One of Kentucky’s best new-school distilleries, Bardstown Bourbon Company, has had a pretty rough year, but one of the main reasons has not elicited much sympathy. The distillery’s parent company, Lofted Spirits, has been embroiled in a gender discrimination lawsuit, leading to the departure of its president, Peter Marino, who was named as a defendant. On Friday came the news that the distillery was cutting back production to just one shift, a major decrease that might not come as a surprise to anyone who has been following the current state of the whiskey industry.

Last February, former VP of human resources Sylvia Sanders sued the distillery and its former president, Marino, along with owner Pritzker Private Capital, alleging gender discrimination and retaliation, among other things. In March, Bardstown Bourbon Company countersued for breach of contract and sought an injunction to stop more “unlawful disclosures of BBC’s confidential information,” according to a story in the Lexington Herald Leader. And just a few weeks ago, Marino announced that he was stepping down from his position, but would stay on as an advisor.

Then came the news at the end of March that BBC’s sister distillery, Green River, which also exists under the Lofted Spirits umbrella, had laid off its head distiller (about a year before that, the distillery laid off about a quarter of its staff). At the time, a rep for Lofted Spirits issued a statement saying the company was scaling back production activities to meet the current demand for contract whiskey, which has certainly been on the decline. Another major distillery that makes whiskey for other brands, MGP, just announced that it was pausing production at two of its Kentucky distilleries for at least a year amid falling profits and sales.

On Friday, according to an article in Louisville Business First, both Bardstown Bourbon Company and Green River announced that they are curtailing production. Green River will shift to an “as needed” model, which might not be much considering the current state of the whiskey industry and the glut that it’s facing, while Bardstown Bourbon Company will reduce production to a single shift. According to a Reuters report, Green River will continue to produce rum for export, however, which will make up a stunning 50 percent of the distillery’s business this year. “I don’t mind making it,” Lofted CEO Mark ⁠Erwin is quoted as saying. “It’s good business.”

Despite all of this news, the distillery has continued to release some great whiskey, as we’ve covered here over the past few months. The latest is an interesting release called Cascadia Garryana Oak Barrel Finish, which is part of the Distillery Reserve series. If you recognize the term “garryana,” it’s likely because you’re familiar with Seattle distillery Westland, which released the 10th edition of its Garryana series last fall. Westland makes American single malt that it ages in many different types of casks, including garryana, a type of oak that is native to the Pacific Northwest. For Bardstown Bourbon Company’s release, the distillery blended together three bourbons aged for nine and 10 years, and then finished the blend in 10 garryana barrels for ten months. The result is a really unique whiskey that is unlike anything that BBC has done before, with notes of toasted almond, balsa wood, black pepper, and burnt vanilla brulee, ending with a warming finish at 107.5 proof. You can purchase Cascadia at the distillery and the Louisville tasting room now (SRP $100).