USA: Wine, beer consumption drop in the US, ready-to-drink and spirits categories shows biggest growth
While 'rosé all day' is a popular motto for many, as a whole, people in the U.S. are drinking less wine than they have in the past, CNN reported on January 14.
In fact, wine consumption has dropped for the first time in 25 years, according to a new report from industry group IWSR. IWSR collects its sales figures by surveying financial releases and other proprietary data points.
Not to fear — Americans haven't cut alcohol altogether. Rather, they have been reaching for more spirits and ready-to-drink cocktails and are especially gravitating towards drinks like hard seltzers, following a broader trend of drinking less calorically dense alcoholic beverages.
In contrast, beer has been on the decline for the fourth year in a row. This year, sales fell 2.3% in total, and sales of domestic beer brands, like Budweiser, fell 3.1%, its analysis showed. In contrast, craft beer sales grew by 4.1% and low or non-alcoholic beer sales increased by 6.6%.
The category with the biggest growth was in the -ready-to-drink category, with sales growing 50% last year. The surge has been attributed to the extreme popularity of spiked seltzers such as White Claw, Truly and Bon & Viv. The industry is now worth $8 billion, with sales expected to triple within the next three years, IWSR reported.
Spirit sales have been another major category to increase, with Tito's Homemade Vodka, whose brand jumped 20% last year, snagging Smirnoff's top spot. Whiskeys, tequila and mezcal from several countries such as Ireland, Japan and the U.S. grew as well.
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