Jim Beam Bourbon Making Resurgence Around the World
MALVEAUX: Jim Beam may sound like your grandfather's drink, but it's making a resurgence around the world. Poppy Harlow's got the story.</s>POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's almost as old as this country.</s>FRED NOE, MASTER DISTILLER, JIM BEAM: The nectar of the gods.</s>HARLOW: Bourbon. Perhaps not since prohibition have this many people wanted to drink it. (on camera): What has happened in just the last past few years with bourbon?</s>NOE: It's going through a renaissance. Exporting bourbon around the world. People from Australia, Germany, the U.K., the Far East, they're discovering bourbon and liking it.</s>HARLOW (voice-over): The great grandson of Jim Beam took us on a tour of their distillery. (on camera): This is bourbon country?</s>NOE: Yes, ma'am. Right where we're standing, within 65 percent of where we are, 95 percent of the world's bourbon is produced.</s>HARLOW: There are more barrels of bourbon in Kentucky right now than people. 4.7 million barrels aging in the Bluegrass State.</s>NOE: We have almost two million barrels of bourbon aging here at our facility.</s>HARLOW (voice-over): But why the popularity now?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's a story to tell of America's native spirit. It has heritage, craftsmanship, authenticity, and people want to hear those stories.</s>UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: That's the way I got in.</s>HARLOW: Or maybe it's the "Mad Men" effect.</s>UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I'm doing my best here.</s>NOE: Bourbon was kind of considered your dad's drink or granddad's drink. Nobody fooled with it much. We're starting to see the growth. It's grown leaps and bounds.</s>HARLOW: Or maybe it's the women.</s>NOE: We're learning that, hey, the female market is a big market. And for years, everybody neglected the women because they never thought they would drink bourbon.</s>HARLOW (on camera): Last year alone, almost $1.4 billion of liquor was exporting in America. Almost 70 percent of that was whiskey. And a big portion, bourbon. Why? Because you can't make it just anywhere. (voice-over): In 1964, Congress decreed bourbon a distinct product of the United States, just like Scotch only comes from Scotland. That's what's keeping these jobs in Kentucky.</s>NOE: It is America's native spirit. It's as America as it gets.</s>HARLOW: And America still sells. (on camera): Is this the busiest year you've had yet?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.</s>HARLOW: No question?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No question.</s>HARLOW (voice-over): Makers Mark shipped out more than 12 million bottles of bourbon last year. Jim Beam turns out 180 bottles a minute. And the Kentucky bourbon trail gets 450,000 visits a year. (on camera): This is one thing you can never outsource no matter what?</s>NOE: No, ma'am. This is something we've been doing in Kentucky. We've been doing it for over 200 years and we'll do it for 200 years in the future.</s>MALVEAUX: Poppy, how much is the international market, China, India, fueling this big bourbon boom?</s>HARLOW: That's a great question. They're a huge driver. You've got this wealthier class rising in India, in China. They are buying this all of a sudden. That's a big part. When we talk about the global economy, the wobbly recovery and the questions about China's growth, that plays into this. If they continue not to do as well, that's going to mean the production in Kentucky will fall because the demand won't be as high. But they haven't seen that at all right now. It was so interesting to see such an American industry doing so well and what it means for these very rural small towns in Kentucky. But Congress declared that bourbon has to come from the United States.</s>HARLOW: And how many jobs does it actually creates here?</s>HARLOW: When you talk Beam, which owns Jim Beam, they own Maker's Mark, they're the biggest liqueur company in the work, they actually increased their jobs in Kentucky. They went from 650 jobs five years ago to 950 jobs. Increased pretty dramatically. They've invested millions and they're going to continue to. They're the biggest liquor company in the U.S. So it's good to see that happening there.</s>MALVEAUX: Poppy Harlow. Thank you, Poppy. Good report, as always. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin. Hey, Brooke.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I see that Poppy Harlow got there, Suzanne. Thank you so much.