The whiskey industry in Kentucky’s is booming. Production is way up, according to the Kentucky Distillers Association, it is over 1.7 million barrels for only the second time since 1968. There are currently almost two barrels of aging bourbon per person in the state an inventory level higher than it has been in 46 years. According to the KDA, distillers are benefitting from new laws that allow visitors to ship souvenir bottles across state lines, and increases in U.S. whiskeys popularity abroad, with places such as China, India, and Europe consuming more than ever before.
But there’s a problem, the trade war brewing between the US and various other countries may make selling all that hooch tricky.
“If you take the concern about the trade war off the table, and barring any other unforeseen obstacles, we’re on an incredible trajectory to break historical records in the next few years,” according to KDA president Eric Gregory.
The Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA) said in its annual report that the state’s distillers are increasingly concerned about the impact of targeted retaliatory tariffs against the U.S, raising the cost of U.S. bourbon 25% in the EU, and Mexico, as well as 10% in Canada.
