Last spring, we reported craft distillery Westward Whiskey in Portland, Oregon, had filed for bankruptcy, with CEO Thomas Mooney telling Robb Report at the time that the craft distilling scene was “withering.” But last Friday, news arrived that Westward will live to see another day. A group of private investors acquired the brand and Mooney will stay on as CEO, living up to his statement that they had “no intention of going away.”

Even as Westward was forced to file for Chapter 11, the distillery’s sales continued to grow by 53 percent through the end of September (compared to the same period last year), surpassing total sales for 2024. According to a press release, the sale of the brand was approved on October 1 by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, and it’s expected to be finalized on November 3. The group of buyers includes Luis Fernando Leal, a principal of Aqua Ardens (a company created for the purchase) who was also one of the distillery’s original investors. Under this new arrangement, Westward will continue to operate as an independent distillery.

We spoke to Mooney yesterday to find out more about the sale and what this means for Westward going forward. “We went into the bankruptcy filing without a plan of how we were going to come out, but with a strong sense that that there was a brand, product, and company that deserved a shot to keep fighting and growing,” he says. “The way we were running the business at that time wasn’t going to work moving forward, and the decisions we made in the past were for a different time and for a different business strategy—decisions we would have never made if we had known where the industry was headed.”

According to Mooney, the solution came in the form of a loan that gives the lender the guarantee of all of Westward’s assets. “In the end, there was only one group who was willing to lend the money to us,” he says, referring to Leal, his siblings, and his brother-in-law. “He is someone we know well, and his family has been an investor in Westward since before there was Westward.” Leal, who is also on the board of directors of sugar company Grupo Magdalena, made the news (albeit on a small scale) in 2018 when he was arrested, along with a few others, for allegations of tax fraud and bribery by the government of Guatemala.

There is very little information beyond that to be found, but according to Mooney, these were false accusations. “In 2023, the government brought the case to court, and the judge dismissed it because the government ‘failed to present a single piece of evidence that a crime was committed,’” he says. “Today, Luis Fernando is a highly regarded business leader in Guatemala, and beyond, and I’m proud to be his partner.”

I asked Mooney about the comments he made last spring regarding the dire state of the craft distilling world. While the sale of Westward is a personal boon, he believes the industry is still in bad shape, something that he thinks will become apparent when the next American Craft Spirits Association data comes out. (The group’s presentation is today.) “My guess would be we’re going to see that there’s a significant reduction in the number of craft distillers and a reduction in sales from craft distilling,” he says, adding that the current government shutdown, which affects the TTB, isn’t helping. “If you were planning to launch a product, you need a formula or label pre-approval, and at this time there’s no way to get that. This came at a really bad time when most of us do the biggest chunk of our business for the year. The hits just keep on coming.”

Overall, while there might not be a huge change in the day-to-day operations at Westward, there will be some broader shifts under the new ownership. “For Westward to be successful moving forward, we will need to continue changing with the world as new challenges and opportunities come up,” says Mooney. “The buyers of Westward’s assets want it to be a successful, sustainable concern and to see it grow, so I would expect that much of what we’ve learned this year will be part of that strategy moving forward.” We will update you with any further developments once the sale is finalized.