Illustration: Lu Ting/GT

Japanese beverage giant Suntory recently announced it is to buy Beam Inc, the US-based drinks company most famous for its Jim Beam bourbon whiskey.

Suntory is stumping up some $16 billion to make the purchase, significantly higher than Beam's annual sales of $2.51 billion.

However, it wasn't just the high price tag that raised eyebrows. Some fans of the classic Kentucky tipple worry it won't be the same in foreign hands, with some going so far as to vow they will never touch the drink again.

But such fears have little foundation when taken in light of similar buyouts in the industry, and Suntory's track record as a firm that understands the market and its consumers. At the same time, whiskey production is rooted in location. This makes it less susceptible to being relocated overseas when compared to, for example, the auto industry.

In fact, the purchase is likely to be good for Jim Beam and the wider bourbon industry, as it will increase exposure in the rapidly growing Asia-Pacific market, where Suntory has excellent distribution channels.

Suntory is a huge drinks company, with a long pedigree in whiskey production. Founded in Osaka in 1899, it opened Japan's first malt whiskey distillery in 1923. The resulting Yamazaki single malt is still one of the world's premium whiskies today. It has also produced many other whiskies, and owns Scotch brands such as Bowmore.

The renaissance in the whiskey industry has been dependent on the preservation of numerous distinctive brands. The larger companies that dominate the industry know this, and are careful to preserve the character of their various distilleries. In fact, preserving traditional production methods is not only essential in maintaining the particular characteristics of each whiskey and keeping loyal customers onside, but is also a legal requirement if makers wish to retain appellations such as "bourbon" and "Scotch."

For example, for a drink to be classified as bourbon, it must meet stringent criteria such as the mash of grains on which it is based being at least 51 percent corn. Scotch whisky also has similar requirements. Bourbon must also be produced in the US, and Scotch in Scotland.

As such, Suntory knows that making even small changes - let alone radical ones - to the Jim Beam recipe would undermine its purchase of Beam.

Distilleries in Scotland are thriving, despite only 20 percent being under companies based there and the dominance of Diageo, which is based in London but owns some 40 percent of Scotch brands. This shows that foreign ownership will not derail a brand, as long as the owners are respectful of it.

At the same time, Beam Inc itself is hardly the homespun family-run firm that its marketing might suggest - it owns a number of other spirits brands. Any fears that Jim Beam whiskey or any of the other products under the company will be harmed simply by virtue of being transferred to a huge multinational company are unfounded, as they have already been controlled by one for a long time without detriment.

Also, Jim Beam has played the Suntory role itself, taking ownership of Laphroiag - one of the best-known single malt Scotch whiskies - a number of years ago.

There's also precedent in the bourbon industry for a Japanese purchaser to help turn a brand around. This happened in 2002 when Kirin bought Four Roses, which had long since fallen from its position as a bourbon of note to languish as a sub-par blended whiskey. Now it is seeing a strong revival in sales and winning awards.

Suntory itself did a similar thing with Bowmore in Scotland, allowing a local management team to steer it away from being a mass-market to a more premium product.

The global market for all kinds of whiskies, including bourbon, Scotch and Irish, is growing rapidly. While Suntory's home market of Japan is slowing, the surrounding area, in which it has solid distribution channels, is on the rise. The Asia-Pacific region is forecast to make up 61 percent of the global spirits market by 2017, compared to the current 55 percent. Although Suntory was already a distributor of Beam before the deal was struck, ownership will give it more flexibility in pushing the brand. This will in turn give Beam exposure in new markets where fledgling connoisseurs are already curious to try new bourbons.

The author is a freelance writer.

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