Jim Beam, the Bourbon company, is stopping its main distillery’s production this year.
“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,” the James B. Beam Distilling Co. said in a statement to The Hill on Thursday, referencing a distillery in Clermont, Ky.
The company also said the distillery’s visitor center is set to stay open and that it is “always assessing production levels to best meet consumer demand.”
In a post on the social platform X, Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.) decried the news of the production stoppage.
“It’s hard to overstate just how devastating Trump’s tariffs are for America’s signature spirit,” McGarvey said in his post. “Thousands of Kentuckians power the bourbon industry — we will all feel the impact of this.”
Within the last year, President Trump’s tariff policy has rattled markets around the globe, strained relationships with allies like Canada and the European Union and increased economic uncertainty.
A report from this fall found that U.S. liquor exports to Canada decreased 85 percent in 2025’s second quarter, with the report noting the “adverse impact” of trade tensions.
On Sunday, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said that Trump would probably support legislation to give $2,000 tariff rebate checks to Americans next year.
“I would expect that in the new year, the president will bring forth a proposal to Congress to make that happen,” Hassett said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”
The National Economic Council director said the measure’s success would come down to what Congress does about it. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said in November that the U.S. “can’t afford” a proposal like that.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment on McGarvey’s post.
