U.S. total beverage alcohol volumes fell 5% in 2025, and the craft segment is absorbing the worst of it: production dropped 5.1% while the brewery count shrank 2.9%, per Brewers Association data. The math leaves little slack for operators already squeezed by debt, and Goodwood Brewing & Spirits became one of the latest casualties.
At a Glance
- Beer volumes fell 5% in 2025; wine dropped 6%, spirits 4%, while ready-to-drink beverages held nearly flat at -1%.
- Goodwood Brewing & Spirits filed Chapter 7 on June 22, 2026, after closing all taprooms and facing multiple suits.
- The share of U.S. adults who drink slipped to 54%, a record low in Gallup's near-90-year series.
- Cost is now the leading reason for moderation, cited by 31% of U.S. drinkers, per IWSR.
- At least four craft brewers filed Chapter 7 across early 2026, from Texas to Maryland to Ohio.
The demand side is breaking, not just the cost side
Strip the closures down to their drivers and two forces show up at once. Input costs are up across the board: raw materials, labor, rent. But the more structural problem is that fewer people are buying the product at all.
Preliminary figures from IWSR's US Navigator show every major category retreating in 2025. Beer and wine led the decline, spirits trailed close behind, and only RTDs avoided a meaningful drop, gaining share as a result. That divergence matters. When the only growth category is canned, lower-ABV convenience drinks, the specialty-focused craft model loses its premium pricing logic.
The behavioral shift is sharper than the volume numbers alone suggest. Gallup's annual Consumption Habits survey, fielded July 7-21, put the share of drinking adults at 54%, down a point to the lowest reading since the firm began tracking in 1939. For the first time, a majority of Americans believe moderate consumption is bad for their health. Gallup has measured that health perception since 2001; the crossover is new.
"Cost is now the most common driver of moderation," IWSR Bevtrac research found, with 31% of drinkers naming price as a reason to cut back. The buying pattern that follows isn't simple trading down. "Drinkers are choosing to pay more only when a product clearly justifies its price," said IWSR Managing Director Marten Lodewijks, describing a market scrutinizing price-to-quality on each purchase.
How Goodwood unwound
Goodwood Brewing & Spirits filed for Chapter 7 on June 22, per court records on PacerMonitor. The bankruptcy capped a collapse that played out in courtrooms more than on the balance sheet alone.
The company shut its Owensboro restaurant and taproom at 101 Frederica St. on April 26, one day before a Daviess Circuit Court judge handed down a near-$100,000 default judgment over unpaid rent. Judge David Payne awarded landlord Entertainment at the Enclave $99,604.96 plus court and attorney fees, after the landlord claimed more than $120,000 in arrears dating to November, according to Louisville Business First.
The liabilities stacked higher from there. Goodwood owes the IRS more than $400,000 in back taxes, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. A separate suit in Jefferson Circuit Court, filed March 6, alleges roughly $225,000 in unpaid rent for January through March plus unpaid property taxes at the Whiskey Row location. The company was also in the middle of an ownership transition while fielding multiple complaints over nonpayment of rent, services and taxes.
Under Chapter 7, a trustee liquidates assets and distributes the proceeds to creditors. Goodwood's debt, asset and creditor schedules haven't been made public yet. Its website is down and its Facebook page hasn't been touched since March.
A pattern across early 2026
Goodwood isn't an outlier. The same combination of thin demand and heavy liabilities produced a string of Chapter 7 filings earlier in 2026.
- 3rd Level Brewing LLC (Texas) filed in April, citing financial distress and industry headwinds. Owner Clint Bradley said the brewery would run until forced to stop: "We're going to operate as normal until someone tells me I have to stop operating." Local reports and Yelp now show it closed.
- The Brewer's Art (Baltimore) filed in February to liquidate after an abrupt shutdown. The petitioning entity, Old Line Brewers LLC, listed $100,000 to $1 million in assets against $1 million to $10 million in liabilities, per court records cited by Bankruptcy Observer.
- Magic City Brewing Co. LLC (Akron, Ohio), a heavy-metal-themed brand, also filed in February. It closed its Merriman Road taproom before Feb. 3 and shut its flagship brewery and taproom on Manchester Road on Feb. 14, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
The liability ranges tell the story. These weren't businesses tripped up by a single bad quarter; several carried debt loads many multiples of their asset base, which is what pushes a filing toward liquidation rather than reorganization.
Where the spending went instead
RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino reads the closures as overdetermined rather than caused by any single factor. "It's a combination of all of the above," he said, pointing to drinkers shifting toward White Claw and similar lighter options while watching their budgets. The casualty in a tight-budget environment is discretionary experimentation. "You're not gonna try specialty things," he noted, which strikes directly at the craft model built on novelty and higher margins.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did U.S. alcohol consumption fall in 2025?
Total beverage alcohol volumes contracted 5% in 2025, per IWSR. Beer fell 5%, wine 6% and spirits 4%, while ready-to-drink beverages declined only 1% and gained market share.
Why did Goodwood Brewing & Spirits file for bankruptcy?
Goodwood filed Chapter 7 on June 22, 2026, after closing all taprooms while facing multiple lawsuits over unpaid rent, more than $400,000 in IRS back taxes, and an ongoing ownership transition.
What does Chapter 7 mean for a brewery?
Chapter 7 is liquidation. A court-appointed trustee sells the company's assets and distributes the proceeds to creditors according to bankruptcy law, rather than restructuring the business to keep operating.
Are fewer Americans drinking overall?
Yes. Gallup's 2025 survey found 54% of U.S. adults drink alcohol, the lowest in its records since 1939, and a majority now view moderate drinking as bad for health for the first time.
What the data points to next
With demand contracting across categories and cost driving moderation, the brewers most exposed are those carrying lease obligations and tax debt against shrinking taproom traffic. Until the volume trend stabilizes or RTDs stop pulling share, the filing cadence seen in early 2026 looks more like a baseline than a spike.
