There’s Never Been a Better Time to Invest in Rare Bourbon

After a 20-year boom in bourbon and other American whiskeys, supply now outpaces demand. Two decades of continuous expansion saw distilleries filling barrels and building sprawling complexes of rickhouses, where those barrels aged for years, some even for decades.

Then in a pandemic-era peak, they doubled down when stuck-at-home consumers started splurging. According to US Treasury data, in 2019 American whiskey distillers produced 218 million proof gallons (meaning each gallon is 50% alcohol, or 100 proof), peaking in 2023 at 299 million gallons before falling to 286 million gallons in 2024.

Much of the whiskey from those years is finally ...