Beam Suntory, which produces the top-selling Jim Beam bourbon, recently announced that it is ramping up its bourbon production in Boston, Kentucky, with the help of natural gas.
The company’s largest Kentucky distillery is undertaking a $400 million expansion that will increase capacity by 50% while simultaneously decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.
It’s all part of a companywide mission to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and water usage in half by 2030, according to Beam Suntory, a subsidiary of Suntory, based in Osaka, Japan. By 2040, Beam Suntory hopes to remove more carbon than is emitted from its operations and among its supplier base. The company has also pledged to plant half a million trees every year by 2030, so that it is planting more trees than are used to make barrels to hold its whiskey.
If all goes as planned, by 2024, 65% of the distillery will be fueled by renewable natural gas and 35% by natural gas.
Through an agreement with 3 Rivers Energy Partners, a facility will be built—directly across the street from the Beam plant—that will convert waste from making bourbon into biogas. That biogas will be treated to meet RNG standards and piped directly back to the distillery.
“We are committed to making a difference by investing in cleaner technologies and systems, and the expansion and significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from this project does just that with our biggest brand,” Beam Suntory President and CEO Albert Baladi said in a news release. “This expansion will help ensure we meet future demand for our iconic bourbon in a sustainable way that supports the environment and the local community that has helped build and support Jim Beam.” —Geoff Williams