RTDs soar in US control states in April
Canned cocktails continued to outperform spirits in US control states last month, with volume and value sales up by a third.
According to data from the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) for 18 markets, the ‘cocktails’ category, which includes canned ready-to-drink (RTD) products, soared by 34.7% in volume last month compared to April 2025. Value-wise, it grew by 33.1%.
Cachaça was the second-biggest category in growth after cocktails, increasing its volumes by 15.3% from a small base. The segment rose by 19.9% in value for April.
Tequila managed to only post 0.2% volume growth for April.
The only other category that increased in volume last month was neutral grain spirit, up by 3.1%.
The largest volume drop last month came from Scotch (down by 9.8%), which the NABCA attributed to less promotional activity in New Hampshire.
Volume sales of Scotch whisky rebounded in February, recording its second month in growth for March across 18 US control states.
Both Canadian whisky and rum reported declines of 9.2% in volume in April. Brandy/Cognac fell by 8.6% and Irish whiskey was down by 5.3%.
Meanwhile, gin decreased by 5% in volume and Irish whiskey fell by 5.3%. Vodka saw a 2.9% volume drop.
Total spirits sales across all 18 control states dipped by 1.2% in volume and by 4% in value in April.
Two markets were in double-digit spirits volume growth last month: Mississippi (up 16.1%) and Utah (up 10.2%). They were also in growth when it came to value, rising by 5% and 3% respectively.
The only other state to report value growth for April was Pennsylvania, which saw an uptick of 0.9% in spirits sales.
Within the on-premise, spirits sales across the 18 markets in April rose slightly by 0.6% in volume but dipped by 1.7% in value.
In other control state news, Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) recently agreed to sell its operations in 17 markets to Martignetti Companies.
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