00:00:00 DIXIE HIBBS: This is Dixie Hibbs interviewing Craig Beam on August 28,
2013, for the Kentucky Bourbon Tales Oral History Project of the University of
Kentucky [Louie] Nunn Center for Oral History. Well, Craig, would you, uh, give
us some information about your background and, uh, growing up here in, uh,
Bardstown and all? How you got into the, the, uh, bourbon-making business?
CRAIG BEAM: Okay. Well, uh, of course, first of all, my last name is Beam, if
that's any, any indication. (laughs) Uh, oh, I guess just growing up around,
uh, around, uh, Dad and being around here with my grandfather. And we used to
come out here to Heaven Hill with my grandfather and, and Dad also, follow them
around on the weekends. And, and, uh, and just growing up on the farm, and
listen to Dad and my grandfather talk about distill-, distilling, and talk about
00:01:00Heaven Hill, the any kind of problems they had or ideas they had. And, uh, and
I guess just, uh, you know, thought, Well, maybe that was something that maybe I
could, I could fit into if I, if I kept the job going, kept, kept the tradition
going. Hopefully, I, I knew I had some big footsteps to fill. So, uh, you
know, like I was saying earlier, I, growing up on the farm, so I thought, Well,
maybe I'd like to be a veterinarian. But, again, I didn't care about going to
school all that long. So, uh, or a met-, meteorologist. And always watched the
weather. And, of course, you had to watch the weather when you're trying to,
uh, be on the farm--
HIBBS: --yeah--
BEAM: --about putting up hay, or whatever you had to do, it was all, the
weather was always farm related to what, whatever you kind of dictated how you
was going to cut, when you was going to cut hay. And today the weather's kind
of that way with the distillery, about you kind of watch the crops and how good
the corn is going to be and the wheat and, and your barley malt that you use,
uh, and the ryes. So, the weather and distillery and the farm all go hand-in-hand.
00:02:00
HIBBS: --I get it--
BEAM: --so anyway, I guess just, uh, just listening to my father talk and, and
following him around his footsteps. So it's kind thought maybe I might try, try
my hand at, at, uh, at Heaven Hill as well.
HIBBS: Well, and I find I, remember you came in here in the 1980s?
BEAM: Nineteen eighty-three, actually--
HIBBS: --[Nineteen] Eighty-three--
BEAM: --is when I started.
HIBBS: Got it.
BEAM: Now, I, prior to that, I'd worked a lot of summer jobs.
HIBBS: Okay.
BEAM: Uh, cleaning out warehouses. And, uh, I did work in the bottling house
there one summer when they didn't have palletizers and stack cases by hand and
swept up glass and hauled garbage to the dump. And, uh, then I drove a truck
over the road for two years for Heaven Hill. So--
HIBBS: --wow--
BEAM: --uh, so I kind of was getting my feet wet a little bit--
HIBBS: --(laughs) it was a--
BEAM: --and then I started full-timing at the distillery in 1983--
HIBBS: --trial by fire there--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --yeah, I didn't know that.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: If you didn't like it, you were, you had the opportunity to, to try it
00:03:00out and then quit it if you didn't--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --but you're still here today.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: That way. Um, one of the things we talk about, of course, distilling.
And I heard you say earlier that you buy the grain. Grain, uh, yeast, the, um,
water, all of that is so important in making a whiskey. Now, which would you
think is the most important?
BEAM: Well, I get asked that a whole lot.
HIBBS: Yeah.
BEAM: And it really takes the combination of all of the above to be good. You
got to start off, of course, naturally have good water. Limestone water is, is
important. Uh, then, of course, the grain and, and the yeast, all that has to
be good. You can't just, just one thing's not going to, uh, help, help the
other. You can't just have good corn and everything else go down the tubes. It,
it all takes a combination of everything coming together.
HIBBS: The, um, and then what, you know, what makes good bourbon?
BEAM: Uh, well, first of all, the yeast that we have really is a sweet yeast.
00:04:00And that's a big, big part of it right there. Uh, and your water, that, that
good water helps a whole lot. So, I say yeast in your water. And then, of
course, naturally, you know, you can get corn. Uh, of course, you want good
quality corn, and, uh, which we do get. We go, go back and--
HIBBS: --does it, uh, is it the amount of moisture in the corn, or how dry the
corn is, or?
BEAM: Well, we, we like for the corn to be, to be between 12 and 14 percent,
you know, for our milling--
HIBBS: --okay--
BEAM: --uh, operation, which you can't get. If you can get, if you get any
higher than, you get up around 15 or higher, uh, then you're going to have a lot
of, you won't be able to run it through your mills--
HIBBS: --okay, too hard--
BEAM: --it going to choke you down--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --and mess, mess up your operation, that's for sure.
HIBBS: Your dad spoke about hammer mill and the roller mills. What are you all
using right now?
BEAM: We use hammer mills--
HIBBS: --mills.
BEAM: Yeah, they seem to do a good job for us.
HIBBS: Yeah.
BEAM: That's, Dad was using hammer mills and my grandfather was using hammer mills.
00:05:00
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: So why not rock the boat? And it all worked good, so--
HIBBS: --okay--
BEAM: --the old saying, "Don't fix if it it's not broke."
HIBBS: Okay.
BEAM: So just keep on that tradition. They're pretty durable and I like the
way they do our grain as well.
HIBBS: One of the questions I asked your father also--and I, I don't want you
to feel like I'm just following along, uh, asking the same but, uh--
BEAM: --no, that's fine--
HIBBS: --but, uh, it's interesting as a contrast between, uh, he had the
opportunity here, uh, that a lot of distillers don't, by working for the one
family, not working for a corporation or a changing board, and things like that.
Um, what do you, uh, how do you think that's made any difference in, in, uh, in
yourself? I mean, he answered, how it made a difference for him. But, uh,
what, uh, you know, if you were working for another distillery, you, you would
have different leadership there, different people--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --to answer to, and.
BEAM: Well, I think it, you know, it's, it's, being family-owned, it's, it's
definitely, you know, probably a little bit more relaxing. Uh, they kind of let
00:06:00you run your own show, let you run and steer it like you, like you own it
yourself. They don't come down and say, "Oh, you got to do this, you got to do
that, and don't do this, and don't do that."
HIBBS: Okay.
BEAM: Uh, I've never been told, "Oh, we're making too much whiskey." Just keep
on making it, you know. And like we was saying earlier--
HIBBS: --yeah--
BEAM: --do whatever you have to do to keep it running. You know, don't shut
down because it snows, and--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --or how bad the weather gets, or, you know, try to make it some way. And
of course, you know, I'll say, I know throughout the year, whatever we project
to make that year, and, uh, I always get, get a call from Max and say, "Oh, we
need a little bit, need five thousand more barrels of this," or, or "Five
hundred more barrels of this or that." So I was always a firm believer of
always try to build a little fluff in the system and keep the metal to the
pedal, or pedal to the metal, in other words. (laughs)
HIBBS: Oh, that's right. Pedal to the metal, you're right that.
00:07:00
BEAM: But yeah, and, you know, I think, uh, you know, if you're going, working
for another big corporation, uh, that's not family-owned, you might have, you
know, maybe too many bosses trying to tell you what to do.
HIBBS: Um-hm. Well, you can, uh, watch today's economy that, uh, distilleries
change hands.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: And they, literally, uh, they aren't handed over, but next thing you
know you're working for another, another owner. And--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --you don't know whether things, the uncertainty of it--
BEAM: --sure--
HIBBS: --I think, may be detrimental on that.
BEAM: --right, right--
HIBBS: --yeah, on that way. Um, you have associated with members of the
bourbon families, as they call them. Uh, you know, the Russells, and--
BEAM: --oh, yes--
HIBBS: --and the, you know, you've got the father and son there, you have
Booker and, and, uh, his son. And just I, I guess I'm looking for your
observations maybe on how this family, coming down through the families, how,
how you think that's?
BEAM: Well, I, I'm, I'm glad to see that. Uh, you know, I was glad to see
Jimmy Russell and his son Eddie--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --come together. And, and then, of course, you had Booker, and then you
had, and you got--
00:08:00
HIBBS: --Freddie--
BEAM: --Freddie, so they, they came together. And then, and then as I hear, I
think, uh, Freddie might be getting his son--
HIBBS: --yeah--
BEAM: --uh, training right now.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: His, his, his son Freddie, Jr.--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --I guess they call him.
HIBBS: --yeah--
BEAM: --so how all that's come, coming down the pipeline too. So, uh, yeah,
that's, it's a good thing to see. And, uh, we always talk. Uh, and of course,
a lot of times we all go to, you know, WhiskeyFest together, and WhiskeyFest in
Chicago, and WhiskeyFest in New York, and WhiskeyFest in San Francisco, so we
see each other a whole lot during those times.
HIBBS: Okay.
BEAM: And, uh, and occasionally, uh, uh, we, we might even try to have lunch
together sometime. It used to be a little bit more common, uh, but as we all
get spread so thin, it's makes it a little bit harder to--
BEAM: --um-hm--
HIBBS: --to get together. But, uh, yeah, we, and of course, during Bourbon
Festival, we're going to get to see everybody--
HIBBS: --everybody--
BEAM: --so it, it's always a good time.
HIBBS: I think the Bourbon Festival offers the opportunity for people in the
whiskey industry, the barrel rollers, and the truck drivers, and everybody to,
00:09:00uh, to see all the other individuals that are involved, not just their
distillery, but the others too.
HIBBS: Sure, it's--
BEAM: --uh, uh, competition--
HIBBS: --a great thing for us--
BEAM: --it is that.
HIBBS: Um-hm. Because it do, it takes, uh, the distillers and the owners may
get the, the publicity, but, uh, if you don't have the rest of them behind you,
you're not going very far--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --that way--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --that way. Uh, yeah, um, you have any funny stories about any of the
youngsters or the, or the ones that you've been associated with, either here and
there, or at one of the WhiskeyFests that you might have had, uh, uh, something
happen that was, uh, well, you're passing around the industry, uh, how all,
there's lots of characters in, in, uh, bourbon whiskey-making.
BEAM: Well, we always consider Greg Davis. He's kind of a character so.
HIBBS: Okay.
BEAM: You know, he's with Maker's Mark--
HIBBS: --Mark--
BEAM: --now--
HIBBS: --yeah.
BEAM: So, uh, he's the youngest of all the distillers. So we always, uh, we
always call him the baby.
HIBBS: Baby?
BEAM: Yeah. We always say, "Hey, the baby distiller over there" is what we all
00:10:00call him.
HIBBS: Always call him.
BEAM: So, yeah. Yeah, we always, uh, kind of cut up with him and have a big
time with him.
HIBBS: Um, do most of the distillers, uh, come up like you and your dad did,
like from the bottom, or are they hired out of college? Or, I'm thinking about
Greg, uh, I think he's, you know--
BEAM: --well, now, get back to Greg--
HIBBS: --yeah--
BEAM: --he kind of, I think he was, uh, in the brewery industry for, for a
while. Then I think, then he was, he went to work at Brown-Forman for a little
while. Then, uh, then I'm trying to think where else. Oh, I know, he did go to Barton's--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --for a while. So, uh, and I guess he just kind of, you know, he didn't,
he didn't really have a family, I guess, to fall back--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --on like I did. But, uh, he's made is way though.
HIBBS: Yeah.
BEAM: Made his, he's made his marks, in other words--
HIBBS: --Mark, okay--
BEAM: --you know, Maker's Mark. So--(laughs)--
HIBBS: --right, there you are. Well, I guess I wanted those to contrast too,
to say that, you know, you feel like Beam gave you a foot in the door. But that
door would've slam pretty hard if you hadn't been able to, to produce--
00:11:00
BEAM: --oh yeah--
HIBBS: --or to continue--
BEAM: --oh, right, right--
HIBBS: --yeah.
BEAM: Yeah, I guess, uh, you're, he was a little bit nervous going into it, and
hope, you know, you had some big shoes to fill.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: I did, you know, I want to keep carrying on the tradition and try to do
the right thing.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: And you didn't want to vary off too much, you know. Keep, keep
everything going like, uh, Dad did and my grandfather did. And, of course,
there was a whole lot, you know, I guess the Shapira family was expected of you
to, to follow that trait--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --and try to keep, and keep the yields up and the quality. And so, uh,
you know, through, through all trials and tribulations, I, I was able to, to do
that. So, keep, they keep it going, even when we had the fire, and then we got,
you know, we bought a facility in Louisville--
HIBBS: --okay--
BEAM: --so that was totally automated. And so, it had a whole group of new
people that you had to really train in to show them how, how you make whiskey--
HIBBS: --how you make--
BEAM: --not who the previous owners showed them how--
HIBBS: --yeah, right--
BEAM: --but how you had, you know, how, how we were going to do it at Heaven Hill.
00:12:00
HIBBS: There we go. (Beam laughs) There you are. That's the kind of thing
that happens when, uh, owners change, so to speak. Um-hm.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: Um, the, um, what, uh, is your biggest challenge in the future now? Uh,
I mean, what, what do you see with your father, uh, retired, or at least taking
less and lesser roles? I mean, uh, you don't have the title "Master Distiller"
yet, do you?
BEAM: Oh yes.
HIBBS: I'm sorry--
BEAM: --yeah--
HIBBS: --oh--
BEAM: --no, that's fine. In fact, I--
HIBBS: --I'm corrected--
BEAM: --in fact, I just got promoted here a few months ago.
HIBBS: Ah, okay.
BEAM: Was vice master--
HIBBS: --oh, okay--
BEAM: --vice president--
HIBBS: --master distiller--
BEAM: --master distiller--
HIBBS: --I apologize--
BEAM: --(laughs)--no, that's fine.
HIBBS: You know, that, that happens when older people--
BEAM: --yeah--
HIBBS: --uh, look at younger ones that they remember when they were much
smaller. They don't think about that.
BEAM: Right, right.
HIBBS: Um, so--
BEAM: --so that, that kind of means I'll be even traveling more--
HIBBS: --that's right--
BEAM: --since, uh, since Dad's not able to travel.
HIBBS: Travel as much. You're going to be the, that one.
BEAM: Right, right.
HIBBS: Well, I, I know you will be fine there. But I think when you, probably
when you started this, did you ever think that might be, uh, that you were going
00:13:00to have to represent personally, not just get the job done, but stand up and,
and tell the story, so to speak, about--
BEAM: --uh, no, you didn't really, you know, back when I started, of course,
nobody was doing it at the time. You know, you didn't have the master
distillers traveling all over the country. Uh, and, of course, I guess that
probably got started doing a little bit of it, I didn't really start until
probably in, did a little bit of it in probably the early- to mid-nineties.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: Just here and there. Uh, of course, Dad was doing more of it all the
time. So I suppose he could do it because I was here--
HIBBS: --that's right--
BEAM: --running the distillery--
HIBBS: --that's what I was going to say--
BEAM: --for him, so.
HIBBS: That's right. That's what I was going to say.
BEAM: So, uh, and then, you know, uh, that's what I was, uh, always saying,
"Well, you know, it's kind of hard to travel around when you're trying to run
the distillery as well." So, over the years, I've got computers and iPads and
where I can, uh, I can call the distillery up wherever I go. And when I travel,
I can see the whole operation. Uh, from my house, I can see the whole
00:14:00operation, if I'm in the airport or wherever I'm traveling.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: Because I got all that capability now, so we make sure we've got enough
grain or got a problem or anything. So kind of still keep an eye on it. Uh, so
yeah, I guess, uh, you know, as, as all the master distillers started getting
out, traveling a whole lot more. And then, and then, I guess, get back to, you
know, some of the master distillers, and some are competitors right now, or they
call theirselves "Master Distillers," or label "Master Distillers," but they've
never really worked in the distillery at all. (laughs)
HIBBS: Oh, okay. (Beam laughs) Uh, are they master at, uh, reading directions
or something, or what, you know, I don't--
BEAM: --well, they just out, you know, promoting.
HIBBS: Out promoting.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: Okay.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: Well, then they could call themselves "Master Marketers."
BEAM: Yeah.
HIBBS: I mean, that would be, uh, yeah.
BEAM: Yeah. Right.
HIBBS: Yeah, the, um, I was going to follow that with that question. You
basically answered it. Who do you have to back you up when you're gone, as, are
you training another distillery, distiller?
00:15:00
BEAM: Well, uh, uh, I had, uh, Charlie Downs.
HIBBS: Oh.
BEAM: He, uh, he's been with, with Heaven Hill, I guess, for thirty-five,
thirty-six years. And so, he's, he's been, been right there, my, my
second-in-command, and--
HIBBS: --okay, okay--
BEAM: --and he, he's done a great, great job. And, well, in fact, he's going
to be moving out now. He's going to go to the Evan Williams Experience, uh,
micro-distillery He's going to run that.
HIBBS: That one.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: That's down on, uh, in Louisville on--
BEAM: --on Main Street.
HIBBS: On Main Street.
BEAM: Uh-huh.
HIBBS: Um-hm, that way.
BEAM: Right. Right.
HIBBS: And that, again, uh, is a unique thing that, uh, the idea that you are
going to provide the, uh, experience for people to learn more about distilling--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --from, uh, where they don't have to drive very far. They just come out
of a hotel room and walk down the block and can have that. And hopefully
they'll get in their car and come out here, because this--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --this is really where--
BEAM: --right--
HIBBS: --uh, that's the micro is the small version, here's the big, big one
here, that way.
BEAM: Right, right.
HIBBS: That way. What is your favorite brand?
00:16:00
BEAM: Favorite, favorite--
HIBBS: --uh, favorite brand that you've got here?
BEAM: Uh, well, I like the Evan Williams Single Barrel very much. And, uh,
then that Larceny is--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --is very good as well--
HIBBS: --I like the Larceny, um-hm--
BEAM: --with the, with the wheat in it. So it's, uh, I've been drinking a lot
of that.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: Even got some Maker's Mark people drink-, drinking a lot of it too.
HIBBS: Ooh. (Beam laughs) Well, everybody has to have, uh, taste comparisons.
You know, it's like that. That's what happens.
BEAM: Yeah.
HIBBS: Yeah.
BEAM: Oh, right, right, right.
HIBBS: Uh--
BEAM: --but yeah, the, the Larceny is very good.
HIBBS: Right. Yeah. Did, um, the Bourbon Trail, I'm sure you've been on the
Bourbon Trail, but, I mean, what do you think about that?
BEAM: Oh, I think it's fantastic for the state of Kentucky. It's, uh, it's,
uh, getting, getting everybody, you know, it's helps, it helps get the word out
and what we do here in Kentucky. Uh, helps get our bourbon sold, it helps
everybody. It's, it's, uh, uh, I see the sky's the limit. I guess you just--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --it's just growing, growing, growing. And, uh, you know, I think it's
00:17:00really fantastic for our state. Sure is.
HIBBS: Well, we have the advantage--(coughs)--excuse me--of having, uh, an
experience, something you can come and do, and beautiful scenery. And you're
closer to the East Coast than Napa Valley, or anywhere else like that.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: So, uh, you, uh, you get a lot for your money coming to Kentucky and
traveling the Bourbon Trail.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: And they, uh, the people who come often come back and bring their friends--
BEAM: --sure, oh yes--
HIBBS: --so you have that, which is--
BEAM: --yeah, I've seen the, you know, uh, seen the same people that, that,
like you said, bring family or friends in. And, uh, and then, the same way, you
know, at all these WhiskeyFest events, you see, you'll see, uh, some of the same
people keep coming back and coming back, year after year. And, uh, they're
always eager to try your new Parker's that we introduced every year and, and our
new single barrel that we would come out, Evan Williams Single Barrel every year
as well.
HIBBS: You, uh, I, I was glad to hear that your, your, you and your father
00:18:00agree on the, on the proper taste for, like, Evan Williams and the, uh, the
other premium whiskeys and things. So that, uh, ten years, or twenty years, or
whenever, uh, keeps continuing to come out like that. People can expect that
same taste.
BEAM: Sure.
HIBBS: Um, the white oak barrel, we're sitting here surrounded by barrels and
I'm thinking, uh, I know that's vital to the aging process here. Is there any
consideration if we run out of white oak barrels that are we going to be able to
make bourbon?
BEAM: Well, we hope so. Well, as that you mention that, there is kind of a
short of supply. So we hope that, uh, the barrel manufacturers can keep going
and keep, keep up with everybody. It's, that, that is a concern--
HIBBS: --concern.
BEAM: That's, uh, that's trying to get the logs cut, and trying to get the
staves in, because you got to get, you know, get, all that has to be, uh, in time--
00:19:00
HIBBS: --dried and things, yeah, um-hm--
BEAM: --and, and sink, and, uh, you got to get the logs, which is, they're
having a hard time getting the logs. It's, it's, you know, it was a wet summer
and wet spring. And, uh, trying to get the logs into the stave mills, and they
got to get it cut, and you'd like for it to be ten/twelve months sitting out to
dry on its own.
HIBBS: Um-hm, yeah.
BEAM: And try to have five months to a year supply, that a lot of the, a lot of
the barrel manufacturers would like to have that.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: But they'll, they'll be hard-pressed. And of course, there's all the
distilleries are running, you know, six, seven days a week, and the showdown
periods aren't near of what they used to be and everybody's grown and adding on.
So, it just makes you wonder if you're going to have enough barrels to fulfill
the, your production needs, and especially the year 2014.
HIBBS: Is there any, uh, consideration of literally cutting the char out of the
inside of a used barrel, and where you can get into the, uh, or cutting it down
00:20:00some to where you can get back into the, the wood again? I'm not saying that
very clearly. But I know you've got charred, a certain thickness to go in
there. But if you take that layer of char off and re-char it, would anything
like that work or have they ever considered that?
BEAM: I haven't heard anybody talk about that. Uh, I'm not sure if, what that
would do to you. It could be, uh, probably would be taking something out of
your wood--
HIBBS: --that's what I wondering, and the, you know, where(??)--
BEAM: --that, that may not make your whiskey age out at the proper age.
HIBBS: Um-hm. That might be something they might experiment to see, put it in
a warehouse and see what happens, because, you know, I know they're selling the
used barrels to other, uh, in a Scotch whiskey and Irish whiskey too, I think.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: The barrel's are not being thrown away. But, uh, when you're talking
about the kind of volume you're doing here, if there be any way you could
recycle those, even to a small amount?
BEAM: Of course, I know, we, we use a certain amount of used barrels back
ourself. And, uh, just put regular, you know, just put our regular bourbon in.
00:21:00
HIBBS: Bourbon, yeah.
BEAM: Just use it for, like, a blend.
HIBBS: Um-hm. Right.
BEAM: Uh, uh, and goes into a used barrel, and our corn whiskey goes into--
HIBBS: --used barrel--
BEAM: --used barrel, but you can taste it. You know, two or three years later,
it doesn't have, you know, the taste that you're looking for.
HIBBS: You haven't had that, uh, caramelized wood sugar.
BEAM: Right, right.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: You don't get the color, you don't get the taste.
HIBBS: Um-hm. Well, somebody'll come up with some solution.
BEAM: (laughs) Right, right.
HIBBS: Uh, I'm sure it's not going to be white oak trees growing fast--
BEAM: --yeah--
HIBBS: --but, uh, I don't know.
BEAM: Yeah. I think there's plenty of trees, just trying to get--
HIBBS: --get to them out--
BEAM: --them logged. Right.
HIBBS: Um-hm. Okay. That way. Uh, this particular distillery, uh, I know if
we've talked about some of it, but what do you think makes it most unique, or,
uh, that if somebody said, "Well, tell me what you think about the most unique
distillery in Kentucky," what would you say?
BEAM: Talk about any, any, any anybody?
HIBBS: Any, yeah, you can talk about anyone, um-hm.
BEAM: Oh. I guess Buffalo Trace is kind of, you know, I guess, unique, because
00:22:00you still got, got, uh, older, it's, it's one of the older ones. And--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --and, uh, it's got the old, some of the older equipment that still runs.
And, and, uh, they run, run a whole lot more, and run a whole lot harder. So I
guess it's a, it's kind of a unique, uh, distillery on its own, I guess.
HIBBS: Like an antique distillery, huh?
BEAM: Yeah, really.
HIBBS: Yeah, antique distillery, uh-huh.
BIBBS: Yeah, right, right.
HIBBS: Now, Buffalo Trace has the brick warehouses too, don't they?
BEAM: Yes, they do. Um-hm. Right. Right.
HIBBS: Yeah, and.
BEAM: Right. So yeah, that's, that's kind of a unique--
HIBBS: --unique, um-hm--
BEAM: --uh, distillery. And it's a nice setting up there, the way they have it
fixed up--
HIBBS: --um-hm, they probably don't, do they do as much volume or make as much
whiskey there as, like, Heaven Hill, or some of the other--
BEAM: --they don't, uh, as much as we do, but, uh, they have the capability to
run it hard. Uh, they are run, run it longer--
HIBBS: --okay--
BEAM: --than they used to. They used to, you know, be down for, for three or
four months at a time. And I believe this summer, they were only down, like,
three or four weeks.
HIBBS: Okay.
00:23:00
BEAM: So they, and they have, they have, uh, projected out there, I think
they're going to run pretty good for the next year. So they're going to be
running harder, just like we all are.
HIBBS: All are. So there go the barrels.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: There go the barrels.
BEAM: Right. I understand Barton's going to start up right after Labor Day and
they've got to run that up. I believe I heard that they're going to run that
six days a week--
HIBBS: --shew, wow--
BEAM: --I think for several years, so.
HIBBS: Well, that, one of the advantages of our industry here in Bardstown and
in Kentucky, is the fact that the economy, the bad economy we've been having
since 2008, uh, it doesn't appear to have, um, hurt the industry. In fact, the
industry seems to be holding well to keep people working.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: Because, if, uh, uh, you look around and you think, Okay, this, we lost
this company or we lost this factory and all here, here the distilleries are
still rolling along, building warehouses.
BEAM: Right, yeah. The building was--
HIBBS: --building--
BEAM: --the building during the economy when it slowed down, the building was,
everybody just went right on.
00:24:00
HIBBS: Yeah, um-hm.
BEAM: Just as I guess everybody drinks a little bit more when they're depressed
and sad, and then they drink, drink more when they're happy too. The economy's
going good, they're celebrating. So, it's a win-win situation for us.
HIBBS: Your dad and I talked a little bit about, uh, marketing and, uh, the
distilling and the marketing, because the marketing's what's driving the, the
need for the volume and all. And, uh, do you have any comments you want to make
on, uh, how marketing has changed? Or, or, uh, things that you like and don't
like about it, and just?
BEAM: Well, I guess the marketing, uh, they're, you know, they, they want you
out there in the marketplace a, a little bit more all the time and doing all
kinds of stuff. And, uh--(laughs)--which, that's fine, you know, just, it's
always hard to jockey the, your time, you know--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --when you have the distillery over here trying to operate and they want
you over here. And so, it's, it was a little juggling act. I guess that was a
little bit kind of flusterating and, uh, at times. And then, well, sometimes
they don't give you enough time or notice either. And then--(laughs)--
00:25:00
HIBBS: --call it and get on a plane, huh? Yeah.
BEAM: Yeah, yeah.
HIBBS: And bring your bottle with you, yeah.
BEAM: So, yeah, yeah. It's always hard to juggle your time that way, so.
HIBBS: Yeah, okay. Have you, do you think that the, uh, demand for the whiskey
though is a sign of success with marketing, both personal one-on-one, but also
the, uh, general advertising, or, or the, uh, creation of these new whiskey,
new, uh, brands, the new whiskeys that you talked about earlier?
BEAM: Well, I think it takes everything.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: You know, as they've had the master distillers get out on the road, start
traveling around the country and, and around the world in promoting, which I
guess that really started ten, twelve years ago--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --fifteen years ago.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: Uh, I think the word of mouth and getting out and, and doing tastings and
going to, and going to all these, uh, WhiskeyFest, uh--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --events, uh, I think that and, and with marketing and put dollars behind
00:26:00their products and advertising a little bit more in magazines and even a little
bit of us is getting our, getting on TV now. So--
HIBBS: --there you go, there you are.
BEAM: (laughs) So yeah, I think a combination of all that. But I think it
really probably started really when they started having the master--
HIBBS: --distillers--
BEAM: --distillers getting out and people personally--
HIBBS: --yeah--
BEAM: --you know, got to meet, meet the master distillers, and mo--
HIBBS: --do you remember the first time you were asked for your autograph?
BEAM: Uh, no, I can't remember the very first time.
HIBBS: Well, have you've been asked a few times or a lot?
BEAM: Oh, well, I get it quite a bit. Yeah.
HIBBS: Yeah, okay.
BEAM: Yeah.
HIBBS: So you think a, you not only have a, a recognizable name, but you al-,
they also recognize your face now and, and they can talk bourbon with you?
BEAM: Right, right.
HIBBS: That way. Great.
JOANNA HAY: I have a few--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
HAY: --questions. Could you describe your grandfather, Earl? What was he like
and what did he teach you?
BEAM: Well, I, I did have a opportunity, I guess I lived with him for about,
00:27:00uh, well, three or four years, I guess. And, uh, so he, we would talk
distillery talk a whole lot, uh, even at home. And, uh, he, uh, of course, he,
he taught me how to make the jug yeast. I mean, when I was, I started in 1983,
and I think, my grandfather, if I'm not mistaken, was around [19]83. And he was
still coming out to Heaven Hill a few days a week. And, uh, he got where he
couldn't get up the steps very good but we had an old elevator that he rode the,
the elevator up to the top floor. That's where we made the, made our jug yeast--
HIBBS: --jug yeast--
BEAM: --and, uh, so just, you know, working with him and, and him showing me
how to do all that, and once again, it gets back to cleaning this--
HIBBS: --um-hm--
BEAM: --and keeping everything clean, and, uh, he, uh, he was very happy, I
think, that I joined. And, and, uh, so yeah, he was, he was a good teacher too.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: So, you know, really, I had two teachers. I had my grandfather and a
00:28:00father. So--
HIBBS: --right--
BEAM: --uh, I had the best of both worlds, I guess, right there.
HIBBS: On that part, yeah. Of course, you know, I knew your grandmother, uh,
as a teacher.
BEAM: Um-hm.
HIBBS: Uh, and, uh, I remember I don't think I had her in class, but I remember
that I told your dad, it's my earliest memory of your mother while your
grandmother was, uh, in school like that.
BEAM: Um-hm.
HIBBS: Uh, when your father spoke about, uh, Calhoun, and Hudson, and, uh,
what's the other one? Anyway, the three of them, I guess, uh, talking about
going places and doing things, and, uh--
BEAM: --yeah, Booker--
HIBBS: --and Booker, yeah. Well, uh, three of them went, graduated from Old
Kentucky Home School. And, uh, Honeybee Graham was also in that same class.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: So, out of forty-two students, four of them stayed in that whiskey
industry. Now, Honeybee went into the, um, regulation. Now, he went the, the,
the ATF, I guess.
BEAM: Right, right, right.
HIBBS: Yeah, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, yeah.
BEAM: Um-hm.
HIBBS: And, uh, he always gave me credit for getting through high school,
because he was failing Latin terribly. (Beam laughs) I mean, and you, if you
00:29:00fail Latin, he wouldn't going to graduate from high school. So he used to tell
me, "Well, you saved me, and that's, and I've been a success ever since."
BEAM: Yeah.
HIBBS: And I didn't want to take credit for any of that, because I wasn't sure
that his success, I'd want, would rub off on me, kind of thing. (Beam laughs)
Because he, he's quite a character there again. But all of the, uh, those guys,
uh, turned up. That was a place to get work here at the distilleries in the
late fifties. We graduated in [19]59. And we didn't have as many factories
here and all. So, the distillery was really, uh, Calhoun went to Beam's,
because his father was there.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: Hudson came down here with your dad.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: And, uh, so this was a place to get a good job. Be part of the
community. And they all were farmers, too, if you think about that.
BEAM: Right, right.
HIBBS: There's something, there must be something about that correlation, about
making, taking the grains and making it into a product.
BEAM: Right.
HIBBS: Historically, you go back--
BEAM: --oh, yeah--
HIBBS: --and you can see, that's what the history of Kentucky has been taking
the raw materials, turning it into something that doesn't spoil and has
marketable value.
BEAM: Oh, right, right.
00:30:00
HIBBS: Put it on a flatboat and move it down to New Orleans.
BEAM: That's right, yeah. Right.
HIBBS: And today we bring people from New Orleans up here--
BEAM: --up here, right--
HIBBS: --to our distillery. So we don't have to flatboat it down.
BEAM: Right, right.
HIBBS: Craig, is there anything else you'd like to say?
BEAM: Uh, I guess not.
HAY: I have another question.
HIBBS: I'm sorry. Um-hm.
BEAM: Okay.
HAY: Can you talk about the origins of the yeast here at Heaven Hill and why is
it so important?
BEAM: Well, the yeast, uh, starts back with, uh, it goes back seven
generations. And my, it goes back, I guess, from, to Jacob Beam.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: And he brought it. Now, where he got it from, how it got started and how he--
HIBBS: --yeah--
BEAM: --he brought it over from Germany when he came over. And then it just
got handed down and, and to generation to generation. And, and of course, when
my, my grandfather split off from Jim Beam back in the mid-forties, he brought
some of the yeast with him at Heaven Hill. And, uh, so we're still working off
00:31:00that same strain of yeast--
HIBBS: --yeast--
BEAM: --and Jim Beam is still, uh, working off--
HIBBS: --working on that(??)--
BEAM: --the same strain of yeast. So yeah, it's a, it's been, it's been put up
against a few other, uh, uh, whiskey yeast out there over the years. We've had
some trials that we've kind of just, kind of done that for, well, for several
reasons. We, uh, just wanted to see if it was still, if there was anything out
there any better. And, uh, and of course, we found out there wasn't anything
any better.
HIBBS: Better.
BEAM: So yeah, it's, uh, it's still holding, holding in there, strong. It's a
good sweet yeast. I think it's what really helps our product a whole lot is the
yeast that we use.
HIBBS: That was, do you have an extra, you have something stored back in case
you have some kind of catastrophe again?
BEAM: Oh yes.
HIBBS: Yeah, yeah.
BEAM: Oh yeah. We got, we've got some in a cooler box.
HIBBS: Always.
BEAM: Sure do.
HIBBS: Um-hm.
BEAM: Got some still from the fire.
HIBBS: Oh, okay.
BEAM: Yeah, sure do.
HIBBS: Okay. Alright. Thank you so much, Craig.
00:32:00
BEAM: Alright.
HIBBS: I certainly, uh--
BEAM: --thank you, nice talking to you--
HIBBS: --well, I, uh, enjoy the, uh, one-on-one here, because, like I said, I
look at you and I see your mother and I see your father and I see all of the,
the positive things here.
BEAM: Yeah.
HIBBS: And the best of luck. And I know you'll be here doing what you love to do.
BEAM: Well, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
HIBBS: Um-hm, um-hm.
BEAM: Thank all of you. Thank you.
