Private equity group InvestBev has moved to calm concerns raised around the “near-term repricing” of bourbon barrel assets, describing the situation as a “healthy reset”.
The business, which focuses its investment strategy on the “adult beverage industry”, pointed to what it called “recent headlines surrounding bourbon valuations and broader alcohol market concerns”. While linking the current environment for bourbon to the category’s downward trends in the 1980s, the group’s general partner, Brian Rosen, claimed that the recalibration would “set the stage for the next wave of growth.”
InvestBev pointed to several underlying strengths: Reductions in barrel production since 2023 were linked to a “deliberate pullback by distillers to rebalance inventories”, while the high rate of domestic consumption of bourbon from Kentucky – put at 92% – “insulates the category from tariff and export volatility”.
At the same time, the higher end of the spirits category remains in fine fettle, the company claimed, with sales of “premium spirits” rising by 4.8% in 2024.
No sources were cited for the figures quoted.
“Every asset class experiences periods of correction,” said Rosen. “What we are seeing today is not dissimilar to the bourbon downturn of the 1980s, when oversupply, shifting consumer preferences and health trends pressured the industry. Yet that reset ultimately gave rise to the modern bourbon boom, with premiumisation and global demand creating one of the strongest multi-decade growth stories in consumer goods.
“This recalibration is history repeating itself – and it is setting the stage for the next wave of growth.”
InvestBev, which manages US$250m in assets, invests across barrels, brands and industry-adjacent services in beverage alcohol worldwide. In March, the firm invested $50m in Lofted Spirits, the owner of Bardstown Bourbon and Green River Distilling Co.
