• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 17, 2007

Jim Beam has partnered with the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to create what may be the biggest outdoor ad for distilled spirits in history.

The 32,000-square-foot ad celebrating September as "National Bourbon Heritage Month" measures 400 feet x 80 feet, covering 40 stories on the side of the hotel. The ad will remain in place through November.

Building wraps are typically executed with a number of large panels of a perforated, see-through material like vinyl. They are especially popular in Las Vegas, known for its larger-than-life attitude. The huge outdoor ad for Jim Beam is tied into a number of promotions at the Rio, including bourbon-inspired dishes, and of course, cocktails.

Kevin Cooke, regional vice president for Beam Global Wine & Spirits, Inc., noted that "Las Vegas has the highest per-capita distilled spirits consumption in the country, so it's the ideal place to celebrate the only distilled spirit that's native to America--bourbon."

In 1964, Congress recognized bourbon as "America's native spirit."