Whiskey Distillery Goes Belly Up As Booze Industry Faces A Nasty Hangover

The only whiskey distillery in Manhattan abruptly closed this month as a recent poll revealed that nationwide drinking has hit a historic low.

Great Jones Distilling Co., located in lower Manhattan in a 28,000-square-foot building, operated for only five years before the company shut its doors on October 2, citing economic issues. The distillery, owned by Proximo Spirits, the New Jersey-based distributor of Jose Cuervo, provided a restaurant, retail store, speakeasy, tasting rooms, and tours. 

“After 5 incredible years, Great Jones Distilling Co. Visitor Center is closed until further notice,” the website reads. “Great Jones Whiskey will continue to be available for purchase online and in select retailers.”

A spokesman for Proximo told The Spirits Business that the decision came after a “thorough review of the current beverage industry trends, market conditions, and overall company business strategy.”

The distillery’s $21 million renovation, which lasted six years because of the COVID-19 pandemic and complicated New York regulations, was supposed to create 100 jobs. Now, the 26 current positions will be effectively laid off on December 7.

Great Jones appears to be following a growing trend as America sees the repercussions of its lowest drinking levels since they were first recorded in 1939, an August Gallup poll revealed.

Credit: Gallup

According to the poll, for the second consecutive year, 54% of adults say they drink any alcohol. Only 13% say they sometimes drink too much, which is a record low in comparison to the 25% of people who said the same in 2016.

The poll also addressed the public’s growing concern of health risks in drinking. From 2023 to 2025, there was a 14-percentage-point increase in the number of people who say alcohol is harmful to health. In 2026, 51% say moderate drinking is bad for your health.

Credit: Gallup

In a statistic recorded for the first time, 17% of people, including drinkers and non-drinkers, said they had consumed a nonalcoholic beverage in the past year in place of an alcoholic drink.

Gallup concluded that alcohol consumption has “changed significantly in recent years as concern about its health effects has grown,” and that “fewer Americans are drinking, and those who do appear to be cutting back, including by turning to nonalcoholic drinks.”

Just this summer, the Republic National Distributing Company of Grand Prairie, Texas — the second-largest wine and spirits distributor — filed for bankruptcy. In 2022, California-based Hangar 1 Vodka, also owned by Proximo, closed its distillery and tasting room to meet “the changing needs of the business.”

Michael Correra, the executive director of the Metro Package Store Association, said the alcohol industry is going through a “major reset.”

“The business is imploding, and I think you’ll see liquor stores close as well because fewer people are drinking,” he added.

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