White Spirits: Difficult Times But Opportunities Lie Ahead

Spirits taking greater share of alcoholic drinks throat and pocket

Spirits continue to take an increasing share of the alcoholic drinks share of throat and pocket, a key driver of which has been brown spirits, thanks to a mixture of rapid volume growth and premiumisation.

Limited growth prospects for all white spirits categories

At a global level, each of the categories, vodka, gin, white rum and tequila, are expected to see decline (vodka) or limited growth in the future. A key issue for many of the categories, particularly gin and tequila (mezcal) is the narrow geographic base on which they rely for growth.

Plenty of opportunities to grow

For the categories to enhance their growth prospects they need to look at developing a presence in new markets, which can be both emerging and mature markets. Tequila (mezcal)’s volumes are primarily reliant on two markets and English gin on three. This offers a great opportunity to expand, although it will take time to seed these products.

Flavours

Vodka, due to its clear and flavourless nature has always been a prime focus for flavoured variants. This has certainly been the case in numerous markets, especially the US. However, flavours have spread into new categories such as white rum and more surprisingly tequila.

Premiumisation a strong force across categories

As in other categories, trading up continues to be a key factor, although less so than in white rum. Premiumisation has been most prevalent in mature Western markets although emerging markets such as Brazil have also taken off.