The spirits trade has confronted financial points for the reason that finish of the Covid-19 pandemic that proceed to mount.
Among the many causes given for monetary misery are the lasting results from the Covid-19 pandemic, rising working prices brought on by inflation, decline in demand for alcoholic drinks and authorized points.
A parade of distilleries marched to chapter courtroom in 2025, together with Dorchester, Mass.-based craft spirits producer Boston Harbor Distillery, which on March 31 filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety, searching for to reorganize its whiskey, rum, gin, liqueurs, and distilled beer enterprise.
Following Boston Harbor’s submitting was Portland, Ore.-based Home Spirits Distillery LLC, the guardian of high-end Westward Whiskey, which submitted its Subchapter V petition on April 6, 2025, within the U.S. Chapter Court docket for the District of Delaware.
Proper behind Home Spirits Distillery and Boston Harbor was San Antonio-based whiskey model Devils River Distillery LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety on Might 1, 2025, to reorganize its enterprise and proceed working.
Different distillery bankruptcies final yr included SVG 26 LLC, the proprietor of the award-winning Bethel, N.Y.-based whiskey and vodka firm, The Alton Distillery, which filed for Chapter 11 chapter on Sept. 25 and Littleton, Colo.-based 52eighty Distilling Company, which filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on Oct. 14, 2025.
Ohio-based A.M. Scott Distillery LLC additionally filed for Chapter 11 chapter to reorganize on Dec. 22.
And now, well-liked vodka and bourbon manufacturers Stoli Group USA LLC and Kentucky Owl LLC filed motions to transform their Chapter 11 bankruptcies to Chapter 7 liquidation on Jan. 15, after failing to achieve an settlement with their senior lender on phrases that might permit them to emerge from Chapter 11 as going considerations.
Management and administration of the U.S. entities will switch to a court-appointed trustee, who will oversee the liquidation course of, in line with a Stoli Group USA assertion.
Stoli Group USA and affiliate Kentucky Owl initially filed for Chapter 11 chapter reorganization on Nov. 27, 2024, dealing with extreme monetary misery after defaulting on over $78 million in secured debt owed to Fifth Third Financial institution NA.
The subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Stoli Group, which manufactures and produces vodka, bourbon, and different spirits to be bought within the U.S. and globally, blamed a number of challenges that led to its Chapter 11 submitting, in line with courtroom papers.
The New York-based debtor cited a decline in demand for alcohol and spirits, which started after the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and elevated working prices and inflation within the international economic system.
The corporate additionally cited a lending dispute with Fifth Third Financial institution and a extreme information breach and ransomware assault in August 2024, in line with a declaration by the corporate’s CEO Chris Caldwell.
The corporate stated within the declaration that it had been in a 23-year authorized battle with the Russian authorities that price it hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in courtroom prices in a struggle for its privatization rights to Stolichnaya and Moskovskya vodka that it bought within the 1990’s after the autumn of the Soviet Union.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2000 issued an govt order reinstating and defending the Russian state’s rights to vodka logos that had been privatized within the 1990’s.
Extra bankruptcies:
The Russian authorities in July 2024 confiscated the final two Stoli distilleries in Russia, valued at about $100 million, in relation to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as the corporate was designated as extremists and for offering humanitarian support and interesting in advertising and marketing actions to assist Ukraine refugees, the declaration stated.
“For greater than 25 years, Stoli Group has been engaged in protracted authorized disputes with the Russian state over model possession and management,” the corporate stated in an announcement. “These pressures intensified sharply in recent times.”
Boston Harbor Distillery, March 31, 2025
Home Spirits Distillery LLC, April 6, 2025
Devils River Distillery LLC, Might 1, 2025
SVG 26 LLC, Sept. 25, 2025
52eighty Distilling Company, Oct. 14, 2025
A.M. Scott Distillery LLC, Dec. 22, 2025.
“After the corporate publicly condemned the invasion of Ukraine and voiced its assist for peace, the Russian authorities designated Stoli an ‘extremist group’ in Russia,” the assertion stated.
“This was swiftly adopted by the confiscation and nationalization of Stoli’s state-of-the-art distillery, an asset integral to the corporate’s international manufacturing footprint,” the assertion stated.
Stoli Group was established in 2013 and contains a number of signature manufacturers, together with Stoli Vodka, Elit Vodka, Bayou Rum, Kentucky Owl, The Wiseman, Cenote Tequila, Villa One, Se Busca Mezcal, Tulchan Gin, and Gator Chew Rum Liqueurs.
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This story was initially printed by TheStreet on Jan 16, 2026, the place it first appeared within the Retail part. Add TheStreet as a Most popular Supply by clicking right here.