The bad news keeps piling up for the beleaguered bourbon industry.
It’s not enough that whole distilleries are folding left and right – now the factory operations that support the broader industry are shrinking, too.
And with sales collapsing – Wild Turkey down 8%, Bulleit down 7%, even Jack Daniel’s down 6% – unfortunately the pain may just be beginning.
Here are two recent factory closures with big ramifications:
Closure #1: Brown-Forman Cooperage
In January 2025, Brown-Forman—the global spirits company behind well-known brands like Jack Daniel’s and Old Forester—announced it would close its Louisville cooperage, the barrel-making operation critical to bourbon production. The decision is part of a wider corporate restructuring that cut about 12% of the company’s worldwide workforce. The Louisville shutdown alone impacted over 200 jobs once the closure was completed in late April.
Closure #2: Stitzel-Weller Distillery Bottling Operations
Diageo also closed down bottling operations at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Louisville. The work will be consolidated to other U.S. plants, ending decades of local packaging operations. The closure, which ended in Spring 2025, wiped out another 33 local jobs…