Jim Beam Acquired by Suntory
Beam Inc., the makers of Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, announced an agreement to be acquired by Japanese company Suntory. Reuters

On Monday, Beam Inc., the makers of American whiskeys and bourbons like Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, announced an agreement to be acquired by Japanese company Suntory.

The deal, pegged at $13.6 billion, will include all of Beam Inc.’s bourbons and whiskeys—Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Basil Hayden's, Knob Creek, Booker's, Baker's and Canadian Club—as well as other beverages, including Courvoisier cognac, Sauza tequila and Pinnacle vodka. The Los Angeles Times reported the sale is slated for the second quarter of 2014.

Beam announced that the brand will still be headquartered in Chicago with its current staff in place rather than in Osaka, Japan, where Suntory operates. Beam Inc. said its products, especially the beloved Jim Beam which is made of corn and distilled in Kentucky, will not be altered in any way.

"It's business as usual," Beam spokesman Clarkson Hine said in a statement, adding its soon-to-be-parent company Suntory wants the company to "keep doing what we're doing." Suntory President and Chairman Nobutada Saji said the acquisition will increase global growth for the company, most famous for its cameo in “Lost in Translation.”

The only change, Slate pointed out, is higher prices for Beam Inc. bourbons if there are more imports to China.

Nevertheless, Americans are up in arms over the acquisition and have taken to Twitter to express their rage that their favorite bourbons are “no longer American.” Time magazine did an online article of five bourbon alternatives "if the Suntory deal takes the patriotic flavor out of Beam whiskies for you." Even comedian Ron White told TMZ: "It’s a goddamn shame! There’s not too many things American these days…hot dogs, maybe, and bourbon. But them selling outside the United States is disappointing."

Here are some of the angriest tweets we saw out there.

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