Small, locally-based craft distilleries are struggling to survive as the coronavirus impacts their primary source of sales:  the tasting rooms they run which generate the majority of their revenue.

The Associated Press reports on a study by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States showing that up to $700 million–or 41% of the sales from independent distilleries–may have disappeared from these small businesses.

Like craft breweries and local wineries, independent distilleries are a vital part of the social fabric and culture of regions.  They’re also major market drivers, encouraging tourism and providing (literally) local flavor for restaurants and hotels.

Their also a major element in local economies:  independent distilleries employed 15,000 people in 2019, while producing $1.9 billion in sales from their locations, not including retail or hospitality sales.Because of tasting rooms closing due to COVID restrictions, distillery owners can continue to produce their products, but their direct sales are shot.

“If people would have told me at the beginning of this year that I would have to close my tasting room for five months, I would have told you we would go out of business,” Jaime Windon, owner of Windon Distilling on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, said in an interview with the AP.  “We’re able to produce, but we don’t meet the hundreds of people a week in our distillery like we used to. That’s the hardest hit and it’s the biggest change for us.”