Regulation

C. Jarrett Dieterle | 5.25.2024 7:00 AM

In 2012, Time magazine ran a piece titled "A Booze of One's Own: The Micro Distillery Boom," which heralded the coming rise of locally sourced, handcrafted, small-batch distilleries that were popping up across America. At the time, there were 250 craft distilleries in the country—up from around 50 in 2005—and the article boldly asserted that in just 10 years' time, there could be over a thousand.

A decade later, there were well over 2,600 craft distilleries in America, and industry observers thought this was only the beginning. Outlets like Imbibe magazine ran headlines as recently as 2022 proclaiming: "Craft Distilling is Booming and Just Getting Started," with some analysts predicting a 29 percent compound annual growth in the coming decade.

Recent headlines have told a different story: reports of scores of distilleries closing in New York, D.C., and across the South. Over 20 distilleries have closed in the past few years in New York—the No. 2 state in America for most craft distilleries—and 50 percent of distillery owners in the Empire State either foresee closing by the end of 2025 or are unsure if they would........

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