Spirits volumes fall 3.8% in US but Tequila rises
Tequila was the only spirit category in the US to record volume growth in the last 12 months, as rum, Cognac and Scotch suffered the biggest drops.
The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) has released its latest SipSource data for the end of March 2025, which showed that the total spirits category posted a volume drop of 3.8% in the previous 12 months.
This was a minor improvement from the 12 months to the end of February when spirits volumes were down by 4.4%.
Tequila/agave spirits remains the only spirit category in growth, up by 1.3% in the 12-month period to 31 March 2025. This followed an increase of 0.9% for the segment in the year to February.
The biggest decreases were seen for rum (down by 8.6%), brandy/Cognac, which fell by 8.8%, and Scotch (down by 8.2%).
Vodka (the biggest spirits category in the US with a 26.8% share) saw a volume drop of 5.3% in the last 12 months; gin was down by 4.9% and American whiskey suffered a 4.8% decrease.
Irish whiskey and Canadian whisky experienced smaller declines when compared with their American and Scotch counterparts. Irish whiskey saw a 5.9% decrease and Canadian whisky posted a 3.4% drop.
SipSource noted that Irish whiskey accounts for 2% of the US spirits market’s volume and 3% of its revenue.
Meanwhile, the cordial/liqueur/speciality segment reported a 3.3% decline. Spirits-based, pre-mixed cocktails were down by 0.6%.
SipSource noted that this latest data showed ‘signs of stabilisation in negative territory across several wine and spirits categories, though year-over-year volume trends remains negative for most product classes’.
Wine suffered a bigger loss than spirits, falling by 7.1% in the 12 months to March 2025.
The WSWA described 2024 for the alcohol industry as ‘one of its most challenging years in collective memory’.
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