Tara Nurin

Tara Nurin calls in to Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras, to talk about spirits sales and her article in Wine Enthusiast magazine. It shows Spirits replacing Beer as the largest share of the alcoholic beverages market. It’s not a majority of spending, but a plurality by a small margin. The article is on the website of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Its title is “Move Over, Beer: Spirits Are Now Alcohol’s Biggest U.S. Money Maker.

The article states that, “sales for 2022 show spirits now claim a record-breaking 42.1% of revenue in the alcohol market, compared to beer’s shrinking 41.9% and wine’s stagnant 16 %.” Of course, beer is at a disadvantage in counting dollar share, compare a $10 pack of beer to a $100 bottle of some luxury spirits. Beer will still sell more volume due to its nature.

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There may be some influence from the pandemic on this result. However, spirits have been gaining market share for the last thirteen years. Also, previous generations were less prone to experimentation and innovation as people are today. Also, there are more ready-to-drink beverages which are very hot right now, such as hard selzers. The more expensive of these are spirits-based, as opposed to malt-based. The new drinks are known as “RTD” which stands for Ready To Drink. The fact that this term is also applicable to beer and wine is possibly lost on the authors of the term.

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RTDs are growing faster than other segments of the alcoholic beverage industry. New products are launching with higher and higher prices, which may be a bad sign for brewers.