US alcohol sales fall after Independence Day boost
Total US alcohol sales dropped by 17.4% in the week following 4 July, but spirits showed resilience while ‘prepared cocktails’ continued to grow.
NielsenIQ (NIQ) reporting shows that in the four weeks ending 11 July 2026, total beverage alcohol sales reached US$9.3 billion in the US. This reflected a 2.6% year-on-year decline, with volumes down by 4.7%.
The Chicago-based market research firm described ‘deceleration’ in sales as purchasing behaviour normalised after the 250th Independence Day celebrations in the US.
Beer and wine both suffered from a slump in revenue, with sales values falling by 3.9% and 3.2%, respectively.
Spirits showed the slowest rate of decline, with dollar sales down by 2.4% and volume by 3.4%.
NIQ has indicated that the industry will now look to sales figures gathered during the men’s Fifa World Cup for signs of relief as the year goes on.
RTDs, American whiskey and non-alcoholic ‘spirits’ show promise
‘Prepared cocktails’ outperformed all other beverage alcohol categories according to NIQ’s latest report, with sales rising by 0.3% in value, despite a fall in volume of 4.8%.
Sales across all RTD segments increased by 3.6%, against a 2.1% decline in volume. The firm stated that ‘despite the weekly slowdown, the premixed drinks segment continues to provide the clearest path to growth in the industry, with meaningful ties to current consumer preferences and key connections to summer drinking occasions’.
NIQ’s reporting places flavoured malt beverages, hard seltzers, wine-based cocktails and all ready-to-drink (RTD) and ready-to-serve cocktails under this category. But it was spirits-based options that demonstrated the greatest momentum, while malt-based beverages lagged.
Spirits-based RTDs grew by almost 31%, which NIQ suggests bodes well for full-year growth, as the ‘higher cost per serve can help sustain dollars as moderation pressures consumption’.
Vodka underperformed during the crucial July sales period – down by 4.5% in both value and volume – while Tequila showed moderate declines of 1.1% in value and a slight increase in volume of 0.5%.
Whiskey, however, ‘broke through its slump’ to deliver the slowest sales losses, dipping by 1.1% in value and 3.6% in volume. American whiskey was cited as lending strength to the category with a 2.6% increase in value.
Non-alcoholic ‘spirits’ were the real success story, with sales up by 22.8% and volumes climbing by 22.4%.
RTDs have consistently outperformed spirits as a whole in the US in recent years, with IWSR research indicating the category could grow by 400% by 2029.
Promising domestic sales of American whiskey come as producers experience sharply declining export revenues in the wake of retaliatory tariffs imposed in the EU and Canada.
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