Economy
$22 Billion Worth of Booze Is Rotting in Warehouses — The Bitterest Hangover the Global Spirits Industry Has Ever Faced
The whiskey and bourbon that pandemic-era "drink at home" mania pushed into overdrive production have turned into a $22 billion inventory bomb. Diageo stock crashed 12.7%, Jim Beam shut down its Kentucky distillery for a full year, and U.S. adult drinking rates just hit a 90-year low. This is not a cyclical downturn but a structural transformation signal for an industry that has been around for centuries.