Overall, all three major segments of the beverage alcohol industry posted positive growth for 2015. Growth rates for spirits and wine surpassed their 2014 increases, while beer saw another year of slight gains with a growth rate consistent to that of 2014. Category highlights included continued growth in the craft and import beer segment increased spending on sparkling wines and rosés and impressive gains across all whiskey categories.

Spirits

Spirits’ addition of 7.5 million 9-liter cases last year resulted in an increase of 3.5% over 2014, a year which saw only 1.5 million 9-liter cases added and a modest 0.9% increase over 2013. While each of the whiskey categories increased, other notable growth was experienced in tequila and brandy/cognac offerings. Leading the way for top growth from a brand perspective are Crown Royal Apple, Fireball, Tito’s Handmade vodka, New Amsterdam vodka, and Deep Eddy vodka. Collectively, these five brands added 4.3 million 9-liter cases to the industry on an average growth rate of 46.8%.

The spirits brands with the largest advertising outlays for 2015 included Grey Goose, Bacardi, Hennessy, Absolut and Jack Daniel’s. Consumption by gender skewed towards females, with a 51.1% share, with the categories cordials & liqueurs, vodka and rum leading the way. Males 48.9% share of consumption is dominated by whisk(e)y’s, predominately Scotch and bourbon.

Wine

The wine industries 2015 volume expansion of 3.6 million 9-liter cases, or a 1.0% increase, was 1.4 million cases larger than the 2014 increase of 0.6% which translated into the addition of 2.1 million 9-liter cases. Sparkling wines, red blends and rosé offerings have continued to entice today’s consumer.

The wine brands leading the charge last year included Barefoot, Dark Horse, Liberty Creek, Bota Box and Apothic who increased by an average growth rate of 15.6% by contributing 3.8 million 9-liter cases to the market. Wine brands that spent the most advertising dollars last year included Woodbridge, Cavit, Korbel, Beringer and Josh Cellars. Wine consumption among women is significantly higher than that of men with shares of 60.5% and 39.5%, respectively. While all wine sub-categories lean heavily towards women, imported table wine and dessert wines are the categories with the largest shares among male consumption.

Read More at Source: Bev Route