Total alcohol volume in the U.S. declined 0.8% last year to 3.345 billion 9-liter cases, which is slightly worse than the -0.7% slip the year prior, ISWR says in a new analysis..
Distilled spirits were up 1.9% and wine grew slightly by 0.4%. Innovations in the cider and mixed drinks categories helped reverse their decline from 2017, to post increases of 4.1% and 6.1%, respectively. Beer, which at 2.62 billion 9-liter cases has long dominated the alcohol market in the U.S., was down 1.5%.
These initial 2018 category results for the U.S. market are part of the IWSR U.S. Beverage Alcohol Review (USBAR) database, available to IWSR’s global customers.
“Spirits and wine showed slight growth in 2018, but those category increases weren’t as high as previous years. It’s clear that Americans are drinking less overall, which is likely a result of the continued trend toward health and wellness,” said Brandy Rand, IWSR’s U.S. President and global Chief Marketing Officer.
“We’ve also seen for some time now that consumers aren’t necessarily loyal to just one category, which leads to less volume for individual brands. Also, the aging baby boomer population, the largest group of legal drinking age consumers, is contributing to slowed growth as well.”
As beer volumes have declined, so has the category’s share of the total U.S. alcohol market. In 2018, beer commanded 78.3% of U.S. alcohol volume, down from 78.9% in 2017. Consumer interest in craft beer remains healthy, however, with a 2018 increase of 4.7%, and a continued rise in consumption at breweries.
Total spirits in the U.S. rose to 230.2 million cases, driven by whisky (up 4.1%), tequila (up 8.5%), cognac/Armagnac (up 5.6%) and brandy (up 1.7%). Mezcal grew 32.4% from a tiny 261,000 cases.
Last year marked the 24th consecutive year of volume growth for wine. The number of wineries grew about 1,000 to more than 13,000. Sparkling wine, led by prosecco (+11%) grew 4.3%.