American whiskey – Bourbon, Tennessee and Rye – continued to attract US consumers with volumes up 6.8% to 21.8 million cases
The distilled spirits sector achieved accelerated growth in 2016 with supplier sales up 4.5% to $25.2 billion, volumes up 2.4% to 220 million cases and a seventh straight year of market share gains relative to beer.
“The continued growth of the spirits sector clearly demonstrates that adult consumers’ taste for and interest in premium distilled spirits, across all categories, is trending upward,” said Distilled Spirits Council President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz. “Spirits makers continue to develop new innovations to appeal to a growing audience of adult millennials, and they are responding by purchasing and enjoying our products.”
American whiskey – Bourbon, Tennessee and Rye – continued to attract US consumers with volumes up 6.8% to 21.8 million cases and revenues up 7.7% to $3.1 billion. Several other spirits categories performed exceptionally well in the US market including:
The Council estimated that overall retail sales of distilled spirits in the US market reached nearly $78 billion in 2016, supporting more than 1.4 million jobs in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors.
The spirits sector’s strong performance in 2016 resulted in market share gains relative to beer for the seventh straight year, as reported by Council Chief Economist David Ozgo. Spirits’ market share increased by one-half a point to 35.9%. Each point of market share is worth approximately $700 million in suppler revenue.
Ozgo cited key factors contributing to the spirits sector’s continued growth, including: