SB’s most-read stories in January 2026
January may have seemed never-ending, but at least our readers made good use of their time catching up on global spirits industry news.
The news cycle returned from the festive break with gusto last month, with some huge stories landing on our desks quicker than we could ask our colleagues ‘how was your Christmas?’.
Unfortunately, the month didn’t get off to a positive start, with news of distillery closures, free-falling profits and a lawsuit all hitting headlines in the first few weeks.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom – our countdown of the 50 most innovative spirit launches of 2025 was a big hit with our readers – but to avoid repetition, we’ve stuck to our most-read news stories and not included those five countdowns in this roundup.
To see what news stories made our first most-read list of the year, keep scrolling.
Ford’s Crown Royal ban draws union backlash
Did Doug Ford go a step too far when he threatened a boycott of Crown Royal whisky in January? According to many union workers, yes.
The Ontario premier was accused of “attacking the livelihoods of hundreds of Canadian workers” with the threat of taking the Diageo-owned whisky brand off the shelves in response to the firm’s plan to shut a bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ontario. Announced last summer, the move will affect approximately 200 jobs.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union warned that a “boycott is not the answer”.
Stoli Group’s US arm shifts to liquidation
Stoli Group USA and its Kentucky Owl American whiskey unit voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2024 after suffering “financial difficulties” and a two-month-long cyber attack. But unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. In January, the two US entities of the vodka maker filed motions to convert their bankruptcies into Chapter 7 liquidations.
Despite ongoing negotiations and the preparation of a proposed reorganisation plan, the entities were unable to secure terms with senior lenders that would allow them to emerge from Chapter 11. By moving into Chapter 7 liquidation, the company will be able to get rid of most of its debts without repayment.
Sazerac loses BuzzBallz container patent case
The BuzzBallz packaging might be iconic, but it turns out it’s not quite iconic enough to block the design of rival ready-to-drink (RTD) brand Big Sipz. Last month, its owner, MPL Brands, won a beverage container patent challenge from the spherical cocktail brand.
MPL Brands challenged its RTD competitor’s claims to two patents relating to the design of beverage containers, and the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled BuzzBallz’s claims to the patents to be invalid.
BrewDog to axe distilling business
It was announced in January that brewing giant BrewDog will cease production of its spirits brands, including Lonewolf Gin, Abstrakt Vodka, Duo Rum, Casa Rayos Tequila and Ron Bodega rum, over the coming months, following the closure of its distilling business.
A spokesperson for BrewDog said: “After careful consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to cease production of our distilling brands, with the exception of Wonderland cocktails.”
The upcoming closure comes just three months after the departure of Steven Kersley, managing director of BrewDog Distilling, who helped establish the spirits arm a decade ago.
Diageo and Starward end partnership
Australian whisky business Starward is no longer under the wing of Diageo’s Distill Ventures, as its founder Dave Vitale has fully acquired the brand and will lead it into its next chapter.
Diageo had held a 30% minority stake in the business since 2015, after it invested in the brand through the accelerator programme.
Now, the brand has returned to founder-led stewardship. Vitale said: “It’s been more than 10 years since I last led Starward. With the considerable volume of work done in that time by a deeply dedicated team, this feels like a rare opportunity to scale what we know works in a category that’s only just getting started.”
Meta restricts alcohol accounts on Facebook
Tech giant Meta caused major confusion last month after millions of alcohol-related business page owners were notified that their accounts would no longer be recommended to other users, on account of their activity not following the platform’s rules.
Which rules were being broken, however, were a mystery. There had been no apparent changes regarding alcohol-related businesses under Facebook’s Restricted Goods and Services page, nor had there been any changes on the company’s advertising standards page for alcohol.
A spokesperson for Meta has since confirmed that the “technical issue that caused some accounts to receive notifications that their Pages were not eligible for recommendation” has been resolved, and after a short delay, recommendations were restored for the affected accounts.
Uncle Nearest founders fight receivership as sales plunge
Fawn and Keith Weaver’s troublesome 2025 has bled into this year, as the industry power couple began 2026 fighting their receivership by pushing for an expedited court hearing.
The duo argued that the court-appointed receivership is damaging the Tennessee whiskey brand’s sales and long-term value, stating that Uncle Nearest’s performance has deteriorated sharply since the receiver was appointed in September 2025. They cited Nielsen retail scan data that shows the brand moving from consistent outperformance of the wider American whiskey category to significant underperformance.
Weavers sue former Uncle Nearest CFO alleging fraud
In another dramatic chapter of the Uncle Nearest drama, the founding couple filed a civil lawsuit against the company’s former CFO last month, which alleged breach of loyalty, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, defamation, and conversion.
Seeking both compensatory and punitive damages, the Weavers alleged that Michael Senzaki abused his position to alter invoices to make vendor payments look settled while redirecting money to entities he controlled. They also claim he allegedly forged stock transfer documents using Fawn Weaver’s equity without her knowledge or consent, resulting in severe personal and financial harm.
Teeling profits freefall 91% in 2025
The Irish whiskey sector endured a challenging period during the 2025 financial year, caused in large part by growing input and labour costs as well as overstocking issues, all of which were exacerbated by trade restrictions. All of this contributed to Teeling Irish Whiskey seeing its turnover fall by nearly 14% to €23.7 million (US$27.7m), while its post-tax profits plummeted by 91%, falling from €3.4 million (US$4m) in 2024 to €295,428 (US$345,900) for the year ending March 2025.
Teeling saw its sales in Ireland fall to €6.8m (US$7.9m) from €10.4m (US$12.2m) in 2024, while sales outside of Europe also shrank from €11m (US$12.8m) to €8.4m (US$9.8m). However, these sales volume declines were partially offset by growing revenue from the rest of Europe, which grew from just over €6m (US$7m) to €8.5m.
Ohio distillery goes bankrupt owing $3.35m
Finally, our most-read story of January concerned the bankruptcy of A.M. Scott Distillery in Ohio, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December.
Under Chapter 11, the distillery can continue to operate while it reorganises its debts.
The distillery listed less than US$500,000 in assets against approximately US$3.35m in liabilities in its bankruptcy petition. Of this, US$15,956.20 is owed to the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), and US$25,379 is owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In addition, the Ohio Department of Taxation has filed several claims, including its largest at US$31,689 for sales tax.
Related news
SB's most-read stories in September
