March 4th, 2025 – The president of Kentucky Distillers Association, Eric Gregory released the following statement today:
Kentucky Bourbon is a great American success story. Distilling is a $9 billion signature industry in the Commonwealth, responsible for more than 23,000 jobs and $2.2 billion in salaries and benefits. Unfortunately, the return of retaliatory tariffs on American whiskey will have far-reaching consequences across Kentucky, home to 95% of the world’s Bourbon.
That means hard-working Americans – corn farmers, truckers, distillery workers, barrel makers, bartenders, servers and the communities and businesses built around Kentucky Bourbon will suffer.
As a distinctive product of the United States, Bourbon cannot be made anywhere else in the world. It truly is America’s only native spirit. Bourbon jobs are American jobs, and we grow Bourbon jobs by opening markets across the globe.
Retaliatory measures against Bourbon harm these markets and jeopardize growth for years to come, including the unjust and disproportionate removal of American spirits from retail shelves and prohibition on new purchases of alcohol from American companies.
Kentucky Bourbon brings people together, and we hope it can be a uniting force in this situation. In the meantime, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association will continue to remind leaders of the far-reaching impact of our signature spirit and our concern for the loss of American jobs.
– ERIC GREGORY, KENTUCKY DISTILLERS’ ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT
