"Study: Craft distillers see sales evaporate amid pandemic" - Washington Post

August 20, 2020

Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press

Image courtesy of LYON Rum.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For five months, no rum has flowed for visitors at Jaime Windon’s distillery in Maryland, drying up a crucial part of her revenue stream. Windon’s tasting room remains shuttered by the coronavirus, another victim of the pandemic’s devastating impact on the world economy.

Like other craft distillers, Windon Distilling relied heavily on sales from people who ventured in to learn a bit about making spirits, sample the products and take home a bottle or two. But small, independent producers — who have carved out a sizable niche in the country’s spirits sector — have been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a new study.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States found that nationally, craft distillers will see an estimated 41% of their sales — worth more than $700 million — evaporate because of the pandemic.

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