japanese drinks giant Suntory Global Spirits, which employs more than 1,000 people across its sites in Kentucky.<\/p>\n
The firm said its other operations in the state, including a separate distillery and its bottling and warehousing plants, will continue to run next year. The visitor centre in Kentucky also remains open. <\/p>\n
Jim Beam also said it is assessing how it will use its workforce during the production pause and is holding talks with the workers’ union.<\/p>\n
In October, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA) trade body said the amount of bourbon in warehouses across the state was at a record high of more than 16 million barrels<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the association, the barrels of bourbon, which are taxed by the state, have cost distillers “a crushing” $75m (\u00a356m) this year.<\/p>\n US distillers have faced retaliatory import taxes on their goods after Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” announcement in April saw the US imposing tariffs on most countries around the world.<\/p>\n “Much of the expansion over the last decade has been geared towards global growth,” the KDA said in October as it called for a “for a speedy return to reciprocal, tariff-free trade”.<\/p>\n