Beam Suntory has provided further details on its proposed US$400m investment in the Booker Noe distillery in Kentucky.
The spend, initially confirmed in July, is set to increase the production capacity of the facility by 50%. The distillery, which provides liquid for the group’s Jim Beam Bourbon brand, will also cut its greenhouse gas emissions by the same level thanks to the installation of anaerobic digestors that produce natural gas as well as fertiliser.
Details of the distillery’s current production capacity were not immediately available, although a report three years ago estimated that combined with Beam Suntory’s site in Clermont, Kentucky, annual production runs at around “25m proof gallons”.
“Upon project completion, which is expected in 2024, the Booker Noe distillery will be 65% powered by renewable natural gas, and 35% by fossil-based natural gas,” Beam Suntory said this week.
The project qualifies for up to $3m in tax incentives over 15 years through the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, based around job creation and wage & benefits levels. A further $550,000 will be recouped by Beam Suntory for construction costs and building fixtures.
In results for the first six months of 2022, announced last month, the company, which is owned by Suntory, saw its sales double the growth rate of volumes thanks to the “premiumisation agenda”.
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