Competition Ramps Up In Fast-Growing RTD Category
January 16, 2025It’s no secret that RTDs continue to drive the lion’s share of growth in the U.S. spirits market, and the trend continued at full volume last year. Market leader High Noon tacked on nearly 3 million cases in additional depletions in 2024, according to Impact Databank’s estimate, or almost half of the spirits category’s total advance for the year. The total spirits-based RTD category in the U.S. approached 65 million cases last year, up from less than 10 million cases in 2019.
While High Noon’s growth slowed slightly from its 5.5-million-case increase in 2023, its momentum continues to be impressive, even amid an onslaught of competition in the RTD segment from both established brands’ cocktail offshoots and standalone propositions like A-B’s Cutwater and Nutrl, Atomic Brands’ Monaco, as well as independent players Surfside, Carbliss, and Finnish Long Drink, all of which also now rank among the top 25 spirits brands by volume in the U.S. market.
Philadelphia-based Stateside Brands saw its Surfside label soar from 1.3 million cases in 2023 to 4.9 million cases last year, ranking second to High Noon in the category, according to Impact Databank. Surfside is debuting a series of Green Tea line extensions during the first quarter. “The launch of our new lemonade flavors this past summer increased our fanbase, and we expect continued robust growth momentum in 2025 with our new green tea line variety pack launching and Surfside products hitting the shelves of major chain stores throughout the U.S.,” said Stateside CEO Clement Pappas.
Not resting on its laurels, Gallo has innovated on High Noon each of the past two years, in 2023 debuting Tequila-based cocktails to complement the original vodka-based entries, and last year entering the hard tea segment. “We did a lot of consumer research around the question, did the High Noon brand have permission from the consumer to go into tea?” Spirit of Gallo executive vice president and general manager Britt West told SND. “And what we found was that actually High Noon doesn’t mean seltzer to these consumers. It means premium ingredients, premium spirits, a lower-abv usage occasion, and it encapsulates the day-drinking occasion. Tea can be a part of that.”
“RTDs are particularly important in retail, as RTDs and wine and spirit cocktails continue to show double-digit growth,” says Michelle Weaver, senior director, commercial analytics & insights at Breakthru Beverage. “Premium price points make up the bulk of RTD dollar sales, and that’s what we see driving growth. More specifically, spirits-based cocktails lead the category on all consumer metrics.”
Wholesalers say RTDs are driving an increase in the importance of the convenience store segment. “With the growth and popularity of RTD products, we have doubled down on the convenience store channel in key markets by increasing both our merchandising and delivery frequencies to better service our larger RTD portfolio,” says Zach Poelma, SVP of supplier strategy and insights at Southern Glazer’s. “And the results are paying off.”—Daniel Marsteller
| U.S.—Leading Spirits-Based RTDs (millions of 9-liter cases) |
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| Brand | Company | 2023 | 2024E | Percent Change1 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Noon | Spirit of Gallo | 21.9 | 24.8 | 13.0% | ||
| Surfside | Stateside Vodka | 1.3 | 4.9 | 274.2% | ||
| Cutwater | Anheuser-Busch InBev | 3.0 | 3.5 | 14.5% | ||
| Monaco | Atomic Brands | 3.0 | 3.2 | 6.2% | ||
| Carbliss | SNFood & Beverage LLC | 1.6 | 2.8 | 76.0% | ||
| Nütrl | Anheuser-Busch InBev | 2.0 | 2.7 | 33.3% | ||
| Finnish Long Drink | The Long Drink Co. | 1.8 | 2.7 | 50.0% | ||
| Total Leading RTDs2 | 34.6 | 44.5 | 28.5% | |||
| 1 Based on unrounded data. 2 Addition of columns may not agree due to rounding. Source: IMPACT DATABANK © 2025 |
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Tagged : High Noon, Spirit of Gallo, Stateside, Surfside
