WHITE ROCK FACILITY WILL CLOSE

Beam Inc. has announced that it will shut down its Lewiston, Maine facility and shift production of Pinnacle Vodka and Calico Jack Rum to Kentucky. The 16O employees who work at the plant will lose their jobs, Paula Erickson, a spokeswoman for Beam, told the Bangor Daily News. The consolidation will be complete by April 2O14. “We wanted to give the workforce as much advance notice as possible,” Erickson said. “On the flip side, in transferring the operations we will be creating 45 new jobs in Frankfort. There are some positions that anybody in Lewiston, if they wanted to relocate, could go for. I realize Kentucky is far away from Maine.” Consolidating production in Frankfort will be more efficient and save the company money, she said. Beam acquired the Pinnacle and Calico Jack brands from White Rock Distilleries in April of last year. With nearly 3 million cases produced a year, Pinnacle by far is the biggest brand coming out of Lewiston. Beam will be looking to sell the facility.