Recent News
Kentucky Bourbon Trail Draws 2.7 Million in 2025
The numbers are in, and Kentucky bourbon has done it again. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail program recorded 2.7 million visitors in 2025, matching the record-setting pace of the year before and proving that America's native spirit continues to pull people in from across the country and around the world
A 158-Year-Old Law Just Got Struck Down, Here's What It Means for Home Distillers
For more than a century and a half, Americans who wanted to make their own spirits at home were breaking the law — full stop. It didn't matter how careful they were, how much they wanted to pay taxes on what they made, or whether they were doing it just for themselves and a few friends. The federal
Kentucky's 'First Black-Owned' Bourbon Title Sparked a Legal Fight — Here's Who Won
A years-long legal dispute between two Kentucky bourbon companies over who holds the title of the state's first Black-owned bourbon distillery has come to a close, at least for the time being, after a federal appeals court sided with Fresh Bourbon LLC earlier this year. The ruling, handed down
American Whiskey's Rough Year: Trade Wars Hit Hard
A $2.37 Billion Wake-Up Call The numbers are in, and they tell a story that every whiskey drinker, bourbon collector, and spirits enthusiast in America should be paying attention to. U.S. spirits exports dropped 3.8% in 2025, landing at $2.37 billion — a meaningful slide from where the industry st
A Rising Distillery Drowns in $5M of Debt
The Foreclosure of LF Heritage and What It Says About an Industry in Trouble The American bourbon industry has been riding a wave of prestige and premium pricing for years, but the cracks are starting to show — and they're getting harder to ignore. The latest sign of trouble comes out of Scott Cou
Two Whiskey Giants Might Be About to Merge
The spirits industry has been taking hits from every direction lately — slumping sales, health-conscious consumers pulling back, tariff pressures squeezing margins, and now even cannabis drinks nibbling at market share. Against that backdrop, two of the biggest names in the business are reportedly
UNBRIDLED Is the Bourbon Brand America Needed
There's a moment India Robinson hasn't been able to shake. She was out with a client who had just scored a major win — the kind of night where you order 20 bottles to the table and toast like there's no tomorrow. Robinson suggested bourbon. Her client shut it down fast. "Bourbon isn't for celeb
Uncle Nearest Founders Sue Their Bank
The story of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey was always supposed to be one of triumph. A Black distiller from Tennessee who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey, finally getting the recognition he deserved more than 160 years later. A brand built by a Black woman who saw that story and refused to l
Sazerac Moves on Shuttered Kentucky Distillery
The bourbon world is buzzing after spirits giant Sazerac quietly maneuvered to take control of Garrard County Distilling Co., a high-profile Kentucky distillery that never really got off the ground before collapsing into financial ruin. Sazerac, the New Orleans-based company behind some of the
Whisky Built the Spirits Boom. Now It's Sinking It
A rough start to 2026 for American spirits sales — and the numbers tell a complicated story The first month of 2026 handed the American spirits industry something it did not want to see: a broad, across-the-board sales slump that hit nearly every category and showed few signs of a quick recovery.