Flavored Whiskies Hit The Pause Button After Decade Of Rapid Growth
June 14, 2024The flavored whisk(e)y segment, which has been a hot spot for whisk(e)y for years, cooled slightly for the first time in a decade last year. The category, which has seen steady year-over-year growth since 2013, slipped 1.5% to 17.63 million 9-liter cases in 2023, according to Impact Databank. While some flavored offerings are still growing, retailers are noticing slightly less demand these days.
“Flavored whiskies are certainly doing fine at Hazel’s, but they’re nowhere near as integral a part of the set as they were in years past,” says Max Girardin, liquor manager at Hazel’s Beverage World in Boulder, Colorado. “Overall, they represent 5% of the revenue generated by the whisk(e)y category as a whole, but they do tend to dominate in the smaller formats. Novelty packaging like the Fireball Buckets are leading the charge for this segment.”
Fireball ($15 a 750-ml.), which accounts for 40% of category volume, was the only brand out of the top 10 flavored whiskies to see growth last year at 7.2 million cases, but it was up just 1%. While it continues to dominate the category, its growth has slowed from its five-year average of 7%. The slowdown came in a transition year, after Fireball’s parent company Sazerac broke off from distributor Republic National Distributing Co. in 2023, choosing instead to spread distribution across multiple companies including Southern Glazer’s, Breakthru, Martignetti, Johnson Brothers, and Reyes. Market Watch has a full update on the flavored whiskey category.
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