For the 24th consecutive year, the U.S. spirits market is on pace to expand once again this year, according to The U.S. Spirits Market: Shanken’s Impact Databank Review & Forecast, 2019 Edition.
An estimated 2% in volume is expected bring 2019’s total volume to 235.8 million nine-liter cases. Consumption is projected to rise further to 255 million cases by 2025, Shanken says.
Spirits are estimated to have outperformed both the beer and wine categories in volume terms for the eighth straight year in 2019. Last year, spirits sales surpassed beer in dollar terms for the first time in more than 40 years, with Tequila, Bourbon, Irish whiskey, Cognac, and flavored spirits driving growth. Vodka remains the largest single category by a wide margin, but its recent growth has been sluggish and inconsistent at best.
While total spirits consumption has expanded by more than 23 million cases over the past five years, more than a quarter of that gain came from one brand: Tito’s vodka. During that span, Tito’s moved up from 40th overall among all spirits brands in volume terms, all the way up to No.-2, behind only Smirnoff vodka. Tito’s is also on pace to become the market’s second-largest brand overall in dollar terms behind Crown Royal by the end of this year, surpassing Hennessy Cognac.
By company, industry leader Diageo outsells second-ranked Bacardi USA in dollar terms by more than a two-to-one margin. Diageo still leads by volume as well, even after having sold 19 spirits brands this year to Sazerac Co., which ranks second by volume.