For mature beverage categories, producing year-over-year growth can be a challenge. For the U.S. spirits market, volume growth has allowed the category to increase not only its own yearly comparisons, but also gain market share from other beverage alcohol categories.
“When you look at its performance against the other categories, it’s done really well,” says Boris Oglesby, executive vice president and practice leader for Beer, Wine and Spirits at Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. (IRI). “In terms of dollar sales, spirits grew in 2017.”