The world’s best-selling regional speciality spirits brands

They may have a small footprint outside of their domestic markets, but many regional speciality spirits brands report colossal volumes year on year.

These are the world’s top 10 best-selling regional speciality spirits brands

This year SB has shone a spotlight on the regional counterparts of the world’s best-selling speciality spirits brands, predominantly spanning Latin America and Asia.

The recent growth of pisco in the premium market was a catalyst for the choice of our Regional Specialities Brand Champion 2016, an honour bestowed upon a Chilean product that has focused largely on Argentinian and US markets.

A certain Korean soju once again topped the charts as the world’s biggest selling spirit brand, and the cachaça category began to level out from a downward spiral seen in recent years.

However, other categories did not fair so well – particularly Japanese spirit shochu, which struggled against both single and double-digit declines.

Following our recently published Brand Champions 2016 – our pick of those brands selling more than one million cases annually that are performing exceptionally within their category – we run through the world’s best-selling regional speciality spirits brands on the market today, looking at cachaça, pisco, raki, shochu, and soju.

Click through the following pages to discover the top 10 best-selling regional speciality spirits brands, listed in order of their nine-litre case sales.

10. Mistral

2015: 1.22m

2014: 1.14m

% change: +7.39%

This year’s Regional Specialities Brand Champion; Mistral pisco, owned by Compañía Pisquera de Chile, saw the fastest rate of growth in 2015 compared with any other ‘regional’ spirit brand. The Chilean product has benefitted from the “continuous growth of pisco in the premium segment of the market” as well as growing consumer interest in artisan brands.

9. Daigoro

2015: 1.73m

2014: 1.97m

% change: -13.29%

Volume for the Asahi Breweries-owned brand plummeted by 13.29% this year, the largest decline recorded by a million case-selling shochu brand. As attention turns to international spirits in its domestic Japanese market, the brand has some way to go to reclaim the 1.43m cases it has surrendered since 2011.

8. Kanoka

2015: 3.40m

2014: 3.47m

% change: -2.02

Also owned by Asahi Breweries, Kanoka means “good fragrance”, and is named so to “express its delicate fragrance and mellow taste”. Despite a single-digit dip, the shochu brand has remained relatively stable in the last five years, hovering around the 3.5m case mark.

7. Yeni

2015: 3.50m

2014: 3.50m

% change: 0%

Diageo-owned Yeni Raki – a clear brandy produced from grapes, raisins, and anise – stood fast at 3.50m cases, a impressive feat considering it has recorded a decline in volume since 2011. Despite some volatility in other areas of Europe, Yeni’s domestic market, Turkey, has been favourable for Diageo.

6. Ypióca

2015: 4.90m

2014: 5.20m

% change: -5.77%

Diageo’s Ypióca was the only million case-selling cachaça brand to post volume decline this year, witnessing a 5.77% dip in sales. Though the entire category was hit by currency fluctuations, the UK-based company is likely to have come off worse due to inevitable currency conversion rates – something Ypióca’s Brazil-based competitors would be free from.

5. Ichiko

2015: 7.78m

2014: 7.99m

% change: -2.63%

Ichiko has topped the shochu volume chart despite witnessing a decline in volume. Described as “smooth, refreshing and clean”, the spirit is produced by Sanwa Shurui in its distillery based in Hita, Japan.

4. Velho Barreiro

2015: 9.90m

2014: 9.80m

% change: +1.02%

A modest 1.02% increase in volume enabled the Tatuzinho-owned cachaça brand to return to its streak of growth after flatlining in 2014. Following a recent bilateral GI agreement between Brazil and Mexico, and the imminent arrival of the Rio 2016 Olympics, cachaça looks set for a boost in sales. It will be interesting to see next year’s figures.

3. Pitú

2015: 10.64m

2014: 10.61m

% change: +0.28%

Champion of 2nd place in last year’s speciality spirits leader board, this year Pitú reported marginal growth, adding 300,000 cases to last year’s figures. Modest as this may be, its steady annual growth continues to carry the brand on an upward trajectory, which, as with Velho Barreiro, is likely to be bolstered over the next year. However, Pitú has some volume to climb to grasp second place on the new regional speciality spirits leader board.

2. Cachaça 51

2015: 17.00m

2014: 17.00m

% change: 0%

Last year Cachaça 51, owned by Companhia Muller de Bebidas, was celebrated as the world’s best-selling brand on the speciality spirits leader board. Though the brand failed to achieve an uplift in volume in this year’s results, it has at least halted its declining sales, which were almost 19m five years ago. Will the brand bounce back to growth in 2017? Time will tell.

1. Jinro

2015: 71.50m

2014: 70.40m

% change: +1.56%

The Korean soju saw single-digit growth of 1.56% in 2015 to 71.50m cases – the highest-selling spirits brand in the entire world, and almost three times the size of Diageo’s Smirnoff vodka. Jinro has sold an additional 5m cases since 2011, despite geopolitical disturbances across its core Asian markets.