The original John L. Sullivan was the last Bare-Knuckle Boxing Heavyweight Champion of the world, and his namesake whiskey is preparing itself for a fight to survive. Beam Global has decided to cancel production of John L. Sullivan Irish whiskey, which was recently named as of the Top 50 Spirits of 2011 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.

John L. Sullivan whiskey was created by entrepreneur, Amir Peay, as a small independent company with little cash for marketing. The brand’s growth over the last few years leaves us wondering why Beam decided to stop producing this whiskey.

Peay said, “Our annual case sales doubled from 2010 to 2011, and we were on track to double sales again in 2012. According to a recent press release by Beam Global, we actually shipped more John L. Sullivan in the U.S. for St. Patrick’s Day in 2012 than Cooley’s had ever done with its flagship brand, Kilbeggan.”

But Peay promises that “the John L. Sullivan brand of boutique whiskey is not going anywhere. The brand was created to provide consumers with special whiskies and to pay homage to this great American sports and saloon icon, and we will continue to do that with fantastic whiskey made in partnerships with other distilleries.”

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