Distillery Video Statistics

Key takeaways

1. In our November 12, 2026 read of YouTube’s 508 most-viewed ‘distillery’, ‘distillery tour’ and ‘craft spirits’ videos, distilleries speaking as themselves drew 27.6% of the views of the 447 on-topic videos, and drinks, travel, lifestyle and general creators together 53.3%. (Mark Studios) See details
2. One barrel short from Garrison Brothers Distillery, with 52,710,723 views, gave that channel 24.5% of all on-topic views. Without it, distilleries drew 4.0% of the remaining views and creators 70.7%. (Mark Studios) See details
3. Videos of 60 seconds or less were 17.7% of the on-topic videos but drew 54.2% of on-topic views. Home distilling and moonshine videos drew 13.5%. (Mark Studios) See details
4. Channels placed in the United States drew 52.9% of on-topic views, and U.S.-placed distillery channels 24.7%. No distillery channel in the sample said it was in Florida; Florida distilleries appeared only in 3 videos by others, with 125,456 views between them. (Mark Studios) See details
5. The 7 U.S.-placed distillery channels in the sample uploaded 94 videos in the year to November 12, 2026; the median upload had 39,000 views, and 34.0% ran 60 seconds or less. (Mark Studios) See details
6. BLS counted 1,872 private U.S. distilleries with employees in 2025 (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers), up 341.5% from 2014. They employed 25,949 workers at an average of $75,989 a year. (BLS) See details
7. Florida averaged 117 distilleries with employees in 2025, behind only Texas (143), New York (141) and Kentucky (122). Palm Beach County had 6 and Broward 7, or 0.38 and 0.35 per 100,000 residents against 0.50 for Florida and 0.55 for the U.S. (our calculation); BLS published no distillery count for Martin County. (BLS) See details
8. TTB’s list held 5,581 distilled spirits plant permits on November 10, 2026, 209 of them in Florida (our count). But 52.9% of active permits reported no taxable removals in 2024, and 3,723 industry members filed operations reports for 2025. (Mark Studios, from TTB) See details
9. Florida’s DBPR licence file listed 122 current craft distillery licences on November 12, 2026: 3 in Palm Beach County, 5 in Broward and 2 in Martin. 86 were first issued in 2020 or later (our count). (Mark Studios, from Florida DBPR) See details
10. U.S. plants made 206.9 million proof gallons of whisky (206,917,926) in 2025, 31.0% below the 2023 high, and held 1.53 billion proof gallons (1,531,671,620) at the end of the year, or 7.4 years of 2025 production (our calculation). (TTB) See details
11. 31.8% of U.S. distillery establishments reported receipts from drinks served on site in the 2022 Economic Census, but those drinks were 0.6% of distilleries’ shipments and receipts, about $118.0 million ($118,016,000). (Census Bureau) See details
12. U.S. distillery firms bought $193.0 million ($193,042,000) of advertising and promotional services in 2024, equal to 1.1% of their revenue (our calculation). Brown-Forman reported $462 million of advertising worldwide in fiscal 2026, 11.8% of its net sales; the two figures measure different things and do not add up. (Census Bureau; Brown-Forman) See details
13. Most published counts of U.S. craft distilleries are editions of the Craft Spirits Data Project: it counted 3,069 active craft distillers in August 2024 and 2,131 in August 2026, partly after a change of method, and put craft at 4.2% of U.S. spirits by volume and 7.3% by value in 2025. (ACSA and Park Street) See details
14. The Kentucky Distillers’ Association still says 95% of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky. Chuck Cowdery reported in 2020 that it began as an estimate by the association’s president and put the real share near 75%; a 2020 VinePair check of store sales found 79.9%. We found no measured source for 95%. (Kentucky Distillers’ Association; The Whiskey Wash; VinePair) See details
15. In a study of 816 Instagram and YouTube ads that 20 top-selling U.S. alcohol brands ran in 2024, 59% of the coded ads contained video and 33% broke the industry’s own advertising guidelines (Noel et al., Alcohol and Alcoholism, 2026). (Alcohol and Alcoholism) See details

Who gets the views on YouTube's most-viewed distillery videos?

Creators, mostly, though one distillery short tops the list: in our November 12, 2026 YouTube Data API read of the most-viewed videos for 'distillery', 'distillery tour' and 'craft spirits', drinks, travel, food, lifestyle and general creators together drew 53.3% of the on-topic views, distilleries speaking as themselves drew 27.6% and news, TV and media channels drew 11.7% (our calculation). Most of the distilleries' share is one video: Garrison Brothers Distillery, a Texas bourbon maker, drew 24.5% of all on-topic views, and its barrel short 'Straight from the barrel' had 52,710,723 views. Without that channel, distilleries drew 4.0% of the remaining views and creators 70.7% (our calculation).

This is YouTube's own view-sorted search with no country filter, a snapshot and not a census: we took the top four pages of results for each phrase that day, 508 unique videos from 356 channels. 447 of them were about distilleries, distilling, spirits or the spirits trade, with 215.2 million lifetime views (215,220,916). 24 distillery channels uploaded 32 of those videos (our calculation).

Views bunch at the top: the three most-viewed channels drew 45.8% of the on-topic views and the ten most-viewed 71.0%. Second was Caviar & Chips, a lifestyle creator whose one Irish whiskey barrel short drew 15.1% (our calculation). Among distilleries, Garrison Brothers drew 88.9% of the class's views, Jameson Nigeria, a Jameson brand channel, 5.2% and Laphroaig's own channel 2.3% from 5 videos. Craft and independent distilleries (17 channels) drew 25.3% of the on-topic views; distilleries and brand channels of large spirits companies (7 channels) drew 2.3% (our calculation).

How much of YouTube's "distillery" results is about distilleries?

Most, but not all: 12.0% of the 508 videos in our November 12, 2026 sample were not about distilleries, distilling or spirits, and they drew 23.7% of the sample's views. The bare word 'distillery' is the noisiest: 22.0% of its unique videos were off-topic, with 38.3% of its views, and 17 of them were music, mostly by the punk band The Distillers. The rest of the noise is distilled water, chemistry experiments, essential oils, games and crafts named 'spirits' (our calculation).

Where are the channels behind the most-viewed distillery videos?

About half in the United States: channels placed there by their own text or YouTube country setting drew 52.9% of the on-topic views in our November 12, 2026 sample, from 155 channels. 7 of the distillery channels were U.S.-placed, in Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Montana and Massachusetts, and their videos drew 24.7% of the on-topic views, almost all of it the Garrison Brothers short (our calculation). 0 of the distillery channels say they are in Florida. Florida distilleries appear only in videos by others: 3 on-topic videos feature one, St. Augustine Distillery in a Brewzle video and a travel creator's vlog and NJOY Spirits in a FOX 35 Orlando story, with 125,456 views between them. 0 channels say they are in Palm Beach, Broward or Martin County (our calculation).

How long are the most-viewed distillery videos, and what are they about?

Mostly long, but the short ones take the views: in our November 12, 2026 sample only 17.7% of the on-topic videos ran 60 seconds or less, yet they drew 54.2% of the on-topic views; 25.3% ran longer than 20 minutes and drew 9.3%. 37.5% of the distilleries' own videos were 60 seconds or less. 40.7% of the on-topic videos were published in 2024 or later (our calculation).

Tours lead the titles, and whiskey leads the spirits: 168 on-topic titles named a tour, a visit, a trail, an experience or the inside of a distillery (16.8% of the on-topic views), 85 named how a spirit is made, the process, a barrel, a cask, a still or bottling (80.0%, carried by the barrel shorts), and 64 named a tasting, a review, a ranking or someone trying a spirit (2.5%). Only 7 named a cocktail, a recipe or mixology. 158 titles named whiskey, whisky, scotch, single malt, rye or bourbon (77.0% of the views), 69 of them bourbon; 15 named gin, 12 rum, 9 tequila, mezcal or agave and 6 vodka (our calculation).

The 'craft spirits' results are mostly whiskey reviews of one brand: 48 on-topic titles named Barrell Craft Spirits or one of its bourbons, against 17 that named Jack Daniel's and 13 that named Buffalo Trace. Home distilling is a large slice: 49 on-topic videos from 28 channels were home distilling or moonshine how-tos, or home stills and kits, with 13.5% of the on-topic views; federal law bars distilling spirits at home without a permit, and we count these videos without endorsing them. Three channels that describe their own videos as AI-made, factory-process clips of Chivas Regal and other plants, drew 7.4% of the on-topic views (our calculation).

How often do U.S. distilleries post on YouTube?

Rarely, with one exception: the 7 U.S.-placed distillery channels in our sample uploaded 94 videos between them in the year to November 12, 2026, 3 uploaded nothing and the median channel uploaded 1. Garrison Brothers Distillery uploaded 33, 90.9% of them 60 seconds or less, with a median of 62,304 views; Tree House Brewing Company, a brewery whose channel also covers its distillery, uploaded 58, most of them about beer. Across all those uploads 34.0% ran 60 seconds or less, the median upload had 39,000 views and 7 had a million or more (our calculation). This is a seven-channel list from one search sample, not a survey of U.S. distilleries.

Method and limits: YouTube Data API, read November 12, 2026, three search phrases, global (no region filter), YouTube's view-sorted ranking. We did not watch the videos; channel classes were set by hand from each channel's own text, and the uploader decides the class, so a creator's or a TV station's visit to a distillery counts as theirs, not the distillery's. Personal uploads by private people are published as counts only, 15 videos in all, with no title, channel, date or views; shares on this page include their views. Six further videos were dropped from the sample entirely because their text named or suggested a child beside alcohol content. A few titles are in Korean, Japanese, Malayalam, Russian, German or Vietnamese; the title topics read English words and hashtags, so topic counts are floors. YouTube's uploader label for altered or synthetic content was absent on every video in the sample. The data are in youtube-distillery-videos.csv, youtube-distillery-channels.csv and youtube-distillery-us-distillery-channels.csv.

How big is the U.S. spirits market, and is it growing?

U.S. spirits suppliers sold $36.4 billion in 2025, down 2.2% from 2024, while volume rose 1.9% to 318.1 million nine-liter cases, according to the annual economic briefing of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), the spirits industry's trade group (DISCUS). In 2024 the figure was $37.2 billion (DISCUS, 2025). These are DISCUS estimates of supplier revenue, including federal excise tax, not a government count.

Spirits now take the largest share of what Americans spend on beverage alcohol. They held 42.4% of beer, wine and spirits supplier revenue in 2025, the fourth year in a row ahead of beer (DISCUS). In 2000 the spirits share was 28.7% (DISCUS support tables), so it rose 13.7 percentage points from 2000 to 2025 (our calculation). Spirits first passed beer in 2022, at 42.1% (DISCUS support tables); beer's share in 2025 was 41.8% (DISCUS support tables).

The growth is in canned and bottled cocktails, not in the classic categories. Premixed cocktails, including spirits-based ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails, reached $3.8 billion in 2025, up 16.4% (DISCUS), while every other major category fell. Vodka was still the largest category at $7 billion, and American whiskey, the category that includes bourbon, sold $5.1 billion (DISCUS). Craft distillers' counts and shares are covered in our popular numbers section.

Where people buy spirits can swing fast. In a University of Idaho study of state spirits sales records, Idaho's distilled spirits sales rose 27.2% in March 2020 from a year earlier, as retail sales rose 42.3% and wholesale sales to bars and restaurants fell 41.1% (Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Winfree and Watson, 2022). By August 2020, sales were back near earlier years' levels. It is one state, but it shows how quickly spirits sales moved from bars to take-home bottles.

How many Americans drink, and how many prefer liquor?

About a third of U.S. drinkers name liquor as the drink they have most often. In Gallup's July 2026 Consumption Habits poll, 32% of drinkers chose liquor, against 36% for beer (Gallup). Liquor has gained 12 percentage points since 2016 while beer has lost ground (Gallup). The poll interviewed a random sample of 1,200 U.S. adults by telephone from July 1 to 19, 2026, 701 of them drinkers (Gallup); Gallup does not sell alcohol.

Liquor leans female and young. 37% of women who drink named liquor as their favorite drink, against 26% of men (Gallup), so women were about 1.4 times as likely to choose it (our calculation). Among young adults, Gallup found liquor essentially tied with beer, a sharp change from a decade earlier.

Fewer Americans drink at all. 54% of U.S. adults said they drink alcohol in 2026, matching 2025's record low in a series that began in 1939 (Gallup), down from 62% in 2023 (Gallup). Wine drinkers and the wine share are on our winery video statistics page.

How many people visit distilleries?

Distillery visits run into the millions a year in the biggest whiskey states. Tourism Economics estimated 8.0 million visits to Tennessee distilleries in 2022 (Tourism Economics for the Tennessee Whiskey Trail), and non-local visitors spent an estimated $2.05 billion on and off site (Tourism Economics), for a total economic impact it put at $3.45 billion (Tourism Economics). For DISCUS, the same firm estimated 2,089,000 distillery visits in Texas (Tourism Economics, Texas), 2,000,000 in New York (Tourism Economics, New York) and 1,100,000 in California (Tourism Economics, California) in 2022, about 13.2 million across the four states (our calculation). Non-local visitors spent an estimated $459.4 million in Texas (Texas), $456.5 million in New York (New York) and $293.6 million in California (California). These are modelled estimates of visits, not head counts of people, paid for by the spirits trade.

Kentucky's count is a tally of tours at member distilleries. The Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA), the state distillers' trade group that runs the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, recorded 2,135,555 visits in 2022, the first year above two million (KDA), up from 633,399 in 2013 (KDA, 2014), a rise of 237.2% (our calculation) as more distilleries joined the trail. The KDA put the ten-year rise at 370% (KDA). Visits were 1,719,821 in 2019 (KDA, 2020), then fell 66% to 587,307 in the pandemic year 2020 (KDA, 2021). The KDA says the trail has welcomed more than 18 million visitors since 1999 (KDA, 2024).

A tour also sells bottles. In visitor interviews by IQS Research for the KDA, published in 2024, 76% of Bourbon Trail visitors came from outside Kentucky, 91% discovered a new product or bourbon brand on their trip, and 97% were highly satisfied with their distillery experience (KDA). The KDA does not publish the sample size, and the trade group that runs the trail commissioned the work.

Scotland is the benchmark abroad. Scotch whisky distilleries recorded 2.7 million visits in 2024, making their visitor centres, taken together, Scotland's most popular tourist attraction, by the count of the Scotch Whisky Association, the industry's trade group (Scotch Whisky Association). We found no government count of U.S. distillery visits.

What do studies find about spirits marketing on social video?

Most alcohol brand ads on social media are now video, and a large share break the industry's own rules. In a 2024 study, researchers gathered 816 Instagram and YouTube ads, including ads from the platforms' ad libraries, for the top-selling U.S. brands of beer, spirits, hard seltzer and ready-to-drink cocktails (Alcohol and Alcoholism, Noel et al., 2026). Of the ads they coded, 59% contained video (Noel et al.), 33% did not comply with the alcohol industry's self-regulatory advertising guidelines, and among video ads the figure was 53% (Noel et al.). Median engagement was 79.5 likes, shares and comments per ad (Noel et al.), and non-compliant ads drew significantly more engagement than compliant ones. The abstract pools spirits with the other categories.

Young people see these ads often. In a 2024 University of Queensland study, Australian university students who scrolled Facebook or Instagram for half an hour were shown 796 alcohol ads between them, one every 2 min and 43 s on average for those who saw any (Drug and Alcohol Review, Rutherford et al.). It was a small course-credit sample in one country.

Influencers push whiskey hardest in one large market. A 2025 study of 3,442 alcohol-related posts by influencers on Instagram and Facebook in India found whiskey the most featured drink, in 32.0% of posts, and 86% of the influencers did not disclose commercial partnerships (Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Singh et al., 2026). Studies of alcohol brand channels, TikTok and bartender influencers, mostly about beer and spirits together, are on our brewery video statistics page; we found no peer-reviewed count of how many distilleries post video, or how often.

Who works in distilleries and what do they earn?

Private U.S. distilleries averaged 25,949 jobs in 2025 at an average annual pay of $75,989, per the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) (BLS). The federal industry code for distilleries, NAICS 312140, includes the large spirits makers' distilleries, bottling and aging sites as well as small craft distilleries, and QCEW counts only jobs covered by state unemployment insurance, so owners who work alone are not in it. Distillery jobs rose 145.3% from 10,579 in 2014 (BLS) (our calculation), peaked at 26,738 in 2024 (BLS), and fell 3.0% from 2024 to 2025 (our calculation). Average pay rose only 3.3% from $73,578 in 2014 (BLS), before inflation (our calculation).

The average distillery got much smaller: private U.S. distilleries (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) had 25.0 jobs per establishment in 2014 and 13.9 in 2025, by BLS QCEW counts (our calculation). The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns, which counts paid employees in the pay period including March 12, found that 42.8% of U.S. distilleries with paid employees had fewer than five employees in 2023 (our calculation): 578 of 1,349 (Census).

Over the long run, County Business Patterns counted 10,396 paid employees at U.S. establishments making distilled and blended liquors in March 1986 (Census), under SIC 2085, the industry code used before NAICS, and 26,177 at U.S. distilleries (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) in March 2023 (Census). That is a rise of 151.8% (our calculation). The Economic Census, which counts every employer establishment once every five years, found 11,130 paid employees at U.S. distilleries in 2017 (Census) and 22,586 in 2022 (Census), up 102.9% (our calculation).

Where are the distillery jobs?

Kentucky has more than a quarter of them. Private Kentucky distilleries (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) averaged 7,408 jobs in 2025, per BLS QCEW (BLS), 28.5% of U.S. distillery jobs (our calculation), at an average annual pay of $111,814 (BLS). Tennessee was second with 2,143 jobs (BLS).

Florida has a small share. Its private distilleries (NAICS 312140) averaged 755 jobs in 2025 at an average annual pay of $86,735, per BLS QCEW (BLS). That average mixes the large spirits makers' sites with small craft distilleries, so it is not a guide to craft distillery pay. Broward County's 7 distillery establishments averaged 12 jobs between them in 2025 (BLS). BLS withholds distillery jobs and pay for Palm Beach County to protect the few employers, and its file has no distillery row at all for Martin County. This page does not quote county distillery pay: an average over a dozen jobs is not a useful guide.

What jobs do distilleries hire for?

BLS's occupational survey (OEWS) does not publish distilleries on their own; its closest industry is beverage manufacturing (NAICS 312100), which puts distilleries together with breweries, wineries and soft drink makers. That industry had 319,220 wage and salary jobs in May 2025 (BLS), with a median annual wage of $49,370 (BLS). The occupations below are counted across the whole industry, so they are a labelled proxy for distillery staffing, not a count of distillery workers.

The still operators are the core production job. Beverage manufacturers employed 28,060 separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating and still machine setters, operators and tenders in May 2025 (BLS), at a median annual wage of $56,450 (BLS). Across all U.S. industries there were 60,100 such jobs (BLS), so beverage makers hold 46.7% of them (our calculation). The industry also employed 23,500 packaging and filling machine operators (BLS), 8,870 hand laborers and material movers (BLS), 2,950 food batchmakers (BLS) and 2,450 industrial production managers, at a median wage of $130,100 (BLS).

Front-of-house work is a large part of it. Bartenders, the occupation that covers tasting-room and cocktail-bar staff, held 37,800 beverage manufacturing jobs in May 2025 (BLS), 11.8% of the industry's jobs (our calculation), at a median annual wage of $36,090 (BLS). The industry also employed 16,630 waiters and waitresses (BLS), 7,500 retail salespersons (BLS) and 1,880 meeting, convention and event planners (BLS), per BLS OEWS.

Marketing is a small team. Beverage manufacturers employed 2,920 market research analysts and marketing specialists in May 2025 (BLS), at a median annual wage of $64,840 (BLS), and 630 marketing managers, at a median of $133,210 (BLS). OEWS counts wage and salary workers only, so distillery owners are not in these figures, and tips count only where employers report them as wages.

What about one-person distilleries, and how long do new ones last?

The Census Bureau's Nonemployer Statistics, which counts businesses with no paid employees, does not publish distilleries on their own: requests for NAICS 312140, 31214 and 3121 return no data for 2023 or 2024. Its closest row, beverage and tobacco product manufacturing (NAICS 312), counted 6,636 businesses with no paid employees in 2024 (Census), a figure that also includes one-person breweries, wineries, soft drink makers and tobacco makers. No federal source on this page counts one-person distilleries.

BLS does not track survival for distilleries either; its Business Employment Dynamics tables stop at the manufacturing sector, which is mostly factories. Of U.S. manufacturing establishments opened in the year to March 2025, 79.8% were still operating in March 2026 (BLS); of those opened in the year to March 2021, 53.0% were still operating five years later (BLS); and of those opened in the year to March 2016, 44.4% were still operating ten years later (BLS). Treat these as context for any new distillery, not as a distillery rate.

How many distilleries are there in the U.S. and Florida?

The United States had 1,872 private distilleries with paid employees in 2025, an annual average from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) (BLS). The federal industry code for distilleries, NAICS 312140, includes the large spirits makers' distilleries, bottling and aging sites as well as small craft distilleries; a distillery with no employees is left out, and a company with several distilleries counts once per site. The count was 1,873 in 2024 (BLS), the highest in QCEW's open-data files, so the count was flat from 2024 to 2025.

The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns, which counts establishments with paid employees in mid-March from its Business Register, found 1,349 U.S. distilleries (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) in 2023 (Census). The 2022 Economic Census counted 1,286 distillery establishments with paid employees (Census). The agencies use different records and reference periods, so their counts do not match.

Florida had 117 private distilleries with paid employees (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) in 2025, per BLS QCEW (BLS), 6.3% of the U.S. count (our calculation). That was down 6.4% from 125 in 2024 (BLS) (our calculation). County Business Patterns counted 53 Florida distilleries in 2023 (Census) and the 2022 Economic Census 40 (Census), which withheld Florida's distillery shipments. The gap between 117 and 53 is wide, so treat any single Florida distillery count as approximate.

Which states have the most distilleries?

Texas had the most private distilleries with paid employees (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) in 2025: 143, per BLS QCEW (BLS). New York had 141 (BLS), Kentucky 122 (BLS), Florida 117 and California 116 (BLS). Kentucky's distilleries are far larger than most: it had 7,408 of the jobs.

How has the number of distilleries changed since the 1980s?

County Business Patterns counted 16.7 times as many U.S. distillery establishments with paid employees in 2023 as in 1986 (our calculation). In 1986 it found 81 establishments making distilled and blended liquors (Census), under SIC 2085, the industry code used before NAICS, which also covered blending and bottling of purchased spirits. In 1998, the first year on NAICS codes, it found 60 distilleries (Census); the 2023 count was 22.5 times that (our calculation). It counted 118 in 2008 (Census), 331 in 2013 (Census) and 930 in 2018 (Census). The Economic Census count rose 64.2% between 783 in 2017 (Census) and 2022 (our calculation).

BLS QCEW, whose open-data files start in 2014, shows the same climb year by year. It averaged 424 private distilleries with employees (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) in 2014 (BLS), and the count rose 341.5% by 2025 (our calculation).

Florida grew from a handful. County Business Patterns counted 2 Florida establishments making distilled and blended liquors in 1986 (Census) and 3 distilleries in 1998 (Census). BLS QCEW averaged 19 private Florida distilleries with employees in 2014 (BLS), so Florida had 515.8% more in 2025 (our calculation).

How many distilleries are there in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties?

Broward County had 7 private distilleries with paid employees (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) in 2025, per BLS QCEW (BLS), down from 10 in 2024 (BLS) and up from 1 in 2014 (BLS). Palm Beach County had 6 in 2025 (BLS), 7 in 2024 (BLS) and 1 in 2014 (BLS); BLS withholds Palm Beach's distillery jobs and pay to protect the few employers. QCEW publishes no distillery row for Martin County in any year from 2014 to 2025. County Business Patterns counted 4 distilleries with paid employees in Broward County in 2023 (Census) and 3 in Palm Beach County (Census), and published no distillery row for Martin.

How many distilleries are there per 100,000 people in South Florida?

Florida had 0.50 private distilleries with paid employees (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) per 100,000 residents in 2025, a little below the U.S. rate of 0.55 (our calculation, from BLS QCEW counts and Census Bureau population estimates). Palm Beach County had 0.38 and Broward County 0.35 (our calculation). Martin County has no published distillery count, so no rate can be given for it.

How much do U.S. distilleries sell, and how much comes from tasting rooms, tours and events?

U.S. distilleries (NAICS 312140, which includes the large spirits makers) shipped $18.8 billion ($18,833,463 thousand) of products in 2022, according to the Economic Census (Census). That was 52.9% more than the $12.3 billion ($12,320,798 thousand) of 2017 (Census), before inflation (our calculation). The Census Bureau's Annual Integrated Economic Survey, a sample survey of employer firms, estimated 2024 distillery revenue at $17.8 billion ($17,838,318 thousand), 1.8% less than in 2023 (Census). These values include federal excise tax and are dominated by the large spirits makers.

Bottled spirits are most of it. Bottled whiskey, gin, vodka, rum, cordials and other bottled liquor made up 55.0% of distillery shipments and receipts in 2022, and bottled gin, vodka and rum alone 15.1%, per the Economic Census product-line tables (Census). Raw whiskey such as bourbon and rye, sold unbottled, made up 27.4% (Census).

Tasting rooms, shops, tours and events are a tiny share of the dollars but a common line of business. Alcoholic drinks served on site, such as tasting-room pours and cocktails, made up 0.6% of distillery shipments and receipts in 2022 (Census), $118,016 thousand (about $118.0 million) (Census); the Economic Census has no separate line for tasting fees. 409 distillery establishments reported that line (Census), 31.8% of all U.S. distilleries with paid employees (our calculation). 422 reported retail sales of alcoholic beverages, such as bottle-shop sales (Census), 32.8% (our calculation), worth 0.6% of shipments and receipts (Census). 267 reported sales of clothing accessories such as branded caps (Census), 20.8% (our calculation), and 171 sales of unisex clothing such as T-shirts (Census).

Tours and events are rarer. 42 distillery establishments reported receipts from tour guide services in 2022 (Census), 3.3% of the total (our calculation), bringing in $5,397 thousand (about $5.4 million) (Census). 71 reported renting space for weddings, banquets and parties (Census), 5.5% (our calculation), for $4,694 thousand (about $4.7 million) (Census). The shares are self-reported by the establishments that broke out their product lines.

How much do distilleries spend on advertising?

U.S. distillery firms bought $193.0 million ($193,042 thousand) of advertising and promotional services in 2024, the equivalent of 1.1% of their revenue, per the Census Bureau's Annual Integrated Economic Survey (Census) (our calculation). It is a sample estimate, so treat it as approximate. All beverage manufacturers (NAICS 3121) bought $862.5 million ($862,493 thousand) (Census) on revenue of $119.8 billion ($119,849,873 thousand) (Census), or 0.7%, so distilleries accounted for 22.4% of the industry's purchased advertising (our calculation). The survey counts only advertising bought from outside firms; marketing staff on a distillery's own payroll are in its payroll, not here.

How much spirits does the U.S. import and export?

The United States imported $8.8 billion (8,753,849,449) of spirits (HS 2208: whiskies, rum, gin, vodka, tequila, brandy and liqueurs) in 2025, per Census Bureau trade data (Census). That was 26.4% less than the $11.9 billion (11,899,454,125) of 2024 (Census) and 21.1% more than the $7.2 billion (7,231,581,766) of 2015 (Census), before inflation (our calculation). Mexico supplied $3.8 billion (3,758,841,942) (Census), 42.9% of the total (our calculation), followed by France with $1.5 billion (1,471,649,022) (Census) and the United Kingdom with $1.3 billion (1,250,923,128) (Census).

U.S. spirits exports were $2.7 billion (2,731,470,533) in 2025 (Census), 7.2% less than the $2.9 billion (2,944,807,277) of 2024 (Census) and 38.9% more than the $2.0 billion (1,966,906,123) of 2015 (Census), before inflation (our calculation). Import values are customs values, before duties, freight and insurance; export values are free-alongside-ship values.

How have spirits prices changed?

Spirits bought in stores cost 10.3% more in 2025 than in 2015, by the Consumer Price Index, far less than the 35.8% rise in prices overall (our calculation, from BLS annual averages). The index for distilled spirits at home averaged 192.607 in 2015 (BLS) and 212.506 in 2025 (BLS); the all-items index went from 237.017 (BLS) to 321.943 (BLS). Whiskey bought in stores rose 6.4%, from 207.209 (BLS) to 220.380 (BLS) (our calculation).

Spirits bought by the drink in bars and restaurants rose much faster: 39.2% from 2015 to 2025 (our calculation). Its index averaged 176.945 in 2015 (BLS) and 246.332 in 2025 (BLS).

In September 2026, distilled spirits at home cost 1.2% less than a year earlier (BLS), whiskey at home 0.3% more (BLS) and spirits away from home 3.3% more (BLS), against 3.7% for all items (BLS). BLS did not collect October 2025 prices during the 2025 shutdown, so no 12-month change exists for October 2026. The indexes price spirits from every kind of distillery, domestic and imported.

How many distilleries does TTB count?

The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) listed 5,581 distilled spirits plant permits in the United States on November 10, 2026 (our count of TTB's public Spirits Producers and Bottlers List). Each permit covers one distilled spirits plant. The list takes in every kind: the large whiskey and vodka makers, craft distillers, and plants that only blend, process or bottle spirits. A company with several plants holds several permits, and a permit is no proof of a tasting room. TTB can publish this list because distillers hold basic permits under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act. Its FOIA page says Internal Revenue Code section 6103 protects taxpayer records, so it publishes no list of industrial alcohol producers (TTB).

TTB's own statistical release shows how fast the count grew. It counted 5,069 active distilled spirits (beverage alcohol) plant permits at the end of 2024 (TTB), against 1,852 at the end of 2015 (TTB) and 896 at the end of 2012, the first year of its validated data (TTB). That is a rise of 173.7% since 2015 and 465.7% since 2012 (our calculation). In 2024 alone TTB issued 411 new permits (TTB) and 123 closed (TTB).

A second TTB count tracks who files. TTB counted 3,723 distilled spirits industry members that filed operations reports for 2025 (TTB), against 3,756 in 2024 (TTB), 1,865 in 2015 (TTB) and 1,068 in 2012 (TTB). That is a rise of 248.6% from 2012 to 2025, but a fall of 0.9% from 2024 to 2025, the first fall in TTB's data (our calculation). An industry member is a proprietor, so one company that files for several plants counts once.

How big are most U.S. distilleries?

Most distilled spirits plants are small, and many sell nothing taxable in a year. Of the 5,192 beverage spirits plant permits active at some point in 2024 (TTB), 2,746 reported no taxable removals that year (TTB): 52.9% of the total (our calculation). Another 2,002 permits sat in TTB's smallest removal group, under ten thousand proof gallons a year (TTB). At the other end, just 50 permits removed more than three-quarters of a million proof gallons each (TTB), averaging 6,177,058 proof gallons apiece (TTB). By TTB's averages, those 50 plants made about 90.7% of all taxable removals in 2024 (our calculation). Federal excise tax is charged by the proof gallon, so taxable removals measure what a plant sells into the U.S. market.

Kentucky ranks just below Florida by permit count, because a permit counts plants, not output. The state numbers come from TTB's permit list, not its tax data, which TTB does not break down by state for spirits in these files.

How many distilleries are licensed in Florida and in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties?

Florida's 209 federal distilled spirits plant permits rank 7th among the states (our count). Florida's own count is lower. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) listed 122 current craft distillery licences on November 12, 2026 (our count of the public licence file of DBPR's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco). The same file holds 140 craft distillery licences in all; the rest carry a 2026 expiry date and were not renewed, or have no expiry date. "Current" is our reading: DBPR publishes no key to the division's numeric status codes, so we count licences with status 20, all of which run to 2027. Beside them sit 8 current full distiller licences and 5 current rectifier and blender licences (our count).

DBPR's licence chart describes a craft distillery as one that distills, rectifies or blends 250,000 gallons or less of distilled spirits a calendar year (DBPR). The craft licence costs $1,000 per plant or branch and lets the distillery sell face to face to visitors at its gift shop or tasting room (DBPR). The full Distiller of Spirituous Liquor licence costs $4,000 (DBPR) and the Rectifier/Blender licence $4,000 (DBPR). Of the 122 current craft licences, 86 were first issued in 2020 or later (our count). The file shows only licences still on it, so distilleries that opened and have since closed are not in that count.

By premises ZIP code, Palm Beach County held 5 of Florida's federal distilled spirits plant permits, Broward 13 and Martin 3 (our count). Together the three counties hold 10.0% of the state's permits (our calculation). We matched on ZIP codes because TTB says the county field on its list is typed in by the permittee and may be wrong. Every county that was filled in agreed with our ZIP match, except one permit at a Broward ZIP code that gives a Miami-Dade city and county; we left it out. DBPR's file, by its own county code, shows 3 current craft distillery licences in Palm Beach, 5 in Broward and 2 in Martin (our count), 8.2% of the state's total (our calculation). None of the three counties has a current full distiller or rectifier licence.

Per resident, Florida has about half the national density of distilled spirits plants, and Palm Beach County has fewer still (our calculation from the counts above and Census Bureau 2025 population estimates). Martin County is small, so its handful of distilleries gives it the highest rate of the three. The two lists count different things: TTB's covers every plant with a federal permit, including bottlers that do not distill; DBPR's counts state licences, one per plant or branch.

How much whiskey do U.S. distilleries make?

U.S. distilled spirits plants reported producing 206.9 million proof gallons of whisky (206,917,926) in 2025, according to TTB's yearly distilled spirits data (TTB). TTB builds these figures from the monthly reports plants file, including the Report of Production Operations, TTB F 5110.40 (TTB). Whisky output was 286.7 million proof gallons (286,670,768) in 2024 (TTB) and 299.7 million (299,744,966) in 2023, the high point of TTB's data (TTB). In 2015 it was 147.9 million (147,936,654) (TTB).

So whisky production fell 31.0% from 2023 to 2025, though it is still 39.9% above 2015 (our calculation). Fewer plants are making it too: 970 industry members reported whisky production in 2025 (TTB), against 1,132 in 2023 (TTB), a 14.3% drop (our calculation). The fall has not stopped. TTB's monthly data, which are early and can be revised, show 22.1% less whisky made in January to March 2026 than in the same months of 2025 (our calculation).

Whisky is a small part of what these plants make by volume. They reported 24.4 billion proof gallons (24,409,829,331) of spirits and alcohol in all in 2025 (TTB), and 99.1% of it was on TTB's alcohol, neutral spirits and other line, not whisky, brandy, rum, gin or vodka (our calculation). Brandy production came to 3,106,026 proof gallons in 2025 (TTB), and TTB's rum, gin and vodka line to 6,805,739 (TTB).

How much spirit leaves U.S. distilleries for sale?

Taxable withdrawals, the spirits that leave bond for the U.S. market subject to federal excise tax, were 375.1 million proof gallons (375,057,071) in 2024 (TTB). They were 414.4 million (414,397,261) in 2018, the high point of TTB's data (TTB), 323.6 million (323,581,763) in 2015 (TTB) and 296.4 million (296,384,059) in 2012 (TTB). That is 15.9% more than in 2015 but 9.5% less than in 2018 (our calculation). They count removals from U.S. plants only, so they are not a measure of how much Americans drink. There is no 2025 total yet: TTB says the taxable removals reported between July 2025 and March 2026 are under review and are not shown in the current release (TTB).

Bottling tells a similar story. U.S. plants bottled 523.3 million wine gallons (523,309,665) of spirits for domestic use in 2025 (TTB), down 5.4% from 553.1 million (553,131,218) in 2024 (TTB) (our calculation). Cordials, liqueurs and specialties were the largest line at 198,686,102 wine gallons (TTB), ahead of vodka at 108,547,913 (TTB) and whisky at 76,681,996 (TTB).

Bottled cocktails grew fastest. Plants bottled 77,210,620 wine gallons of cocktails and mixed drinks for domestic use in 2025 (TTB), against 8,775,763 in 2012 (TTB): a rise of 779.8%, and 14.8% of everything bottled in 2025 (our calculation).

How much whiskey is aging in U.S. distilleries?

U.S. distilled spirits plants held 1.53 billion proof gallons of whisky (1,531,671,620) at the end of December 2025 (TTB). That is more than the 1.46 billion (1,458,322,510) of December 2024 (TTB) and the 567.2 million (567,181,431) of December 2015 (TTB), a rise of 170.0% in ten years (our calculation). Whisky was 79.6% of the 1.92 billion proof gallons (1,924,585,450) of spirits and alcohol in plant inventories at the end of 2025 (TTB) (our calculation).

Stocks kept rising while production fell. The whisky on hand at the end of 2025 equals 7.4 years of 2025 whisky production (our calculation). Whisky ages in barrels for years, so a large stock is normal; what changed is that stocks grew from 2024 to 2025 while production fell.

Why do the distillery counts disagree?

The number of U.S. distilleries runs from 1,286 to 1,872 in the federal establishment counts alone, depending on who counted and when. BLS and the Census Bureau count establishments with paid employees in NAICS 312140, Distilleries, which includes the large spirits makers' distilleries, bottling and aging sites and leaves out distilleries with no payroll. BLS QCEW uses state unemployment insurance records averaged over the year; County Business Patterns and the Economic Census use the Census Bureau's Business Register as of mid-March. TTB counts federal permits for distilled spirits plants, and trade groups keep their own lists of craft distillers.

TTB’s permit counts run far higher than the employer counts because a permit is needed to distill, bottle or store spirits at all, whether or not the plant has a payroll or makes anything that year: 52.9% of active permits reported no taxable removals in 2024. The craft count starts from TTB’s list and keeps only the producers its counters judge to be active and small, which is why it moved from 3,069 in 2024 to 2,131 in 2026 partly by a change of method.

Compare a count only with the same series. In Palm Beach and Broward counties the federal counts are small enough that one opening or closing moves them: QCEW averaged 6 distilleries with employees in Palm Beach and 7 in Broward in 2025, against 3 and 4 in County Business Patterns for 2023. Neither publishes a distillery count for Martin County.

What do public spirits companies tell the SEC about distilleries, visitor centers and marketing?

Brown-Forman, the Louisville maker of Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve, spent $462 million on advertising in fiscal 2026, the year to April 30, 2026, by its Form 10-K for that year (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). That was 11.8% of its $3,928 million net sales (our calculation), down from 12.7% in fiscal 2024, when it spent $529 million on net sales of $4,178 million (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). Its advertising fell 4% in fiscal 2026, mostly on lower spend for the Jack Daniel’s brands (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). The filing lists its marketing as media advertising “(TV, radio, print, outdoor, digital, and social)”, promotions, sponsorships and “visitors’ center programs at our distilleries” (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026), and its strategy includes more “digital marketing” and e-commerce (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026).

Brown-Forman’s list of principal properties shows 8 visitors’ centers (our calculation): at its Old Forester, Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve distilleries in Louisville, Lynchburg, Tennessee and Woodford County, Kentucky (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026), and at its Herradura distillery in Amatitán, Mexico, Slane in Ireland and The Glendronach, Benriach and Glenglassaugh in Scotland (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). It says that in the United States it competes with national companies and “craft spirit brands” (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). Among the risks of negative publicity it names social media, blogs and “video-sharing platforms” (Brown-Forman Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). It gives no spending figure for social media or video.

MGP Ingredients, of Atchison, Kansas, is both a spirits brand owner and a distiller for other brands. Its sales were $536,375 thousand in 2025, by its 10-K for fiscal 2025 (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). Its own Branded Spirits made $232,941 thousand (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), or 43.4% of sales (our calculation). Its Distilling Solutions segment, which sells whiskey and other distillate to other brands, made $181,400 thousand (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), down 45 percent, mostly on lower sales of aged whiskey (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). Those aged-whiskey sales came to $128,450 thousand (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), as a number of its large customers chose to “pause their whiskey purchases” after their contracts ran out (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). It closed its Atchison distillery in December 2023 (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025).

MGP cut its advertising and promotion to $31,083 thousand in 2025 (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), from $40,508 thousand in 2024 (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). That was 5.8% of its 2025 sales (our calculation). It runs visitor centers with shops at two of its distilleries, Lux Row Distillers in Bardstown and Limestone Branch in Lebanon, both in Kentucky (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025), and had 617 employees at the end of 2025 (MGP Ingredients Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). EDGAR now lists the company under a new name, Sempreon.

Constellation Brands, best known for Corona and Modelo beer, sold $123.4 million of spirits in fiscal 2026, the year to February 28, 2026, by its 10-K for that year, down from $218.8 million in fiscal 2025 (Constellation Brands Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). That is a fall of 43.6% (our calculation). Its net sales were $9,139.0 million (Constellation Brands Form 10-K, fiscal 2026), so spirits were just 1.4% of the total (our calculation). It runs three distilleries in the U.S. (Constellation Brands Form 10-K, fiscal 2026), and names Mi CAMPO and “High West” among its best-known brands (Constellation Brands Form 10-K, fiscal 2026). For its wine sale and tasting rooms, see our winery video statistics.

Diageo, the London owner of Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Guinness, is not a U.S. company. It files a Form 20-F, and its figures cover the whole world. Its reported net sales were $19,643 million in fiscal 26, the year to June 30, 2026 (Diageo Form 20-F, fiscal 26). It spent $3,183 million on marketing, down from $3,662 million a year earlier (Diageo Form 20-F, fiscal 26). It calls marketing as a share of net sales its reinvestment rate: 16.2% in fiscal 26 (Diageo Form 20-F, fiscal 26). It owns 31 Scotch whisky distilleries in Scotland and five whisky distilleries in the United States, with more in Canada and China (Diageo Form 20-F, fiscal 26). Its corporate net sales, mostly from visitor centers and brand licensing, were $162 million (Diageo Form 20-F, fiscal 26). The filing does not split the visitor centers out.

What happened to the listed craft distillers and their tasting rooms?

The two craft distillers among the filers we read, Heritage and Eastside, have both closed their tasting rooms and moved into other businesses. Heritage Distilling, of Gig Harbor, Washington, had five Heritage-branded tasting rooms in the Pacific Northwest, by its 10-K for fiscal 2024 (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024). It shipped direct to consumers in 46 states through a third-party platform (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024), states it put at about 96.8% of the U.S. population (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024). It sold more than 23,000 bottles of its military-themed Salute Series in its tasting rooms, online and to some wholesalers from October 2023 to February 2025 (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024), for more than $1,800,000 in revenue (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024).

Heritage said its marketing used data analytics and digital techniques across “social media, lifestyle and brand influencer activities” (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024). It cut advertising to $427,398 in 2024 from $920,879 in 2023 (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024), a fall of 53.6% (our calculation). Its risk factors warn that AI tools are being used to make “fake video clips” and fake images (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024). It named Sazerac among the large suppliers that dominate U.S. spirits sales: “Sazerac Company”, with Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Gallo, Proximo, MGP and Constellation (Heritage Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2024). In August 2025 the company raised $220 million and turned to digital assets and intellectual property, keeping craft spirits as a legacy segment (IP Strategy Holdings Form 10-K, fiscal 2025). Now named IP Strategy Holdings, it closed its retail tasting rooms on December 31, 2025 (IP Strategy Holdings Form 10-K, fiscal 2025).

Eastside Distilling, of Portland, Oregon, ran four retail tasting rooms in Portland until March 2020, by its 10-K for fiscal 2019 (Eastside Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2019). All had closed by March 23, 2020 (Eastside Distilling Form 10-K, fiscal 2019). On October 7, 2024 it bought Beeline, a mortgage business, and sold its can-printing business and a large minority stake in its spirits business (Beeline Holdings Form 10-K, fiscal 2024): 47% of the spirits business went to its creditors and others (Beeline Holdings Form 10-K, fiscal 2024). It now files as Beeline Holdings.

Most of the big spirits makers sold in the U.S. file no annual report with the SEC. Sazerac and Heaven Hill have no EDGAR filer record. Beam Suntory, the former Beam Inc., stopped filing after Suntory bought it, and Pernod Ricard, Bacardi and Campari have filed no 10-K or 20-F since at least 2002. Their tasting rooms, visitor centers and marketing budgets do not appear in any SEC filing.

How often do annual reports mention craft distilleries and craft spirits?

Rarely. 24 Form 10-K annual reports filed from 2001 to 2025 contained “craft distillery” or “craft distilleries”, by our count with SEC EDGAR full-text search (our calculation). They came from 9 companies (our calculation). None appeared before 2017, when Eastside Distilling’s 10-K used the phrase (our calculation). The busiest year was 2025, with 5 such reports, and 5 more were filed in 2026 up to November 12 (our calculation). “Craft spirits” appeared in 51 10-Ks from 2001 to 2025, from 20 companies, starting in 2013 with a small spirits company, Montalvo Spirits (our calculation). 7 were filed in 2025, tied with 2022 for the most, and 6 in 2026 up to November 12 (our calculation). Brown-Forman’s 10-Ks used “craft spirits” in 5 years, 2015 to 2019, and not since; its fiscal 2026 report says “craft spirit brands” instead (our calculation).

We read every hit filed from January 2024 to November 12, 2026. They came from 12 companies (our calculation). Only 3 were spirits makers with their own distilleries: Heritage Distilling, Eastside Distilling and Constellation Brands (our calculation). 2 were drinks companies that own a craft distillery, Boston Beer (Dogfish Head) and Tilray Brands (Breckenridge Distillery), and 2 named craft distilleries only as competitors (our calculation). 2 sold services to spirits brands: an alcohol e-commerce and marketing platform and the maker of a rapid spirits-aging system (our calculation). 2 mentioned craft spirits only in a director’s or executive’s biography, and 1, Molson Coors, was a false match: EDGAR’s search ignores the comma in “craft, spirits” (our calculation). The search misses private companies, which means almost every craft distillery, and Diageo’s 20-F. The per-year counts are in our EDGAR counts CSV and the hand-read list is in our hand-read CSV.

How much federal excise tax does a distillery pay on spirits?

As of November 12, 2026, the federal excise tax on distilled spirits is $13.50 a proof gallon under 26 U.S.C. 5001, as published in the 2024 U.S. Code (U.S. Code). A distillery that distilled or processed the spirit itself pays a reduced $2.70 a proof gallon on the first 100,000 proof gallons it removes in a calendar year (U.S. Code), and $13.34 on the next 22,130,000 (U.S. Code). Law text as read on November 12, 2026; this is a summary, not tax advice.

• TTB's own rate table prints the same tiers: $2.70 on the first 100,000 proof gallons, and $13.34 on removals over that, up to 22,230,000 proof gallons a year (TTB). Spirits a plant did not distill or process pay the full $13.50.
• The tax is charged on proof gallons, not bottles. Proof is twice the alcohol by volume: TTB's example is a 40% spirit, which is 80 proof (TTB). TTB's FAQ shows how ordinary gallons convert to proof gallons.
• The reduced rates began with spirits removed after December 31, 2017 (U.S. Code). Pub. L. 116-260 then struck the clause that would have ended them for spirits removed after December 31, 2020, which made them permanent (U.S. Code).
• TTB's historical table starts in 1862, at $0.20 a proof gallon (TTB). The rate was $10.50 from 1951 (TTB) and $12.50 from 1985 (TTB), and it has been $13.50 since 1991 (TTB).

Is it legal to distill spirits at home, as some YouTube videos show?

No, according to TTB. Its home distilling page, as read on November 12, 2026, says that adults may make wine or beer at home for personal or family use, but federal law strictly prohibits individuals from producing distilled spirits at home. It cites 26 U.S.C. 5042(a)(2) and 5053(e) (TTB). Spirits may be made only at a TTB-qualified distilled spirits plant, and under 26 U.S.C. 5178(a)(1)(B) such a plant may not be in a residence or in sheds, yards or enclosures connected to one (TTB). This is TTB's statement of the law, not legal advice.

• TTB says offenses under 26 U.S.C. 5601 are felonies. They include possessing an unregistered still, distilling on prohibited premises and producing spirits unlawfully. Each offense is punishable by up to 5 years in prison (TTB), a fine of up to $10,000, or both (TTB).
• TTB's FAQ says owning a small still and using it for other purposes is allowed, but no one may produce alcohol with it without qualifying as a distilled spirits plant. It adds that state and local rules may differ (TTB).
• A federal court has carved out an exception for some home distillers. In an order of July 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas declared the residence ban and the felony that enforces it unconstitutional and barred the government from enforcing them against the plaintiffs: one hobbyist, the Hobby Distillers Association and its members (U.S. District Court, N.D. Tex.). The order covers only those plaintiffs, and TTB’s page still states the general prohibition. We did not establish the status of any appeal; govinfo held no appeals-court opinion in the case when we searched on November 12, 2026.
• Home distilling and moonshine how-to videos are on-topic for this page, so our YouTube count flags them as home distilling. A video showing it does not make it legal.

What must a spirits bottle on camera show, and which sizes are allowed?

A bottle in a release reel carries a label TTB regulates under 27 CFR part 5. As read on November 12, 2026, the alcohol content on the label may differ from the real one by no more than 0.3 percentage points either way (eCFR). The government health warning must be printed no smaller than 1 millimeter on containers of 237 milliliters or less, such as miniatures (eCFR). On larger containers up to 3 liters, such as a standard bottle, the minimum is 2 millimeters (eCFR).

• Whisky must be bottled at not less than 40 percent alcohol by volume (eCFR). Any whisky aged less than 4 years must carry an age statement unless it is labelled bottled in bond (eCFR). Straight rye whisky's standard requires at least 2 years of aging (eCFR).
• The word "bourbon" may not be used for any whisky or whisky-based spirit not produced in the United States (eCFR).
• "Bottled in bond" spirits must come from the same distiller at the same distillery in the same distilling season. They must be stored for at least 4 years in wooden containers (eCFR) and bottled at 50 percent alcohol by volume (eCFR).
• 27 CFR 5.203 lists 25 authorized container sizes (standards of fill) for spirits, the largest 3.75 liters (eCFR).
• TTB has widened that list twice. A rule effective December 29, 2020 added the 1.8-liter size, among others (Federal Register). A rule effective January 10, 2025 added 15 sizes for spirits (Federal Register). Those sizes run from 187 milliliters to 3.75 liters, and the rule approved every spirits size for cans (Federal Register).

What do federal rules require in a distillery's ads, posts and videos?

A distillery's posts, reels and videos that promote its spirits are advertising under 27 CFR part 5, subpart N. TTB rewrote those rules in T.D. TTB-176, which took effect on March 11, 2022 (Federal Register). Since then the definition of an advertisement has named any "internet or other electronic site or social network" (eCFR). TTB's social media guidance, Industry Circular 2024-1, was published on November 1, 2024 (TTB). It says content an industry member posts on social media is advertising and must include the mandatory statements in 27 CFR 5.233 (TTB). It also notes that the spirits and beer rules have named internet media since March 11, 2022, while similar changes to the wine rules are still in progress (TTB). Rule text as read on November 12, 2026; the winery and beer rules are on our winery video statistics and brewery video statistics pages.

• A spirits ad must show the responsible advertiser's name, city and State, or a name and other contact details such as a phone number, website or email address. It must also state the spirit's class and type as on the label, and its alcohol content as a percentage of alcohol by volume; proof may be added in the same field of vision. An ad for a whole spirits line, with no single spirit named, needs only the advertiser's name and contact details (eCFR).
• Many microblog services cap posts at about 140-280 characters. TTB does not expect the statements in every post if they sit on the profile page or behind a clearly named link (TTB). Posts by social media influencers made on a distillery's behalf to sell its spirits must meet the same advertising rules (TTB).
• A spirits ad may not contain false or misleading statements, falsely disparage a competitor or be obscene or indecent. It may not claim an age the label does not state, or use subliminal techniques. Any label it shows must be a reproduction of an approved label, and health-related statements may not mislead. "Double distilled" or "triple distilled" is allowed only if it is true: each run through a pot still or through a column counts as one distillation (eCFR).
• On March 2, 2026 TTB reminded industry members that generated images in ads (TTB's term is "SI-generated") must follow the same rules (TTB). For spirits, they must not break the prohibited practices in 27 CFR 5.235 and must carry the mandatory information in 5.233. TTB offers a free, voluntary review of ads before they run (TTB).
• Outdoor ads already up on September 7, 1984 are exempt until they are replaced, restored or renovated (eCFR).
• A violation of the federal labelling rules is a misdemeanor, and a willful violation can lead to a permit being suspended or revoked. TTB may also settle a violation for a sum of not more than $500 per offense (eCFR).

What does Florida law say about craft distilleries, tasting rooms and spirits tax?

Florida defines a craft distillery as a licensed distillery in the state that distills, rectifies or blends 250,000 gallons or less of spirits a calendar year on its premises (Florida Legislature). Statute text from the 2026 Florida Statutes, as read on November 12, 2026; this is a summary, not legal advice.

• A craft distillery may sell up to 75,000 gallons a year of its own branded products directly to consumers. It may sell them by the drink or in factory-sealed packages, but only in its gift shop or tasting room, on property contiguous to the distillery (Florida Legislature).
• Sealed bottles may be sold to consumers only face to face at the distillery. A craft distillery may not ship its products to consumers, though it may ship to other distillers, distributors, bonded warehouses and exporters (Florida Legislature).
• Since July 1, 2026, at least 60 percent of a craft distillery's finished branded products must be distilled in Florida and contain one or more Florida agricultural products (Florida Legislature).
• The annual state licence tax is $1,000 per plant or branch for a craft distillery (Florida Legislature) and $4,000 for other distilleries (Florida Legislature). A craft distillery may ask the Department of Transportation for directional highway signs and pays their costs (Florida Legislature).
• Craft distilleries may hold tastings and sales of their own spirits, under a state permit, at Florida fairs, trade shows, farmers markets, expositions, and festivals (Florida Legislature). Tastings on licensed premises must be aimed at the public of legal drinking age (Florida Legislature).
• Florida's excise tax is $6.50 a gallon on spirits of 17.259 percent up to 55.780 percent alcohol by volume (Florida Legislature), and $9.53 a gallon on stronger spirits (Florida Legislature). Manufacturers and distributors pay it.
• Distributors and vendors may not sell spirits in any container larger than 1.75 liters (Florida Legislature).

What do YouTube, Google Ads, the FTC and the spirits industry's own code require?

Google Ads allows alcohol ads in the United States, and ads for drinks of 0.5% alcohol or more must show the ABV on the landing page (Google Ads Help). YouTube's child safety policy defines a minor as someone under 18 and lists videos of minors drinking alcohol among content that may not be posted (YouTube Help). When a creator ticks YouTube's paid promotion box, YouTube says the disclosure label appears at the beginning of your video (YouTube Help). Policies as read on November 12, 2026.

The FTC's Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255, in their current form date from July 26, 2023 (eCFR). If a creator was paid in money or free bottles, and viewers would not expect that link, it must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously (eCFR). A knowing violation of an FTC rule, such as the rule against fake reviews, can cost up to $53,088 per violation (eCFR).

The spirits industry's trade group, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), runs a voluntary advertising code that dates from 1934 (DISCUS). This is self-regulation, not law. The current version was last updated in July 2025 (DISCUS). It asks that spirits ads, including internet and digital ads, run only where at least 73.8 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be of legal drinking age, or on platforms that can limit ads to that audience (DISCUS). Models and actors in spirits ads should be at least 25 years old and look of legal drinking age (DISCUS). The code also says user-generated content on a brand's own channels must be monitored and moderated regularly, and brand websites should ask for a full date of birth before letting visitors in (DISCUS).

What do the popular distillery numbers really say?

Four numbers turn up again and again in distillery marketing: that the U.S. has more than some round number of craft distilleries, that craft spirits hold a set share of the market, that 95% of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky (with more barrels than people), and that video lifts conversions 80%. We traced each one to the earliest source we could read and say below what that source counted. The craft figures all come from one trade group’s yearly project. The American Craft Spirits Association’s own site answers automated readers with a captcha, so we read its figures only as Park Street, its research partner, and trade press print them. We cite none of these sources: the American Distilling Institute (its robots.txt bars AI agents), Shanken News Daily (its robots bar ClaudeBot and GPTBot), and The Spirits Business, BevNET and just-drinks (all three refused our reader).

“There are more than N craft distilleries in the U.S.”

Most “more than” figures are rounded versions of one yearly count, and the newest count is lower than the ones still being repeated. That count is the Craft Spirits Data Project. It is run by the American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA), the craft distillers’ trade group, with Park Street, a back-office and import services firm for spirits brands. It starts from TTB’s list of distilled spirits plants and removes inactive plants and plants outside ACSA’s definition: a licensed producer that removes 750,000 proof gallons or less from bond a year, markets itself as craft and is not openly controlled by a large supplier (ACSA release, reprinted by Fred Minnick). The first edition, in October 2016, counted 1,315 craft distillers active in August 2016 (Beverage Industry). The earliest “more than” wording we found is from the same year. A white paper by the chief executive of Coppersea Distilling, presented at the American Distilling Institute’s conference, said more than 1,000 craft distilleries were operating (The Whiskey Wash). It also said federal distilled spirits permits had reached 1,825 (The Whiskey Wash), but that counts permits of every size, not craft distilleries. In 2020 a one-page summary of a study by ADI and the Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS), the spirits industry’s trade group, said there were more than 2,000 craft distilleries with more than 15,000 direct jobs (DISCUS and ADI).

The 2024 edition gave the highest count: active craft distillers grew 11.5% to 3,069 in August 2024 (Park Street). The 2025 edition put the count at 2,282 (Park Street). Most of that fall came from cleaning the list, not from closures. ACSA’s policy director told Spirits & Distilling, “we’re probably not seeing 25 percent of them close” (Spirits & Distilling). The 2026 edition counts 2,131 active craft distillers in August 2026, down 6.6% in a year (Park Street). In August 2026, ACSA’s chief executive told a trade-show audience that there were 75 craft distillers in 2006 and over 2,000 now (Park Street transcript). So the three-thousand-plus line repeats the 3,069 count made under the old method; the two-thousand-plus line fits the 2,282 and 2,131 of 2025 and 2026, but only under ACSA’s definition. Federal permits and the Census counts of distilleries measure different things; the count table on this page sets them side by side. Use instead: “The Craft Spirits Data Project, run by the craft distillers’ trade group ACSA with Park Street, counted 2,131 active craft distillers in August 2026.”

“Craft spirits are X% of the U.S. spirits market”

There are two shares, and the value share is the bigger one. In 2025 craft was 4.2% of U.S. spirits by volume and 7.3% by value, according to the 2026 Craft Spirits Data Project (Park Street). Both shares come from the same ACSA and Park Street project as the counts. They rose for years and then slipped. The first edition gave 0.8 percent of volume and 1.1 percent of value for 2010 (Beverage Industry), and 2.2 percent and 3 percent for 2015 (Beverage Industry). Spirits & Distilling reported that the volume share fell from 4.6 percent in 2023 to 4.5 percent in 2024 (Spirits & Distilling), while the value share held at 7.5% (ACSA release, reprinted by Fred Minnick). Craft volume then fell to 11.7 million nine-litre cases in 2025 (Park Street). Even the direction of one year’s change depends on who reports it. Park Street’s page says 2024 craft sales value showed a 3.3% growth rate (Park Street), but ACSA’s release calls the same 3.3% a decrease (ACSA release, reprinted by Fred Minnick). The newest edition also says the share of craft sales made at the distillery itself rose from 14% in 2015 to 26% in 2025 (Park Street); it does not say whether that share is of bottles or of dollars. Use instead: name the measure and the year. “Craft was 4.2% of U.S. spirits volume and 7.3% of value in 2025 (ACSA and Park Street).”

“95% of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky” and “more barrels than people”

The 95% is a trade group’s estimate, and it has never been published with a measure behind it. The Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA), the state’s distillers’ trade group, still says on its home page that 95% of the world’s Bourbon is made in Kentucky (KDA). The earliest dated wording we found is hedged. As VinePair quoted it, the KDA’s 2009 economic impact report said the state “produces and ages perhaps 95 percent” of all bourbon (VinePair). Its 2019 report dropped the “perhaps”: Kentucky “continues to produce 95 percent” (VinePair). A 2022 KDA release quoted the governor saying Kentucky crafts 95% (KDA). In a September 2020 column on whether Kentucky makes 95 percent of the world’s supply (The Whiskey Wash), the whiskey writer Chuck Cowdery wrote that the KDA’s president, Eric Gregory, has admitted the claim began with him as “a seat-of-the-pants estimate.” Cowdery also wrote that if Tennessee whiskey such as Jack Daniel’s counts as bourbon, Kentucky makes at best about 75% (The Whiskey Wash). VinePair asked a sales-data firm to check the claim against Nielsen store-scan data for 2020. The largest straight-bourbon brand families, all based in Kentucky, held 79.9-percent of volume sales (VinePair). That is a measure of retail sales, not of production. We found no TTB figure that breaks bourbon output out by state.

The barrels claim, unlike the 95%, rests on a real count. The KDA reported 16.1 million aging barrels of bourbon in Kentucky (KDA). Adding about a million barrels of other spirits gives 17.1 million barrels in all (KDA). The figures come from inventories that distilleries and warehouse companies reported to the Kentucky Department of Revenue as of Jan. 1, 2025 for the state’s barrel tax (KDA). The KDA’s impact page turns that into “more than three barrels for every person living in Kentucky” (KDA). That ratio counts barrels of every spirit, not only bourbon, and names no population figure. Its own FAQ page still says Kentucky has twice as many barrels as people, with nearly 10 million barrels (KDA FAQ). That answer matches the KDA’s 2021 count, the first time the bourbon inventory passed 10 million barrels (KDA). Use instead: “The Kentucky Distillers’ Association counted 16.1 million barrels of bourbon aging in Kentucky as of Jan. 1, 2025, from state tax filings; its claim that Kentucky makes 95% of the world’s bourbon is an estimate with no published measure behind it.”

“Video lifts conversions 80%”

The figure is a best case from one video vendor, EyeView, about a client website, not a distillery. In February 2009 EyeView’s blog said viewers of its videos for one client, UMOO, were 80% more likely to become depositing users than non-viewers (EyeView, archived). That compares people who chose to watch with people who did not; it does not test what adding a video does. By August 2010 Unbounce, a landing-page software seller, wrote that a study by eyeviewdigital.com showed video on landing pages can increase conversion by 80% (Unbounce, archived).

The larger later evidence points the other way. Unbounce’s own 2021 analysis covered about 35,000 customer landing pages in each of three periods (Unbounce). It concluded that video appears to have a minimal or negative impact on landing-page performance (Unbounce). Even so, its April 2025 article of landing-page examples still says landing pages with video can increase conversions by 80% (Unbounce). We searched for a version of the claim aimed at distilleries or spirits brands and found no conversion test by either. Use instead: “Unbounce’s 2021 study of about 35,000 landing pages per period found video had a minimal or negative effect; we found no conversion test by a distillery.”

Every popular claim our research pages trace, 925 in all, is on one page: popular video statistics, fact-checked.

How we built this page

We started from the questions people search for about distillery video statistics and looked for the organization that actually produced each answer. Every figure on this page sits in an evidence ledger with its source, the exact table or paragraph it came from, the measurement period, the population measured, and the date we checked it. This edition holds 599 figures from 30 publishers.

On November 12, 2026, each sourced figure on this page was re-fetched with the fetch cache cleared and matched against the recorded wording: BLS establishment and pay counts (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages open data files), occupation wages, business survival and consumer prices (through the BLS data API and an archived BLS table); Census County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, the 2017 and 2022 Economic Census, the Annual Integrated Economic Survey, international trade and population estimates (through the Census data API and data files); TTB’s distilled spirits statistics files, statistical release, permit lists and rate tables; Florida DBPR’s licence download and licence-type list; eCFR, the Federal Register, the United States Code and a federal court order on govinfo; the Florida Statutes; YouTube Help and Google Ads policy pages; SEC filings on EDGAR; the Distilled Spirits Council’s economic briefings and advertising code; Gallup; the Kentucky Distillers’ Association; the Scotch Whisky Association; state distillery tourism reports; and journal abstracts (PubMed records re-read through NCBI’s E-utilities, because the pages answer scripts with a bot check). Trade publications and a spirits services firm appear in the origins section, labelled as the counters or repeaters they are. Our YouTube figures come from the YouTube Data API, our permit and licence counts from TTB’s and DBPR’s own files, and our filing counts from EDGAR full-text search. One archived 2009 vendor post behind the “80%” claim is copied from our earlier pages and checked by hand, because the vendor’s robots rules bar our agents. We left out sources whose robots rules or site walls bar our agents: the American Craft Spirits Association’s website (a captcha wall; its counts appear only as others print them), the American Distilling Institute’s forums, Shanken News Daily, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s website, and several trade sites that refused scripts. Nothing here is legal, tax or business advice.

We only cite the producer: government agencies, regulators, company filings and official posts, and the survey owner's own report. We do not cite statistics roundups, Statista-style aggregators, or salary sites without a public method. We did not bypass paywalls or sign-up forms; where a full report was gated, we used only the figures its publisher states publicly.

Figures marked "our calculation" are arithmetic on the cited numbers, and anyone can reproduce them:

This edition contains no Mark Studios customer data.

Limitations

• Distillery counts differ by counter. BLS and the Economic Census count establishments with paid employees in NAICS 312140, Distilleries, which includes the large spirits makers’ distilleries, bottling and aging sites. TTB counts federal plant permits, many of which make nothing taxable in a given year, and the craft count keeps only small producers its counters judge active, with a method that changed in 2025. Census publishes no nonemployer count for distilleries, so owner-only distilleries are not counted here. Compare a count only with the same series.
• Wages cover more than distilleries. OEWS publishes NAICS 312100, which also holds breweries, wineries and soft drink makers. BLS business survival rates exist only for all manufacturing (NAICS 31-33). County distillery counts are small and BLS withholds some county jobs and pay; it publishes no distillery row for Martin County.
• Our YouTube read follows YouTube’s ranking. The 508 videos are what YouTube’s search returned for ‘distillery’, ‘distillery tour’ and ‘craft spirits’ (the top 200 results for each, sorted by views, with no country filter) on November 12, 2026. It is not a census of distillery video, and one 52.7-million-view short moves the distillery share by itself. View counts are lifetime snapshots and include paid views. We read titles and channel text, not the videos themselves. Personal uploads by private people are published only as a class and counts, and videos naming or suggesting a minor were left out entirely.
• TTB’s newest year is incomplete. TTB says taxable removals reported from July 2025 to March 2026 are under review, so 2025 withdrawals are blank; production and stock figures run to 2025. Our Florida county counts of TTB permits match premises ZIP codes to counties, and our DBPR counts read status code 20 as current because DBPR publishes no key to its codes.
• Filings count words, and public companies are few. EDGAR full-text search finds a phrase, not a topic; we read every 2024 to November 12, 2026 hit by hand. Most of the large spirits makers are private or file abroad, and Diageo’s figures are worldwide.
• Trade-group and visitor figures are their owners’ estimates. DISCUS’s market figures, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association’s visit counts and the state tourism studies it and other groups commissioned are not government statistics, and the craft counts and shares come from the Craft Spirits Data Project, run by the American Craft Spirits Association and Park Street, a firm that sells services to spirits brands. The social-media studies here sample ads and posts in the U.S., Australia and India. Rules are reported as we read them on November 12, 2026; this is not legal advice. Every “earliest we found” in the origins section rests on web pages, trade press and filings; newspaper databases were not searched.

How to cite this page

For a single figure, cite the original publisher named next to it, and link here if the verification trail is useful to your readers. Each figure has its own anchor, so you can link straight to it, for example https://www.markstudios.com/research/distillery-video-statistics#WRK-001. To cite the page as a whole:

Mark Studios. "Distillery Video Statistics." Last verified Nov 12, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/distillery-video-statistics

@misc{markstudios_distillery_video_statistics_2026,
  author = {{Mark Studios}},
  title = {{Distillery Video Statistics}},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  url = {https://www.markstudios.com/research/distillery-video-statistics},
  note = {Last verified 2026-11-12}
}

Our calculations and the evidence table are free to reuse with attribution and a link to this page. Each underlying figure remains the claim of its original publisher, and some publishers ask for a link when their figures are reused.

Sources

Download the evidence table (CSV)

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2. Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS, the spirits industry's trade group), Distilled Spirits Council Annual Economic Briefing: Spirits Industry Holds Steady in Market Share Amid Economic Challenges in 2024 (2025-02-11). Accessed 2026-11-12.
3. Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS, the spirits industry's trade group), Economic Briefing Support Tables - 2025 data (2026-02-05). Accessed 2026-11-12.
4. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (Winfree and Watson, University of Idaho), Changes in Distilled Spirits Sales and Preferences During COVID-19. (2022-11). Accessed 2026-11-12.
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7. Tourism Economics (Oxford Economics subsidiary), commissioned by DISCUS, Economic Impacts of Distillery Tourism in Texas (2024-03). Accessed 2026-11-12.
8. Tourism Economics (Oxford Economics subsidiary), commissioned by DISCUS, Economic Impacts of Distillery Tourism in New York (2024-03). Accessed 2026-11-12.
9. Tourism Economics (Oxford Economics subsidiary), commissioned by DISCUS, Economic Impacts of Distillery Tourism in California (2024-03). Accessed 2026-11-12.
10. Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA, Kentucky distillers' trade group), Kentucky Bourbon Trail Tour Attendance Tops 2 Million for First Time Ever (2023-02-06). Accessed 2026-11-12.
11. Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA, Kentucky distillers' trade group), Where the Spirit Leads You: Kentucky Bourbon Trail Experience Sets New Attendance Record (2014-01-23). Accessed 2026-11-12.
12. Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA, Kentucky distillers' trade group), The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Adventure Celebrates Another Year Of Record-Breaking Visits, Announces 21st Birthday (2020-02-13). Accessed 2026-11-12.
13. Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA, Kentucky distillers' trade group), Kentucky Bourbon Trail Attendance Plummets Under COVID-19 (2021-02-16). Accessed 2026-11-12.
14. Kentucky Distillers' Association (KDA, Kentucky distillers' trade group), Kentucky Bourbon Trail Celebrates 25th Anniversary and Ushers in Adventurous New Era of Bourbon Tourism (2024-06-20). Accessed 2026-11-12.
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24. U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 Economic Census: Core statistics by industry (Census Data API) (2020). Accessed 2026-11-12.
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26. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
27. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
28. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
29. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
30. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
31. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
32. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
33. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
34. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
35. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
36. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
37. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
38. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
39. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
40. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
41. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
42. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
43. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
44. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
45. U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (Census Data API) (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
46. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7. Survival of private sector establishments by opening year: Manufacturing (2026-10). Accessed 2026-11-12.
47. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (Census Data API) (2025-06). Accessed 2026-11-12.
48. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 1998 (Census Data API) (2000). Accessed 2026-11-12.
49. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2008 (Census Data API) (2010). Accessed 2026-11-12.
50. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2013 (Census Data API) (2015). Accessed 2026-11-12.
51. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2018 (Census Data API) (2020). Accessed 2026-11-12.
52. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2017 annual averages, industry 312140 (CSV) (2018-09). Accessed 2026-11-12.
53. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2019 annual averages, industry 312140 (CSV) (2020-09). Accessed 2026-11-12.
54. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2021 annual averages, industry 312140 (CSV) (2022-09). Accessed 2026-11-12.
55. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW Open Data: 2023 annual averages, industry 312140 (CSV) (2024-09). Accessed 2026-11-12.
56. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (Census Data API) (2025-06). Accessed 2026-11-12.
57. U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Resident Population Estimates, Vintage 2025 (nation and states, NST-EST2025-ALLDATA) (2026-01-27). Accessed 2026-11-12.
58. U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Resident Population Estimates for States and Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (co-est2025-alldata) (2026-03-26). Accessed 2026-11-12.
59. U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Integrated Economic Survey 2024: Basic statistics (Census Data API) (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
60. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census: Product lines by industry (Census Data API) (2025). Accessed 2026-11-12.
61. U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. international trade in goods, imports by HS code (Census Data API, timeseries/intltrade/imports/hs) (2026-02). Accessed 2026-11-12.
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66. U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. international trade in goods, exports by HS code (Census Data API, timeseries/intltrade/exports/hs) (2016-02). Accessed 2026-11-12.
67. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Distilled spirits at home in U.S. city average, Series CUUR0000SEFW02 (2016-01). Accessed 2026-11-12.
68. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): All items in U.S. city average, Series CUUR0000SA0 (2016-01). Accessed 2026-11-12.
69. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Whiskey at home in U.S. city average, Series CUUR0000SS20021 (2016-01). Accessed 2026-11-12.
70. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Distilled spirits away from home in U.S. city average, Series CUUR0000SS20053 (2016-01). Accessed 2026-11-12.
71. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), U.S. Department of the Treasury, List of Permittees (2026-11-02). Accessed 2026-11-12.
72. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), U.S. Department of the Treasury, Statistical Report - Distilled Spirits Permit Counts and Average Removals by Year (2025-06-13). Accessed 2026-11-12.
73. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), U.S. Department of the Treasury, Distilled Spirits Reports: Distilled Spirits Yearly Data (CSV) (2026-06-26). Accessed 2026-11-12.
74. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Licenses and Permits for Alcoholic Beverages (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
75. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), U.S. Department of the Treasury, Distilled Spirits Reports (2026-07-01). Accessed 2026-11-12.
76. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), U.S. Department of the Treasury, Distilled Spirits Reports: Distilled Spirits Monthly Data (CSV) (2026-06-26). Accessed 2026-11-12.
77. Brown-Forman Corporation, Brown-Forman Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2026 (fiscal 2026) (2026-06-12). Accessed 2026-11-12.
78. MGP Ingredients, Inc., MGP Ingredients Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-02-25). Accessed 2026-11-12.
79. Constellation Brands, Inc., Constellation Brands Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2026 (fiscal 2026) (2026-04-22). Accessed 2026-11-12.
80. Diageo plc, Diageo plc Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended 30 June 2026 (fiscal 26) (2026-08-18). Accessed 2026-11-12.
81. Heritage Distilling Holding Company, Inc., Heritage Distilling Holding Company Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 (2025-04-28). Accessed 2026-11-12.
82. IP Strategy Holdings, Inc. (formerly Heritage Distilling Holding Company), IP Strategy Holdings Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (2026-04-14). Accessed 2026-11-12.
83. Eastside Distilling, Inc., Eastside Distilling Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 (2020-03-30). Accessed 2026-11-12.
84. Beeline Holdings, Inc. (formerly Eastside Distilling, Inc.), Beeline Holdings (formerly Eastside Distilling) Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 (2025-04-15). Accessed 2026-11-12.
85. U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo), U.S. Code, 26 U.S.C. 5001, Imposition, rate, and attachment of tax (United States Code, 2024 edition) (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
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87. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Distilled Spirits FAQs | TTB (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
88. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Historical Tax Rates | TTB (2024-03-27). Accessed 2026-11-12.
89. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Home Distilling | TTB (2025-03-17). Accessed 2026-11-12.
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91. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 27 CFR Part 5, Labeling and Advertising of Distilled Spirits (2026-11-09). Accessed 2026-11-12.
92. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 27 CFR Part 16, Alcoholic Beverage Health Warning Statement (2026-11-09). Accessed 2026-11-12.
93. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (Federal Register), Addition of New Standards of Fill for Wine and Distilled Spirits (T.D. TTB-165, 85 FR 85514) (2020-12-29). Accessed 2026-11-12.
94. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (Federal Register), Standards of Fill for Wine and Distilled Spirits (T.D. TTB-200, 90 FR 1868) (2025-01-10). Accessed 2026-11-12.
95. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (Federal Register), Modernization of the Labeling and Advertising Regulations for Distilled Spirits and Malt Beverages (T.D. TTB-176, 87 FR 7526) (2022-02-09). Accessed 2026-11-12.
96. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), TTB Issues Updated Industry Circular on Use of Social Media in Advertising of Alcohol Beverages (2024-11-01). Accessed 2026-11-12.
97. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), TTB Industry Circular 2024-1: Use of Social Media in the Advertising of Alcohol Beverages (2024-11-01). Accessed 2026-11-12.
98. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Tips for SI-Generated Imagery in Alcohol Beverage Advertising (2026-03-02). Accessed 2026-11-12.
99. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 565.03, License fees; manufacturers, distributors, brokers, sales agents, and importers of alcoholic beverages; vendor licenses and fees; distilleries and craft distilleries (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
100. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 565.17, Beverage tastings by distributors, craft distilleries, and vendors (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
101. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 565.12, Excise tax on liquors and beverages (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
102. Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine), Florida Statutes, The 2026 Florida Statutes, s. 565.10, Distilled spirits container limit (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
103. Google (Google Ads policy), Alcohol - Advertising Policies Help (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
104. YouTube (Google), Child safety policy - YouTube Help (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
105. YouTube (Google) Help Center, Add branded content restrictions & disclosure labels (YouTube Help) (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
106. Federal Trade Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 16 CFR Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (2023-07-26). Accessed 2026-11-12.
107. Federal Trade Commission (eCFR, Office of the Federal Register), eCFR: 16 CFR 1.98, Adjustment of civil monetary penalty amounts (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
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109. Fred Minnick (whiskey writer's site, reprinting the ACSA release), Craft Spirits Data Project Reports Continued Market Decline (2025-10-22). Accessed 2026-11-12.
110. Beverage Industry (BNP Media trade magazine, reporting the ACSA/IWSR/Park Street release), Study finds more than 1,300 active craft spirits producers in US (2016-10-18). Accessed 2026-11-12.
111. The Whiskey Wash (whiskey media, reporting a Coppersea Distilling white paper), 1,000 Craft Distilleries - and Counting! - Now Operating in the USA (2016). Accessed 2026-11-12.
112. Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS, spirits industry trade group) with the American Distilling Institute (ADI, craft distillers' trade group), DISCUS ADI OnePager Final (Craft distillers COVID-19 impact study summary) (2020-08). Accessed 2026-11-12.
113. Park Street (back-office and import services firm for spirits brands; co-leads the Craft Spirits Data Project with ACSA), U.S. Craft Spirits Category Worth $7.8 Billion in 2023 (2024-09). Accessed 2026-11-12.
114. Park Street (back-office and import services firm for spirits brands; co-leads the Craft Spirits Data Project with ACSA), Craft Spirits Sales Reach $7.58 Billion as Producers Focus on Home Markets (2025-10). Accessed 2026-11-12.
115. Spirits & Distilling (trade magazine), Difficult Times, Refined Methods Lead to Dramatic Numbers for Craft Distillers (2025). Accessed 2026-11-12.
116. Park Street (back-office and import services firm for spirits brands; co-leads the Craft Spirits Data Project with ACSA), Craft Spirits Sales Account for $7.3 Billion as Tasting Rooms Take Center Stage (2026-10-06). Accessed 2026-11-12.
117. Park Street (back-office and import services firm for spirits brands; co-leads the Craft Spirits Data Project with ACSA) (transcript of ACSA CEO's talk), The State of Craft Spirits 2026: ACSA's Market Analysis (2026-08-04). Accessed 2026-11-12.
118. Kentucky Distillers' Association (Kentucky distillers' trade group), Kentucky Distillers' Association home page (2026). Accessed 2026-11-12.
119. VinePair (drinks media), How Much of the World's Bourbon Is Actually Made in Kentucky? (2021-09-03). Accessed 2026-11-12.
120. Kentucky Distillers' Association (Kentucky distillers' trade group), The Proof is Here: Bourbon Pours Billions into Kentucky Economy (2022-01-19). Accessed 2026-11-12.
121. The Whiskey Wash (whiskey media; opinion column by Chuck Cowdery), Opinion: Is 95% Of The World's Bourbon Truly Made In Kentucky? (2020-09-25). Accessed 2026-11-12.
122. Kentucky Distillers' Association (Kentucky distillers' trade group), The Bourbon State: Challenges Continue Amid Record Barrel Inventory & Skyrocketing Taxes (2025-10-08). Accessed 2026-11-12.
123. Kentucky Distillers' Association (Kentucky distillers' trade group), Our impact by the numbers (KDA Impact page) (2025). Accessed 2026-11-12.
124. Kentucky Distillers' Association (Kentucky distillers' trade group), KDA FAQ (undated). Accessed 2026-11-12.
125. Kentucky Distillers' Association (Kentucky distillers' trade group), The Proof Is Here: More Than 10 Million Barrels of Bourbon Aging In Kentucky Distillery Warehouses (2021-10-04). Accessed 2026-11-12.
126. EyeView Digital (video production and testing vendor; sold the videos it tested), UMOO - a prime beef example of EyeView's success (2009-02-10). Accessed 2026-11-12.
127. Unbounce (landing-page software seller), The benefits of using video on landing pages (2010-08). Accessed 2026-11-12.
128. Unbounce (landing-page software seller; analysis of its own customers' pages), Video on landing pages means more conversions, right? Wrong. Here's why (2021-08-26). Accessed 2026-11-12.
129. Unbounce (landing-page software seller; repeater), 15 high-converting landing page examples (+ why they work) (2025-04-06). Accessed 2026-11-12.

Update policy and change log

We re-verify every figure quarterly and when a major source publishes a new edition. The next scheduled review is February 2027. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.

• Nov 12, 2026: First published with 599 figures from 30 publishers, each checked against its original source.