You hear a lot about the changing market for alcohol these days. And if you’re a distiller brand looking for bad news, there’s plenty to be had right now. Tariffs, trade wars, the decline in consumption by younger generations, and the rise of competition from ready-to-drink products and botanicals whose initials are MJ.

The golden age for spirits might be over, but we certainly had a good run. From the early 2000’s through the COVID pandemic, brands were starting and growing no matter how much effort they put into marketing. You didn’t need to be a marketing genius, or even to have a spectacular product. If you had a good product, you found a market and sold plenty of it.

But since the economics and demographics in the U.S. are going through a transition, it might be time to take a look at how much effort, time, and resources you’re willing to invest to thrive in the current economic cycle. Here’s what the most successful brands are doing:

Successful brands find their niche and lean into it. One of my favorite examples is Garage Beer, whose website promises “Beer Flavored Beer” and whose brewery only produces two products: a light lager and a light lager with lime. They have positioned themselves as everyman’s everyday beer, and their marketing reflects the “just make a good beer without getting too cute” zeitgeist of most beer drinkers with a refrigerator in their garage.

It helps that the NFL’s Kelce brothers (Jason and Travis) bought majority ownership in 2024, and the results have been impressive. Garage Beer experienced rapid growth. The company has a 61 percent sales surge that makes it the No. 3 fastest-growing beer brand in the U.S., valued at $200 million. The brand expects up to $70 million in revenue, driven by radical product simplicity, the Kelce brothers’ ownership, and a national rollout.

Successful brand owners put in the work to build their customer base. For most owners of small distilleries and breweries, there’s no such thing as a 40-hour workweek. They need to meet their customers where they are, whether it’s a festival, a local event, or a tasting in the local spirits shop.

Or you can create your own platform and bring customers to you. Bourbon Pursuit founders Ryan Cecil and Kenny Coleman started a podcast about bourbon in 2015. It is the No. 1 podcast about whiskey in the country, as they have learned everything about the whiskey business through 10 years of interviews and thousands of hours of candid conversations with industry experts.

When the Louisville, KY-based partners decided to launch their own brand, they took what they call the “modern” approach by partnering with multiple award-winning distilleries to become masters at what they believe is the next evolution in American whiskey: blending.

Although the company keeps its revenue data confidential, whiskey tasting rooms in Louisville, like Pursuit Bourbon’s new Whiskey Row tasting room downtown, have experienced a 33 percent year-over-year growth.

If your brand feels stuck, stop blaming the economy or other trends outside your control. Get back to the basics of building your brand: marketing, getting out to meet your customers, and looking for creative collaborations and partnerships to get your product into the glasses of more of your target consumers.

The current cycle will cycle again, and smart brands will have their strategy and resources ready to ride the next wave.