Bourbon maker Jim Beam stops production at Kentucky site for 2026
The maker of Jim Beam bourbon whiskey will halt production at its main site in Kentucky for all of 2026.The company said in a statement it would close its distillery in Clermont until it took the “opportunity to invest in site enhancements”.“We are always assessing production levels to best meet consumer demand and recently met with our team to discuss our volumes for 2026,” it said.It comes as whiskey distillers in the US face uncertainty around Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, as well as declining rates of alcohol consumption.In October, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA) trade body said there was a record amount of bourbon in warehouses across the state – more than 16m barrels.
The KDA warned distillers faced a “crushing” $75m (£65m) in taxes on their inventory this year, as the state charges tax on ageing barrels of spirits.Jim Beam said it was assessing how it would use its workforce while it paused production and was in talks with its workers’ union.The company’s other operations in Kentucky, including another distillery and its bottling and warehouse plants, would remain open next year.Its visitor centre in Kentucky will also stay open.Jim Beam is owned by the Japanese drinks group Suntory Global Spirits, which employs more than 6,000 people around the world, with more than 1,000 people across its sites in Kentucky.
Known for its celebrated single malt whiskies, Suntory’s brands also include Haku vodka and Sipsmith gin, as well as soft drinks Orangina and Lucozade.It acquired the US maker of Jim Beam in 2014 for $16bn, securing its status as one of the world’s biggest spirits makers.In September, its chief executive, Takeshi Niinami, resigned from the company after police raided his home as part of an investigation into suspected illegal supplements.Niinami, who has denied any wrongdoing, had joined Suntory in 2014, becoming the first executive from outside the founding family, after 12 years as chief executive of the convenience store chain Lawson.Trump’s tariffs have cast a shadow of uncertainty across the spirits industry this year.
In March, some Canadian provinces pulled American spirits from stores as a retaliatory move against US tariffs on Canadian goods,Since then some provinces have resumed buying American alcohol,In the UK, whisky distillers are subject to a 10% tariff on goods exported to the US,The Scotch Whisky Association has estimated that it costs the sector £4m a week,
Rowing’s answer to snowcross, BMX and beach volleyball is coming to LA
At a point when most rowers are pounding away on rivers in the wind and rain through the dark winter months, a new breed are honing their skills in brighter climes surrounded by sun, sand and waves, all the while dreaming of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.Out of 17 sports that proposed an extra discipline to the International Olympic Committee, rowing came out on top with its beach sprints format added to the LA 2028 programme. While many may have noticed the addition of five new sports in baseball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash, a mini-revolution is happening on the water within a sport that will no longer have a lightweight category but will have five coastal rowing events in 2028.Coastal beach sprints shake up this most traditional and predictable of sports by taking the core elements of rowing – a need for extreme levels of fitness and psychological toughness – and adding new layers of jeopardy and a beach-party vibe. The discipline involves a head-to-head format and begins on land with athletes running down the beach and jumping into their boats at the water’s edge, then racing out around a buoy before hurtling back to dry land, leaping out of their boats and sprinting up the beach
Joshua and Paul provide pitiful spectacle and the worst is there’s more to come | Donald McRae
Jake Paul’s mouth opened wide, and his eyes became huge glazed saucers, as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua finally ended the circus in Miami late on Friday night. It looked as if Paul was trying to say “Wow!” as the severity of impact registered in his scrambled brain.Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling to Joshua’s legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in his utterly stunned moment.So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion
Mitchell Starc urges ICC to take action on Snicko as confidence in system dwindles
The Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc has urged the International Cricket Council to step in and pay for a standard suite of umpiring technologies following a collapse of confidence in the Ashes’ decision review system during the Adelaide Test.The England team were left frustrated when the miscalibrated Snicko system cost them the crucial wicket of Alex Carey on the first day of the Test, and coach Brendon McCullum lodged a complaint in the wake of the decision.Day two only amplified calls for the system to be replaced after two more contentious decisions were made when Jamie Smith was at the crease, the first giving him a reprieve despite the batter appearing to glove the ball. Amid the Australians’ exasperation, Starc could be heard on the stump mic declaring Snicko should be “sacked”.Speaking after the Test, the left-arm paceman said he understands how fans, officials and broadcasters have become frustrated
NFL week 16: Steelers edge Lions in thriller, Jaguars stun Broncos, Panthers beat Bucs – as it happened
I don’t think there is anything I can add to that absolutely crackers ending. Pittsburgh survive by the skin of their teeth. Mike Tomlin confirms a 19th season without a losing record. Ironman. Goodnight
‘RIP’: Australian media revels in ‘deeply lamented’ death of Bazball after Ashes woe
The sports sections of Australia’s major mastheads were on Monday largely dedicated to ridiculing pre-series predictions of an England Ashes victory, and announcing the end of the tourists’ now-compromised attacking philosophy.“Bazball is dead”, asserted the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, quoting former Australian opener Simon Katich. The West Australian newspaper fully committed to the theme, mocking up a pronouncement of Bazball’s passing on ye olde parchment, “deeply lamented by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, but basically no one else”.However, the triumphal moment in the country’s greatest sporting rivalry was diluted in Monday’s newspapers, as a belated and ultimately hard-earned Ashes victory was pushed from the front pages by the fallout from the Bondi terror attack.In The Sydney Morning Herald, the match didn’t warrant a mention on either the front page or the news section, even though the series arrives at the SCG in less than two weeks
Wesley Plaisier claims ‘biggest victory’ in stunning upset of Gerwyn Price
By the end, all Gerwyn Price could do was applaud. There was no snarling and no sullenness from the former champion, just a nod of recognition, an admission that sometimes the other guy just plays darts from the gods. And here the other guy was Wesley Plaisier, the world No 92 from the Netherlands, a player of rich potential, but nothing that would ever have suggested he was capable of a shock of this magnitude.The talent has always been there: last year he joined a select group of players to have won a Pro Tour event despite not holding a tour card.After making his way through Q-School, this year has been harder
UK failure to seal EU tax exemption hands industry mountain of paperwork
Reform councillors in Kent condemned for spending thousands on political assistants
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‘It’s rather rude’: Truss accused of trying to poach members of rival Tory club
UK politics: ‘Not clear’ who was behind FCDO hack, says minister, amid reports of China link – as it happened
UK Foreign Office victim of cyber-attack in October, says Chris Bryant