Welcome back to the BevNET spirits newsletter! After veteran craft distiller Westward Whiskey filed for bankruptcy last week, we chatted with the CEO about what went wrong and what advice he has for other founders.

What insiders are reading: Check out Skrewball’s co-founder on challenging the status quo and the ready-to-drink cocktails hot off the truck.

Thanks for reading!

-BevNET spirits editor, Ferron Salniker

Last week, the parent company of Westward Whiskey filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing a slew of obstacles that seem to mirror the woes of many craft distillers: decline in demand for spirits overall, obstacles to market access and the rising costs of goods.

But in CEO Thomas Mooney’s words, the business model as it was “just really didn't work at all for building an independent whiskey brand in 2025 and beyond.”  But Mooney, a Harvard MBA, has been building the brand for more than a decade. So where did the business model go wrong and what’s the future of the brand? 

It had all the makings of a differentiated, acquisition worthy brand: The Portland, Oregon-based House Spirits Distillery launched in 2004 as one of the first craft distilleries in the U.S. and debuted its whiskey in 2012. Under the brand Westward Whiskey, the distiller has since become known as one of the leading American Single Malt producers. In 2018, it was backed by Diageo’s Distill Ventures accelerator. All good, right?

Maybe not: Distill Ventures just announced it would cease investments and Diageo plans to reduce its portfolio. Now, Westward Whiskey is trying to pivot, and figure out what success could look like as an independent brand. 

In an effort to make Westward an attractive brand to Diageo, one of the company’s biggest mistakes was prioritizing the wholesale business, which historically made the company “very unprofitable,” said Mooney. “Being in 27 states is actually worse than being in five states” without the capacity to defend that type of footprint, he added.

Instead, the company will now aim to flip its business plan by handpicking markets where the brand resonates while maximizing direct-to-consumer – despite the barriers that come with operating a tasting room in Oregon, plus the shipping costs and limitations on distillers.

The restructuring reflects part of Mooney’s advice to other founders: a business plan is important, but it’s more important to recognize when the plan is wrong – or, quoting a 19th century military strategist, “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

A 20th century warrior, Mike Tyson, put it another way: “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

A Los Angeles craft spirits producer is taking on the Empire State in a federal lawsuit filed yesterday challenging direct-to-consumer shipping laws prohibiting distillers in California from sending spirits to customers in New York. Read the story.

Half of consumers went out for a drink in March, and on-premise visitations aren’t expected to slow down despite economic uncertainty, according to NIQ’s on-premise marketing research arm CGA. About two-thirds of spirits drinkers (67%) said they are not planning to change brands, while 19% said they plan to explore higher priced items and 14% said they plan to switch to lower priced items. Get more of the data.

Republic National Distributing Company’s (RNDC) portfolio in California has shrunk again, as Gallo moves its popular High Noon Sun Sips ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktail line to the Reyes Beverage Group. The spirits-based RTD is the latest brand to move to Reyes from RNDC, following the Brown-Forman portfolio in February and Tito’s Vodka in January. Get the full scoop.

We’ve seen strategics offload non-core brands recently, and Diageo’s eagerness to shed the vodka formerly backed by Sean “Diddy” Combs has been no secret. In this unique move, Diageo is teaming up with consulting and investment firm Main Street Advisors for a strategic joint venture that swaps out the spirits giant’s majority ownership of Cîroc Vodka in North America for a majority stake in basketball legend LeBron James-backed Lobos 1707 Tequila. Read more.

It’s rare that I can get wide data on detailed cocktail variations, although our data partners always do their best to help with my serious journalistic inquiries into things like the limoncello spritz. But thankfully PUNCH did the dirty work of surveying NYC bars on martinis – turns out the people like ‘em dirty with gin showing a slight lead over vodka. “Filthy vodka Martini mocktail” was one of the most unhinged orders, which I think just means olive brine served up? Read the story.