The Rise and Challenges of Craft Whisky Distilleries

England’s whisky map grew from 46 producing distilleries in 2023 to more than 70 in September 2026, with exports reaching more than 30 countries.[5] Across the Atlantic, the American Craft Spirits Association’s latest figures recorded fewer US craft producers, falling sales and pressure on routes to market.[1] Craft whisky’s expansion is no longer a simple story of another still coming on stream.

What counts as a craft whisky distillery?

“Craft” describes a category only when its definition is clear. The American Craft Spirits Association, or ACSA, uses three tests in its research: a licensed US producer must remove no more than 750,000 proof gallons from bond annually, market itself as craft and not be openly controlled by a large supplier.[1]

Scale, self-description and control all matter here. The definition is not simply a count of stills or a description of flavour, and its production threshold belongs to this US research, not another country’s statistics.

Even within the United States, the measures differ. The Kentucky Distillers’ Association reported that, in July 2025, 76 of Kentucky’s 124 licensed distillery locations were Class B, producing 50,000 gallons or less annually. Its membership also included 49 Craft members with inventories below 10,000 barrels.[11]

Those figures measure different things: production, inventory and association membership. Keeping them separate gives a clearer picture of the sector’s size. The same discipline applies to ownership: a count of all whisky distilleries is not a count of independent craft producers.

For the wider distinction between producers, brands and corporate groups, start with who makes the world’s whisky.

Where the expansion is visible

England offers a clear example of a growing production base. In its September 2026 announcement, Defra reported more than 70 distilleries producing English whisky, compared with 46 in 2023, and exports reaching more than 30 countries.[5]

This is growth in the number of distilleries producing English whisky, rather than a separately defined craft category. More producers are making whisky, and their reach extends beyond the home market.

Japan offers another view of the newer wave. A February 2026 report in The Spirits Business described more than 130 distilleries making whisky. It identified Chichibu, founded by Ichiro Akuto in 2008, as an influence on the producers that followed.[8]

These examples show expansion in particular places, not a single global growth rate. The sources count different populations, apply different definitions and describe different dates. Adding their totals would obscure those distinctions rather than reveal a meaningful worldwide figure.

The geography matters. “More distilleries” can accurately describe one country at the same moment that “fewer craft producers” describes another.

The US craft spirits downturn in figures

US craft spirits faced declines in producer numbers, sales, employment and exports in the latest ACSA and Park Street research. Their 2026 Craft Spirits Data Project, released on 6 October 2026, covered calendar 2025. The project began in October 2015 and was first presented in 2016.[1]

The figures below describe US craft spirits as a whole, not whisky alone.[1]

ACSA called 2025 the third consecutive year of declining craft spirits sales. It also said closures had outpaced openings for the first time, although a trade report gave conflicting accounts of that claim.[1][3]

Verdict badge: Closures and openings

Verdict: Disputed. ACSA says closures outpaced openings. The trade report’s headline agrees, but its opening says more distilleries opened than closed. The sources cited here do not establish where the claim first appeared.[1][3]

The broader pattern is clearer than that conflicting account of openings and closures. Producer numbers, sales volume, employment and exports capture different parts of the business, and the latest report records declines across all four. Together, they show pressure beyond any single measure.

Why the earlier producer count needs care

A striking fall in the previous edition came with an important explanation. It reported 2,282 active US craft distillers in August 2025, down 25.6% from 3,069 in August 2024. Read without the accompanying method note, that could look like roughly a quarter of producers shutting their doors.[2]

ACSA and Park Street warned against that interpretation. Their updated research method reduced the number of businesses included in the count.[2]

Story box: Reading the 2025 count

Not every distilled spirits plant removed from the list represented a closure. The change from August 2024 to August 2025 therefore reflects a revised research method as well as any changes among the businesses counted.[2]

Verdict badge: The fall in the producer count

Verdict: Methodological qualification. The reduction cannot be treated as a closure total.[2]

Before drawing conclusions from a sharp movement in an industry total, check who is being counted. A revised research list and a wave of business closures can both reduce a headline number, but they tell different stories about what happened.

That qualification belongs beside the earlier count. It does not erase the weaker results in the subsequent report; it keeps a change in research method from becoming a more dramatic claim about the fate of individual producers.

The challenge of reaching customers

Making spirit is only part of the business. ACSA attributes the sector’s difficulties partly to distributors narrowing their portfolios, export markets shrinking under tariffs and restrictions on direct shipment to consumers.[1]

These are the association’s explanations for market access pressures, not independently measured contributions to the decline. They identify three distinct obstacles beyond the distillery: securing distribution, reaching overseas drinkers and shipping directly to consumers.

Sales at the distillery have meanwhile taken a larger share of the craft business. ACSA reports that their share rose from 14% of craft sales in 2015 to 26% in 2025.[1]

The important word is “share”. A change in the sales mix does not establish that the volume sold at distilleries increased, or that every producer’s visitor business grew. It shows where a larger proportion of craft sales took place.

When assessing a producer, look beyond what comes off the still. Which routes connect its production to customers? Distribution, exports, direct shipment and sales at the distillery describe different parts of that journey, and each needs to be read on its own terms.

A planned whisky is not a released whisky

BrewDog’s Lone Wolf distillery opened in 2015. Its first single malt was still expected in 2026 when the company announced the closure of its distilling arm.[6] The gap between those milestones is a sharp reminder that opening a distillery and releasing a whisky are separate achievements.

Story box: BrewDog’s distilling venture

On 28 January 2026, BrewDog announced that it would close BrewDog Distilling Co in Ellon, Aberdeenshire. It would retain Wonderland cocktails while dropping its other spirits brands. The planned single malt had not been released before the announced closure.[6]

Verdict badge

Verdict: Documented. The trade account records the opening, the closure announcement and the anticipated single malt. Subsequent sale or reuse of the site is not reliably established.[6]

BrewDog’s experience is one venture’s story, rather than a template for every new producer. Its useful lesson is precise: an opening date, an announced whisky and a first release each deserve their own place in a distillery’s history. None can stand in for the others.

The stages before production are covered in how a new distillery gets started. For the distinction between a brand and the spirit it sells, see contract distilling and sourced whiskey.

Reduced production is not the same as closure

Lindores Abbey reduced production because of weak demand, then resumed distilling in September 2025. Reporting on closure rumours, The Scotsman recorded those changes at the Fife distillery, whose first single malt had been released in 2021.[7]

The family denied that the business was closing and said it “continues to trade as normal”.[7]

Story box: Lindores and the closure rumours

Alongside the family’s denial, Lindores confirmed that a “small number of roles” had been made redundant in its events business. That concerned a different part of the operation from the reported reduction and resumption of distilling.[7]

Verdict badge: The Lindores closure rumours

Verdict: Documented. The report records the family’s denial of closure rumours and its statement that the business continued to trade. It does not establish present production or visitor status.[7]

The details matter because they concern different activities. Reduced production describes the pace of making spirit; resumed distilling records its return. Redundancies in events concern another part of the operation, while continued trading describes the business. Compressing all of this into “open” or “closed” loses the substance of the report.

Common mistakes when reading craft whisky news

Treating every spirits statistic as a whisky statistic. ACSA researches craft spirits. Its findings give context for whisky producers, but do not isolate the performance of craft whisky.[1]

Turning a revised count into a closure total. The 2025 research explicitly says methodological changes removed plants from the count and that these were not all closures.[2]

Assuming “craft” means the same thing everywhere. ACSA’s production and control test differs from the Kentucky production and inventory measures quoted above.[1][11]

Keep three things attached to a claim: its date, its definition and the activity it describes. That simple habit makes craft whisky news easier to understand. It also preserves the real story, whether that is a growing production base, market access pressures or a change in how the industry is counted.

Where to go next

• Whisky Exports and Tariffs: understand the trade context behind overseas market access.
• Boom and Bust: How Whisky Industry Cycles Work: place expansion and retrenchment in their wider industry context.
• Silent Seasons, Production Pauses and Mothballing Explained: distinguish changes in production from business closure.

Sources

[1] American Craft Spirits Association. Craft Spirits Sales Decline for Third Straight Year. 6 October 2026.
https://americancraftspirits.org/craft-spirits-sales-decline-for-third-straight-year/

[2] American Craft Spirits Association and Park Street. Craft Spirits Data Project 2025. 2025 edition.
https://americancraftspirits.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2025-craft-spirits-data-project-102125-final.pdf

[3] Drinks Intel. US craft distillery closures outpace openings for first time in 2025: data. Publication date not established in the supplied sheet.
https://drinks-intel.com/spirits/us-craft-distillery-closures-outpace-openings-for-first-time-in-2025-data/

[5] Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. English Whisky raises a glass to new protected status. 11 September 2026.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/english-whisky-raises-a-glass-to-new-protected-status

[6] Whisky Magazine. BrewDog to close distilling arm. Report of the 28 January 2026 announcement; publication date not established in the supplied sheet.
https://whiskymag.com/articles/brewdog-to-close-distilling-arm/

[7] The Scotsman. Lindores Abbey whisky distillery makes staff redundant amid closure rumours. Publication date not established in the supplied sheet.
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/food-and-drink/lindores-abbey-whisky-distillery-makes-staff-redundant-amid-closure-rumours-5612342

[8] The Spirits Business. Scaling up: Japan’s new wave of whisky distilleries. February 2026.
https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2026/02/scaling-up-japans-new-wave-of-whisky-distilleries/

[11] Kentucky Distillers’ Association. The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Kentucky’s Distilling Industry, 2024 to 2025. 2026 report.
https://kybourbon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/FINAL-KDA-Economic-Impact-Report-2.2.26.pdf

This desk researched article uses the site’s verified fact sheet TOP-A619, distinguishing industry research, government statements and trade reporting; it includes no firsthand visits or interviews.

Last checked: November 2026