Another Distillery Bites The Dust: Inside the Bankruptcy of a New York Vodka Mainstay

(Photo: The Alton Distillery)

A spate of distillery closures and slowdowns has found its way to Bethel, New York, where one of the state’s oldest alcohol makers is making a last-ditch attempt at survival through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

SVG 26, owner of whiskey and vodka maker The Alton Distillery, filed a restructuring petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York on April 15, per Inforuptcy. The company had first attempted to file for bankruptcy in September 2025, but the request (and a subsequent reconsideration request made earlier this month) was denied by a judge.

In its initial filing, the distillery estimated assets between $1 million and $10 million, and claimed that it had fewer than 50 creditors.

Unlike Chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which an organization liquidates its assets to pay off creditors, Chapter 11 bankruptcy places companies under a court-supervised restructuring in which they’re allowed to continue operations. The Alton Distillery’s online shop is still up and running, though its tasting room is temporarily closed, per the brand’s social media handles.

The distillery is best known for its 5-year-old Bourbon and Rye whiskey offerings, sold alongside a “Peace Vodka” that pays tribute to the Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969.

The filing is the latest in a series of ups and downs for the award-winning Upstate New York facility. Launched as the Catskill Distilling Company in 2010, the original iteration eventually found its way to bankruptcy court, where it was saved by a group of creditors who introduced a new name, packaging and spirits recipes. (Unlike Kentucky and Tennessee, New York doesn’t have any centuries-old, continuously-operating distilleries, so you’ll often see facilities founded in the late 2000s lay claim to the “one of the oldest in the state” superlative.)