Eight months later the barrels are still there. "We aren't even getting a sniff," said Masters, head distiller at The Family Jones distillery in Denver.
Just two years ago Masters could rake in $2,000 for similar barrels. "Back then two phone calls and I could have them gone," he said.
America's bourbon boom is over, and businesses big and small are starting to hurt, with distillers cutting jobs and shelving expansion plans.
Liquor sales soared during the pandemic as Americans flush with cash splashed out on booze, making cocktails at home and drinking more frequently. Now drinkers are cutting back, plowing through bottles they accrued in recent years and trading down to cheaper brands.
The growing popularity of anti-obesity drugs, cannabis and low- and no-alcohol drinks is increasingly hurting sales, too. The U.S. Surgeon General recently said alcohol should carry cancer warning labels, a recommendation that if enacted could hurt sales for an industry already contending with a pullback in drinking by younger people.
Sales volumes of U.S. whiskey-including bourbon, Tennessee and rye-dropped 1.2% in 2023, marking the first fall since 2002, according to industry tracker IWSR. That drop steepened last year, with volumes down 4% in the first nine months of 2024.
Brown-Forman, which makes Jack Daniel's and Woodford Reserve, noticed the U.S. whiskey market deteriorating sharply a year ago.
This story is from the January 14, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
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This story is from the January 14, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.
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