Suntory Global Spirits

In 1968, American Brands, later called Fortune Brands, bought the James B. Beam Distilling Company.^2,6 In 1987, the Beam company bought National Distillers, gaining the Old Crow and Windsor brands, and renamed itself the Jim Beam Brands Company.^2,6 In 2005, Fortune Brands, then the owner of Beam, bought 20 brands from Allied Domecq for $5 billion.^2,6,7 They included the Laphroaig and Ardmore distilleries, the Teacher's brand and Maker's Mark.^2,6,7 On 3 October 2011, what was left of Fortune Brands became Beam Inc., a business focused only on spirits.² In December 2011, Beam Inc. agreed to buy Cooley, then the only independent Irish whiskey distiller, for $95 million.^2,6 Beam completed the purchase in January 2012, gaining Cooley's malt and grain distilleries in Dundalk and Kilbeggan, and brands such as Kilbeggan and Connemara.⁸ The Cooley business was later renamed Kilbeggan.^2,6

Suntory completed the purchase on 30 April 2014, at a final cost of about $16 billion, and Beam was renamed Beam Suntory.^1,3,9 Beam Suntory was based in Deerfield, Illinois, and led by Matt Shattock, Beam's CEO since 2009.^2,9,10 On 1 October 2014, Morrison Bowmore Distillers Ltd joined, bringing the Bowmore, Auchentoshan and Glen Garioch distilleries; Suntory had bought the firm in 1994.^4,5 In March 2016, it announced a move of its headquarters from Deerfield to the Merchandise Mart building in Chicago.^2,4 Albert Baladi became CEO in 2019.¹¹ In December 2020, it sold the Windsor Canadian whisky brand but kept full ownership of Alberta Distillers in Calgary, where Windsor was still to be made.¹² On 31 August 2021, its James B. Beam Distilling Co. opened the Fred B. Noe Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, to be led by Freddie Noe.¹³ On 28 July 2022, Kentucky's governor announced that Beam Suntory would spend $400 million to expand the Booker Noe Distillery, Beam's larger distillery in Boston, Kentucky.^2,3,14 Its global headquarters moved from Chicago to a new office in New York City, which opened on 6 October 2022.^9,15 Greg Hughes, who joined in 2015, took over as CEO on 1 October 2023.¹¹

Beam Suntory became Suntory Global Spirits on 1 May 2024; its whiskies then included Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Yamazaki, Hibiki, Laphroaig and Bowmore.^1,2 In December 2025, James B. Beam Distilling Co. said it would stop distilling for all of 2026 at its main distillery in Clermont, Kentucky.^14,16 Bottling and warehousing there, and Beam's other Kentucky distilleries, were to carry on.^14,16