Westward Whiskey Becomes The Latest Casualty Of The Industry

Portland, Oregon-based American single malt whiskeymaker Westward Whiskey became the latest casualty of the current environment in the spirits industry and has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure the business.

Originally founded in 2004 as one of only 30 craft distilleries in the USA, Westward Whiskey had made a name for itself in the American single malt whiskey category along with fellow independent American single malt whiskey brands such as Proximo Spirits-owned Stranahan’s and Diageo-owned Bulleit.

Westward Whiskey was even an early recipient of an investment from the Diageo-backed Distill Ventures in 2018, though Diageo has since ceased bringing new brands into the Distill Ventures accelerator program.

Westward had been was one of the whisky brands to gain investment from Distill Ventures, including Danish distiller Stauning, Australian producer Starward and Japanese whisky maker Kanosuke.

In 2024, Westward focused on western markets in the USA (Oregon and California) as well as a couple across the Pacific Ocean (Australia and Taiwan) and was showing growth in California.

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