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BUSINESS A25
Friday 2 February 2018

Another round: American whiskey makers toast strong sales

By BRUCE SCHREINER exchange rates and de-
Associated Press mand for premium Ameri-
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — can spirits, the council said.
American whiskey makers That would be the fifth time
toasted another round of in six years that American
robust sales in 2017, stirred whiskey exports topped $1
increasingly by consumers’ billion. Last year’s total fell
thirst for the priciest spir- just short.
its — mixed in cocktails or The top five growth mar-
sipped straight up. kets by dollar value for
Demand grew in the U.S. American distilled spirits
and overseas as the dis- were the United Kingdom,
tilled spirits industry gained Germany, Brazil, France
market share in the crowd- and Spain, it said.q
ed domestic adult bever-
age sector, the Distilled This Oct. 23, 2014 file photo shows a selection of Whiskeys displayed in New York. American
Spirits Council said Thurs- whiskey makers are toasting another round of robust sales in 2017.
day. Combined U.S. rev-
enues for bourbon, Tennes- Associated Press
see whiskey and rye whis-
key rose 8.1 percent, or volume growth of 5.9 per- Vodka, the distilled spirits quila revenues increased
$252 million, to $3.4 billion cent. Its revenues rose 7.2 sector’s largest category 9.9 percent to $2.7 billion.
in 2017, the distilled spirits percent. “With the econ- and representing one-third Meanwhile, 2017 export
trade group said in a re- omy strong and consumer of all volume, had another revenues for bourbon, Ten-
port released in New York. confidence high, shoppers solid year with U.S. volumes nessee whiskey and rye
Domestic volumes rose 6.4 are treating themselves to up 2.2 percent and rev- whiskey products are pro-
percent to nearly 23.2 mil- our sector’s pricier prod- enues up 3 percent to $6.2 jected to reach $1.1 bil-
lion cases. ucts,” said David Ozgo, billion, the report said. Te- lion, fueled by favorable
In another shot of good chief economist for the dis-
news for the industry, su- tilled spirits group.
per-premium whiskeys had At the other end of the
the biggest volume surge price spectrum, volumes
among American whis- were up just 1.4 percent
keys. Volumes rose 18.3 in the value category and
percent, while revenues revenues increased 3 per-
were up 18 percent. Those cent. Rye whiskey is a small
whiskeys typically age the portion of the American
longest and fetch the high- whiskey category, but its
est prices. volumes surged 16.2 per-
“The higher priced the cent last year to 900,000
product, the faster the cases, the report said. The
sales, virtually across the growth was driven by rye’s
categories,” said Frank popularity in cocktails.
Coleman, a spokesman
for the distilled spirits trade
group. The growing popu-
larity of top-end whiskies
coincides with another
trend — consumers be-
coming more knowledge-
able about the products
they sip, said New York City
bartender Charles Hard-
wick. “Just last week I was
stunned to have a guest
ask me what whiskies I had
from the Buffalo Trace Dis-
tillery (in Kentucky) after he
stared at my back bar in-
tently for several minutes,”
he said. “I find I no longer
have to explain the differ-
ence between bourbon
and rye to people, and
they frequently ask what
bourbon is in our well from
a much more informed
perspective.”
One rung down, the high-
end premium category for
bourbon, Tennessee whis-
key and rye whiskey had