Columbia’s Lost Ark Distilling Company is shutting its doors. “It is with heavy hearts that we have to announce the closure of Lost Ark Distilling as we know it,” the business wrote in a Facebook post.

Jennifer Yang, vice president of the Maryland Distillers Guild, called it a tough loss for the local spirits scene. The business was one of the earlier distilleries in Maryland and “a trailblazer” whose owners worked to pass legislation to make the state more hospitable to others.

They also mentored aspiring entrepreneurs like herself. Yang said she worked at Lost Ark for a year before opening her own Westminster distillery, Covalent Spirits. “In the distilling industry here in Maryland, they definitely were a great resource,” she said.

The owners, who could not be reached for comment, did not provide a reason for the shutdown or what future operations could look like, but a societal-wide decline in drinking coupled with economic headwinds has created a tough environment for many of Maryland’s brewers and distillers. The Lost Ark location at 9570 Berger Road was also home to Hysteria Brewing, which appears to have ended operations as well.

Yang pointed to various factors that can pose obstacles to a distillery’s survival. By law, most distilleries in Maryland can’t serve food, though they can bring in food trucks on occasion.

Lost Ark founders Brad Blackwell and Andy Debenham launched the business eight years ago with the goal of reviving a forgotten tradition of American craft rum-making. The name “Lost Ark” was a reference to the first English ships carrying colonists to arrive in Maryland. Debenham is no longer listed on the distillery’s website; Blackwell is still listed as CEO.

In its Howard County tasting room, the distillery has hosted drag bingos and brunches, and created special edition flavors like a caramel cream liqueur made in collaboration with longtime Baltimore candy maker Goetze’s.

Lost Ark’s last day in operation will be Feb. 15.

Despite shutting down its taproom, Yang is keeping her fingers crossed that the distillery survives in some form, pointing to the “as we know it” phrasing of their Facebook post. “I’m kind of waiting to see what happens next.”