Top 100 fastest-growing spirits rise 11% in 2018

The world’s top 100 fastest-growing spirits brands collectively grew volume sales by 11% last year, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.

Jinro soju added the most cases to its volume in 2018

The figures were released as part of the IWSR Drinks Market Analysis Global Database, which also noted that the total spirits category grew 0.8% in 2018.

The 100 leading spirits brands represent 690.5 million nine-litre cases of the world’s total 3.17 billion cases of spirits.

The majority of brands that top the fastest-growing spirits list are local products, including soju, baijiu and Indian whisky.

According to the IWSR, the best-selling brand in the world was Korean soju Jinro, which increased by 6.4% to 80.9m cases in 2018. The brand also added the most cases to its volume last year.

It was followed by Pernod Ricard’s Imperial Blue whisky, which grew 19.4%, while Royal Stag whisky grabbed the third spot (15.5%), the IWSR noted.

The IWSR tracks overall consumption and trends at brand, price segment and category level. It also uses data science techniques for its forecasts, with results then analysed and checked by researchers.

“Though we saw a decline in beer and wine consumption last year, brands in the spirits category continue to enjoy great consumer loyalty,” said IWSR CEO Mark Meek.

“It’s particularly interesting to see the growth of gin brands, the category which experienced the largest gain in global beverage alcohol consumption in 2018.”

Last month, The Spirits Business revealed that Gordon’s Pink broke the million-case barrier less than two years since its launch after selling 1.21m cases in 2018.

The Spirits Business will publish its Brand Champions 2019 report – an analysis of the world’s million-case spirits brands – in the June 2019 issue and online next week.