Spirits

Eastern Europe has the highest per capita consumption of spirits globally. However, a financial downturn in Russia in 2014, affecting consumers’ disposable incomes, resulted in a slump in sales for the region overall. In response to challenging ...

With over 40% of the region’s volumes, Brazil is the key market for spirits in Latin America. A severe recession in Brazil hampered growth in the region over the review period. This has been countered by other markets, notably Mexico, meaning volumes...

Campari is the world’s 16th biggest distiller by volume. Over 2012-2017, the company saw strong growth. This occurred through a mix of acquisitions, the latest of which was Bisquit cognac in late 2017, and organic growth. The latter has been driven ...

Spirits declined in Western Europe over the review period, as economic stagnation, lifestyle trends and premiumisation all put downward pressure on volumes. However, within this overall picture there are some real success stories at a category and ...

The fifth largest spirits producer, Suntory, has a wide-ranging portfolio that places it in a strong position to adapt to evolving demand trends. However, it remains heavily reliant on just two markets - the US and Japan. This narrow geographic ...

Company strategies in alcoholic drinks vary significantly across categories, especially the main three – beer, wine and spirits. In many cases, there is limited scope for further large-scale acquisitions. However, in addition to organic growth, ...

Pernod Ricard remains the second largest player in spirits globally, and enjoyed success in 2017 for some key brands, especially Jameson’s, which continues to lead Irish Whiskey. Acquisitions in Tequila (and mezcal) helped to solidify the group’s ...

Diageo remained the leading player in spirits globally in 2017, but growth was slower than for its main competitors, as stagnation for key brands in mature markets and portfolio difficulties in emerging regions continued to throw up challenges for ...

Brown-Forman was the 15th biggest distiller and the seventh biggest player in RTDs/high-strength premixes in 2017. While seeing healthy growth in both, the company faces a number of challenges. Notably, while the company is geographically relatively ...

Bacardi continues to suffer from too narrow a focus in both geographic and brand terms, leading to declines for many of its brands. Nevertheless with the acquisition of the Patron super-premium brand, the company is making strides certainly in ...

Store-based channels have historically dominated alcoholic drinks retailing. While this is still the case, e-commerce is witnessing highly dynamic growth and starting to transform the landscape. New initiatives, advances in technology and growing ...

2017 is emerging as a vintage year. It is a broad-based and potent cocktail of renewed buoyancy. Yet downside risks remain as new and disruptive trends surface across all key segments. Which are the categories fuelling growth and where is momentum ...

The significant premiumisation trend that was present in spirits throughout the review period is expected to accelerate over the forecast period. There is now a marked preference for more robust whiskies and consumers seem to be drinking less ...

Unsurprisingly, the positive performance posted by spirits in 2017 was driven in large part by dark rum and whiskies. While dark rum has always been popular in the Dominican Republic, 2017 witnessed a return to local products with a premium ...

Spirits began to see positive volume growth rates in 2017, as the category was deeply affected by the beer price war evident over the review period. The most affected spirits were rum and aguardiente, which offer extremely affordable brands such as ...

Due to a combination of the prevalent tax-evasive culture and the uncertainty prevailing in the economy in Costa Rica, locals’ interest in high-quality yet affordable products continues to lead to the popularity of illicit trade. This continues to ...

Gin remains a small category in the Chilean market; however, it saw the fastest growth in spirits in total volume terms in 2017. The main driver of this strong increase was activations in the on-trade channel, enabling brands to have more direct ...

Whiskies recorded year-on-year growth throughout the review period, thanks to a steady ongoing fashion for highballs in both off-trade and on-trade channels. The highball drinking style has been popular since around 2008, when it was stimulated by ...

In 2017, due to the diversity of spirits, for the first time, local consumers are prioritising origin over brand loyalty. The bar patron’s hunger for novelty in cocktails has spurred a wider variety of interesting spirits and greater shelf space is ...

Although the socio-economic scenario in Brazil is beginning to show signs of recovery, most Brazilians are adopting a conservative attitude towards expenses, avoiding eating-out and prioritising at-home consumption. Over the forecast period, ...