Impact Databank: Upscale Brands Drive Bourbon’s U.S. Growth
April 25, 2013With the U.S. market’s whisk(e)y renaissance in full swing, the Bourbon category expanded by 650,000 cases last year, rising an aggregate 4% to 16.8 million cases, according to Impact Databank.
Among the seven biggest Bourbon brands in the U.S., only two labels declined last year, Early Times and Old Crow, both at the value end of the category. Meanwhile, leading premium brands like Jack Daniel’s and Jim Beam continued to make solid progress, even if the dynamic performances of brand extensions like Tennessee Honey and Red Stag are excluded. Slightly lower-priced Evan Williams also fared well, but it was in the super-premium-and-above tier that Bourbon performed strongest.
The steady long-term increase in demand for super-premium Maker’s Mark—which has enjoyed more than three decades of uninterrupted double-digit growth—was only underscored by the recent uproar over Beam’s short-lived decision to expand output by lowering Maker’s alcohol-by-volume. Beam has also had success in further premiumizing Maker’s through its Maker’s 46 extension, which retails at around $10 higher than the core offering and matched its 14% growth rate last year, nearing 50,000 cases.
Beam has taken a similar tack with its upscale Knob Creek Bourbon label, which unveiled Single Reserve ($39.99 a 750-ml.) and Rye ($35.99) variants in 2011 and 2012, respectively, and grew 16% by volume last year. Meanwhile, Beam’s high-end small-batch Bourbon stable—including Basil Hayden’s, Booker’s and Baker’s—leapt 20% in 2012.
Diageo’s Bulleit—one of the hottest brands in the Bourbon category, up 27% last year—recently took a page out of the same book with its new 10-year-old expression, which is positioned above both Maker’s 46 and Knob Creek Single Reserve.
Brown-Forman is also reaping rewards at the Bourbon sector’s high end. The company said net sales of its super- and ultra-premium whiskey portfolio—including Woodford Reserve, Gentleman Jack and Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel (as well as Collingwood Canadian whisky)—surged 19% in the three months through January, its fiscal third quarter. Woodford Reserve’s volume jumped 23% in the U.S. last year, and with a similar performance in 2013 the brand would cross 200,000 cases. Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel and Gentleman Jack—which rose 6% and 5% respectively last year—have also showed gains, and Gentleman Jack is set to receive increased above-the-line support through a $7.7 million TV ad spend through the end of this year, marking its first TV exposure since launching 25 years ago.
| Top Seven Bourbon Brands1 (millions of nine-liter case depletions) |
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| Brand | Distiller | 2011 | 2012 | Percent Change9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Daniel’s2 | Brown-Forman Beverages Worldwide | 4.66 | 4.82 | 3.5% |
| Jim Beam3 | Beam Inc | 3.17 | 3.23 | 2.0% |
| Evan Williams4 | Heaven Hill Distilleries Inc | 1.35 | 1.43 | 6.2% |
| Maker’s Mark5 | Beam Inc | 1.04 | 1.18 | 14.2% |
| Early Times6 | Brown-Forman Beverages Worldwide | 0.57 | 0.56 | -1.1% |
| Wild Turkey7 | Campari America | 0.52 | 0.54 | 2.7% |
| Old Crow | Beam Inc | 0.44 | 0.43 | -0.2% |
| Total Top Seven8 | 11.74 | 12.20 | 4.0% | |
| 1 includes Tennessee whiskey 2 excludes Gentleman Jack, Single Barrel and Tennessee Honey 3 excludes Red Stag 4 excludes Honey, Cherry and Cinnamon Reserve 5 includes Maker’s 46 6 excludes 354 and Fire Eater 7 excludes American Honey 8 based on unrounded data 9 addition of columns may not agree due to rounding Source: IMPACT DATABANK |
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