So, I got a call from Mark Ferris, asking to interview me about my recent article on the "Boom and Bust" article I wrote here months ago.
click image above to go to article
Excerpts:
The Hudson Valley is somewhat insulated from this negative trend due to its proximity to New York City markets and its status as a tourist destination, but industry experts see possible storm clouds on the horizon for some local distilleries. “I’m a big fan of what’s going on in the Valley, but there are two or three more distilleries hanging on by a thread,” says Carlo DeVito, an author and liquor industry expert based in Ghent. “It’s much more difficult nowadays. There are too many craft beverage businesses in general, and often, the land is more valuable than any distillery or winery that operates there.”
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A 2020 report commissioned by the Distillers Guild estimated that the craft spirits industry pumped $3.2 billion a year into New York State’s economy. That seems impressive, but most Hudson Valley-based operations are so small that they are unlikely to attract outside capital, says DeVito, who subtitled a foreboding recent blog post “The Craft Beverage Boom is About to Go Bust.”
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During Covid, Albany allowed direct-to-consumer sales of cider and spirits for 15 months, but reinstituted the ban in 2021. The state Distillers Guild is waging a robust lobbying campaign but keeps getting rebuffed. “Big wholesalers don’t want any change,” says DeVito in Ghent. “They spend a lot of money to preserve the status quo—not just in New York.”
click on image to go to the Facebook post to see
a continuous listing of the closing across the country