Source: Guestmetrics
On-premise spirits volumes rebounded strongly during the 4 weeks ending 8/10. After starting off the first 6 months of 2014 with on-premise volumes down 0.7%, spirits category volumes were up a strong 1.9% during the last 4 weeks of data. Dollar sales were up and even stronger 4% in the latest 4 weeks vs only up 1.7% YTD. This goes along with the pick up in overall on-premise traffic during this period, although the spirits category improvement exceeded the improvement in overall traffic trends.
Brown spirits continue to outperform white spirits, with Bourbons/Blends up 17% and Irish up 11%. Brandy/Cognac volumes were up 5%, Scotch was down 3%, Gin was flat, Tequila was up 1%, Canadian was down 4%, Vodka down 2%, Rum down 4% and Cordials down 10%. (though it is important to note that we classify Fireball and most of the various flavored whiskies in Bourbons/Blends and not Cordials or Canadians).
We are monitoring the accelerating pace of growth for craft spirits. While craft spirits only have just under a 6%
share of spirits volumes, share is up nearly 2 pts vs year ago with volume growth of 50%+ in the most recent 4 week period. Craft spirits look to have a long runway of growth as sales per brand continue to accelerate and are
eating into the share of imported spirits brands.