The Beam family (anglicised from the German surname Böhm in the 18th century) are the greatest dynasty in all of American distilling, with members involved in nearly every Kentucky distillery during the 20th century. Perhaps none more important however than James "Jim" Beauregard Beam, who rebuilt his family business following the repeal of Prohibition, re-opening the famous Clermont distillery in 1935. The company is now the best-selling bourbon brand in the world (due to Jack Daniel's refusing to be categorised as such). They operate two Kentucky distilleries, the eponymous Jim Beam in Clermont and the Booker Noe distillery in nearby Boston, and since their purchase of National Distillers in 1987 also have a wealth of historic brands under their banner. Since 2014 the company has been a subsidiary of Suntory in Japan, which has widened its portfolio into the Scotch and Japanese whisky industries as well.

Bottling bourbon in decanters was a practice that took off though the 1960s, and nobody embraced it with as much fervour as Jim Beam.