The Best-Selling Whiskey Brand In America Isn't Maker's Mark

Walk into almost any liquor store, and the bourbon shelf can feel like a popularity contest Maker's Mark already won. The bright red wax and easy name recognition suggest a brand sitting comfortably at the top. But the bottle Americans actually reach for most comes from a different corner of Kentucky. Jim Beam has held the sales crown for years, and its numbers keep climbing, recently pushing past 17 million 9-liter cases and marking its strongest showing in several seasons. Only a few international names come close to matching that volume, leaving most competitors — American or otherwise — far behind.

Jim Beam's momentum today comes from how wide its reach has become. The familiar white-labeled bottle still leads the lineup, but it now sits alongside flavored releases, small-batch offerings, and newer experiments like Clermont Steep American Single Malt. The Beam Private Barrel Club added another lane entirely, bringing in drinkers who want a handpicked bottle instead of something pulled straight from the shelf. Through all of this growth, the flagship bottle has stayed familiar and dependable, even if it isn't on our list of the smoothest whiskeys to drink straight.

The size of Jim Beam's lead becomes clearer once you look at the bourbon aisle around it. When the company sold 17 million cases, the second best was Evan Williams at 3.1 million, followed by Maker's Mark at 3 million. Together, those numbers show how far the rest of the field sits from Beam's position. Even beyond bourbon, the brand holds a place among global whiskey heavyweights, selling more than familiar names from Ireland and Tennessee by far.

The Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, turning the brand's home base into a steady stream of tours, tastings, and barrel room walk-throughs that keep Beam on drinkers' minds long after they leave. The company has also grown after being purchased by Suntory Holdings, which then turned into Beam Suntory. The acquisition helped give the bourbon a global distribution network while keeping the family's recipes and production methods in place. That combination has helped the brand stay visible everywhere from small-town liquor shops to international duty-free shelves. Suntory owns Maker's Mark as well.

That breadth is tied to a legacy many drinkers never learned much about, especially those who didn't know about Jim Beam beyond the familiar bottle on a back bar. The brand's beginnings in early Kentucky, its rebuild after Prohibition, and its generations-deep approach to distilling shaped the identity that still carries it. Even after joining the Beam Suntory portfolio, the company continues relying on the recipes and techniques that built its reputation, reinforcing why many drinkers consider bourbon the best type of whiskey.