Bourbon Bigotry: Suntory/Beam Deal Brings out the Worst in Beam Fans

I was pretty unmoved by the big news that got the whiskey world humming yesterday.  If you've been sleeping under a whiskey stone, Japanese drinks giant Suntory is buying Jim Beam.  There were very good articles about the sale by Chuck Cowdery and Janet Patton.

I sympathize with many critiques of global capitalism as it's practiced these days, but one big multi-national corporation buying another big multi-national corporation just isn't that exciting to me.  It seems pretty par for the course in the world of business.  And, of course, I'm not much of a Jim Beam fan.  I even named them as a runner up in my Worst Whiskey Company of 2013 award.

These days, corporations don't really have nationalities in any real sense of the word. Both Suntory and Beam own multiple properties around the world.  Beam owns three Scotch distilleries including Laphroaig, the Cooley Distillery in Ireland, Canadian Club, Courvoisier Cognac and Sauza Tequila.  Suntory owns a number of Scotch distilleries, including Bowmore, along with its Japanese distilleries.  No big deal, money traded back and forth between really rich people.  And it's not like you can outsource bourbon.  It's a unique product of the United States that must be made here.

What I found surprising was the reaction of Jim Beam drinkers, at least as displayed on the Jim Beam and Maker's Mark Facebook pages.  A shocking outpouring of xenophobia was on display, complete with racial epithets.  As shouldn't be surprising, many of these folks were not too bright and clearly knew very little about Beam, Suntory, the whiskey industry or anything else.  Here are a few of the genius comments, all of which are copied verbatim.

• Yall got some nerve. Where are the american made products??? I vote to boycott every american made product that has sold out. Yall should be ashamed if yourselves. It is now a Japanese whiskey. Whiskey is an American drink! Now im switching to knob creek. They are still American! Everyone boycott with me until they bring great whiskey back to the states!!!! Sound off in the comments section. Oh and make known you'll be drinking Fukushima.liquid.

Whisky is an American drink?  It was invented by the Irish.  And I hate to burst your bubble, but Knob Creek is made by Jim Beam.

 

• who the hell wants to buy bourbon from Japan. i am disgusted.

 
I do!  It's called Four Roses and it was crap until it was bought by a Japanese company that cleaned it up.  It now makes among the best bourbon around.  Beam should be so lucky.

 

• Omg wth I just heard y'all sold out to the chinese I will no longer buy or drink jim beam. I'm am sorry cannot support china

I. am. speechless.

• Sell out! How could you sell out to a Japanese company! I am no longer supporting this product. You could have atleast kept in the states! I am truly disgusted!!!!!

This was on the Maker's Mark page. Before it was owned by Beam, Maker's Mark was owned by a British company, and before that, a Canadian company.  I don't remember a lot of outbursts about those sales.

 

• Maker's - now owned by the Japanese. unlike. Check out Bullet or Blanton's for tasty alternative burbons at a similar price point

USA! USA!  USA!  Oh, and FYI, Bulleit is owned by Diageo, a British company.  Blanton's is owned by Age International....a Japanese company.


In her excellent article about the sale, Janet Patton pointed out that Maker's had previously been British owned, to which one commenter responded, "At least the Brits were our allies."  Um, last time I checked the Japanese are our allies.  It's true that the we fought a war against Japan, a war which ended nearly 70 years ago, but I think we fought some wars against Britain too.  Oh, and Wild Turkey is owned by an Italian company...you know Italy, that country that fought with Japan in World War II.  It's funny, I can't recall any outcry at all a few years ago when Campari bought Wild Turkey. 

It's easy to make light of this type of idiocy, but I don't mean to make light of the sentiment behind it. A huge number of these comments referred to selling to "the Japanese" or "the Asians" as if a whole race were purchasing the company.  It is a disturbing "yellow peril" type of reaction that feels more like something from the 1940s than today. I guess I naively thought we were beyond this type of blatant bigotry, and it's jarring to have it so clearly on display.  I guess we still have a long way to go.

I think I'll drown my sorrows in some Four Roses...Japanese owned, American made, and delicious!

Dusty Thursday: For a Relaxing Time...

Not all dusties are bourbon or rye. I found this bottle of Suntory Reserve Blended Japanese Whisky on the shelf of a Hollywood liquor store. According to the label, it was blended and bottled at the Yamazaki Distillery.

After I made the clerk grab it out of the corner, he said, "this looks like the last one. We'll have to order more." Good luck with that.

Given that it lists proof only and has a tax stamp without any numbers, I'd guess it's mid to late 80s, probably right after tax stamps were discontinued.


Suntory Reserve Blended Whisky, 86.8 Proof (43.4% abv)

This opens with syrupy sweet malt notes on the nose, but there's real grain in there as well, almost like a malt/bourbon combination. The palate starts with a very light malty flavor, which grows in richness as it goes down, and ends with a perfume tinged finish; it's hot for its abv. This is a decent enough blend, very drinkable but not very complex. Due to the light, malty character, if tasting blind, I might have even guessed that it was...Irish Whiskey.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed our St. Patrick's Week Japanese Whisky series. Now go get your plastic green hat, and maybe pour some Hibiki into that coffee. Kampai!

Suntory Whiskies: America's Only Choice for Japanese Whisky (at least for now)

Welcome to day two of our Japanese St. Patrick's Week special. Today, a brief profile of the Suntory company.

Suntory is the giant of Japanese Whisky and the only producer currently exporting to the United States. The Suntory company owns two malt whisky distilleries: Yamazaki and Hakushu and also makes a number of blends.


Yamazaki

For years, Yamazaki was the only Japanese Whisky available in the US. For that reason, to the extent most Americans are familiar with Japanese Whisky, they are familiar with Yamazaki and, more specifically, the two expressions which have been most widely sold here: Yamazaki 12 year old ($30-$40) and 18 year old ($90-$100).

Located near Kyoto on the main Japanese island of Honshu, the Yamazaki Distillery is the oldest whisky distillery in Japan. The 12 and 18 year olds are vattings of single malts aged in a number of different woods, including American oak, Spanish oak and Japanese Oak (Mizunara). In Japan, the distillery sells single malts made from just one of these types of wood, as well as sherry cask and other variations.

In addition to the 12 and 18 year old, Yamazaki briefly released its Japanese oak aged vintage 1984 whisky in the US a few years ago.

I've had all of the Yamazakis available in the US and am a fan of all three. They are good, malty whiskies that would likely please any lover of single malt Scotch, particularly those who enjoy more rugged Highlanders like Highland Park. What I'd really love to see, though, is some of the bottlings that are still reserved for Japan. I had a fabulous, well balanced 15 year old sherry cask Yamazaki that was heavily sherried but still retained a signifiant malt flavor. The Japanese oak whiskies are particularly popular and it would be nice to see another such release on our shores.


Hakushu

Also located on Honshu, Hakushu is Suntory's other distillery, founded in 1973. Hakushu creates a wide range of whiskies, included both peated and non-peated malts. Suntory recently released their first Hakushu in the US, the peated 12 year old ($55). I've had some Hakushus but nothing from their peated line, so I can't speak to that one. Overall, I've preferred the Yamazakis to non-peated Hakushus.


Hibiki

Suntory's last entry into the US market is the Hibiki 12 year old blend. A very drinkable blend, Hibiki would rank well among blended whiskies available in the US were it not for the price, which tends to be around $60 (though Hi-Time has it for considerably cheaper).

Hibiki is Suntory's top shelf blend, but they have a number of other labels that are limited to Japan. The grain whiskey is distilled at the Chita distillery, which has also done single grain expressions.


Aside from whisky, Suntory markets beer, rum and soda.

Tomorrow: Nikka Whisky