The rise and fall of Bourbon Whiskey

The spirit that lost 60% of sales and was left for dead — then millennials made $5,000 bottles the hottest drop in America.

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By The Numbers

14.3M

barrels aging in Kentucky

-60%

sales crash by 1990

-1.8%

retail sales decline 2024

What They Nailed Early

Post-WWII GIs made bourbon the drink of choice. Big distillers like Jim Beam and Wild Turkey scaled nationally with better production and advertising. Bourbon outsold scotch in America.

What Changed

Baby boomers saw bourbon as granddad's drink in the '60s and switched to gin and vodka. Supply from the '50s boom flooded the market just as demand crashed. Distillers slashed prices and quality, making bourbon cheap and outdated. By 1990, sales were down nearly two-thirds.

Where it Landed

Craft cocktail movement and millennial demand sparked a 2010s boom. Now supply is flooding back — 14.3M barrels aging, but sales down 1.8% in 2024. Small distillers closing. Big players fine, but growth era over.

The Principles

Long production cycles are brutal. When you barrel bourbon today and sell it in 5 years, you're betting blind on future demand.

Demographics drive taste. Boomers rejected their parents' drink; millennials craved authenticity. Culture shifts can kill or resurrect entire categories.

Scarcity works until it doesn't. Unicorn bottles drove hype in the 2010s, but when supply catches up and tastes shift, the flywheel reverses hard.

Builder's Takeaway

If you're in a long-cycle business, remember:

•

Supply lags are dangerous — you're always betting on tomorrow's demand with today's production

•

Cultural tailwinds can vanish fast (see: gin, vodka, now maybe bourbon again)

•

Scarcity playbooks create hype but invite oversupply — plan for the reversal

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