Jameson’s Expansion Continues As Consumer Interest In Irish Whiskey Deepens
July 17, 2023Long the primary driver of the Irish whiskey market in the U.S. and globally, Jameson continues to churn forward, eclipsing 11 million cases globally on 15% growth last year, according to Impact Databank. In the U.S. market, Jameson was up 4.4% to 4.2 million cases in 2022. The Pernod Ricard brand has added 1 million cases of U.S. volume over the past five years and accounts for just under 80% of the entire Irish whiskey category.
While the core Irish whiskey represents the lion’s share of sales, Pernod has bolstered the Jameson portfolio with flavor extensions such as Jameson Orange and cocktail offshoots like Jameson RTDs recently. Jameson Orange earned Impact “Hot Brand” honors for its 2022 performance after reaching 215,000 cases in its debut, while Jameson RTDs jumped out to 176,000 cases.
“Our research has shown that 72% of U.S. buyers of Jameson Ginger and Lime are new to the Jameson family,” says Simon Fay, business acceleration director at Irish Distillers. “RTDs are primarily enjoyed earlier in the day, often outdoors, at festivals, beach days, and other moments of friends and family bonding.” Jameson Orange, he adds, is also expanding the brand’s audience. “The concept behind Jameson Orange was to create a product that would appeal to a growing audience of flavored spirits fans.”
Pernod is also stoking growth at Irish whiskey’s higher end, led by brands like Redbreast—already a top-five Irish whiskey player in the U.S.—and the Spot family, which has now joined the top 10. Redbreast rose 13% to 63,000 cases in the U.S. last year, while the Spot family grew 35% to 26,000 cases.
“Irish Distillers’ prestige range of whiskies are performing incredibly well, having experienced volume growth of 26% in the first six months of the financial year,” says Fay. “This was driven by the Redbreast family, which was up 20%. Similarly, the Spot range of single pot still whiskies continues to develop its loyal consumer following, demonstrating overall portfolio growth of 39%.”
Irish whiskey is now gaining more attention for its prestige offerings overall, Fay adds. “More consumers are turning to Irish whiskey as their luxury whiskey of choice in the U.S.,” he says. “In the past, as an industry, Irish whiskey has underperformed at the super-premium level; however, in recent years things have moved on considerably, with the launch of new and very rare whiskies such as the Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection, Ireland’s oldest ever whiskey collection.”
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