Shanken’s Impact Newsletter, the leading source for exclusive data on the alcoholic beverage industry in the United States and internationally. Every issue features up-to-the-minute data and analysis on trends in the worldwide drinks market.
EMERGING FROM RELATIVE OBSCURITY AT the start of the new millennium, Irish whis-key has since been rapidly expanding not only in volume terms, but with notable growth in value and innovation as well. Last year, the category continued on its impressive growth streak, with total Irish whiskey volume up 6.5% globally to about 7.5 million nine-liter cases, according to Impact Databank. That volume gain was driven largely by the U.S. market, where Irish whiskey shot ahead by 18% in 2015 to slightly more than 3 million cases. The U.S. now holds a 40% global share of the category. With its thriving premium spirits market and expansive consumer base, Irish whiskey’s fate is undeniably intertwined with U.S. growth. Without its number-one market factored in, the category was actually down slightly (-0.2%)…
CONSTELLATION BRANDS RAMPED UP ITS ACQUISITION ACTIVITY WITH A SPATE OF purchases in October, while the company also bolstered its war chest by nearly $800 million via a sale of its Canadian wine business. The Victor, New York-based Constellation kicked off the month by acquiring Utah’s High West Distillery for approximately $160 million. Constel-lation outbid competitors like Pernod Ricard and Moët Hennessy for High West, one of craft spirits’ biggest players. Less than two weeks later, Constellation obtained five brands from Wash-ington’s Charles Smith Wines for $120 million. The same day that deal was announced, Con-stellation also announced two other moves: the purchase of a minority stake in Kentucky’s Bard-stown Bourbon Co. (story, page 8), and the sale of its Canadian wine unit, which had become a non-core business as…
THERE’S NO LACK OF HOT CATEGORIES IN THE U.S. spirits market, but Irish whiskey may well be the hottest of all. In 2015, category volume jumped by more than 18% to just under 3 million cases, capping off a decade that witnessed one of the most remarkable rises in industry history. In 2005, Irish whiskey volume in the U.S. stood at less than 600,000 cases. Then, as now, Jameson held a commanding lead atop the category, but obviously the brand— like Irish whiskey as a whole—was in a much different place than it is today. Back then, Jameson sold less than 400,000 cases annually. In 2015, it was more than six times that figure. Jameson’s success has sparked widespread interest in Irish whiskey, lifting its com-petitors (as well as its…
AN AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN HAS purchased a Bordeaux château and at press time was in negotiations to acquire four others. It’s an ambitious project, but local real estate executives say it’s part of a new wave of interest from foreign buy-ers. And rather than trying to purchase famous estates, they’re looking for lesser-known properties in order to tap a grow-ing demand for value-priced Bordeaux. Tom Sullivan, the chairman of Lumber Liquidators and Cabinets To Go, pur-chased the 12.7-acre Château du Parc in St.-Emilion from Alain Raynaud for an undisclosed sum in September. He says it’s just the first of five Right Bank estates he is hoping to acquire. “If everything happens as planned, we’ll have an [annual production of] more than 300,000 bottles,” Sullivan told Wine Spectator, while stressing that the…
BARDSTOWN BOURBON CO., THE Kentucky distiller in which Constel-lation recently took a minority stake (story, cover), is planning to expand its current capacity of 1.5 million proof gallons (roughly 750,000 nine-liter cases) to 6 million proof gallons (3 million cases) looking ahead. Led by entrepreneur David Mandell and former Maker’s Mark master dis-tiller Steve Nally, Bardstown began production at its $25 million facility in September, and says the planned expansion is owing to the early success of its “Collaborative Distilling Pro-gram,” through which it creates cus-tomized whiskies for craft distillers and brand owners. Along with Con-stellation’s recent acquisition of High West, the Bardstown investment “jumpstarts our opportunity to further explore innovation in the brown spir-its category,” noted Constellation CEO Rob Sands. –Daniel Marsteller…
JACKSON FAMILY WINES HAS BOLSTERED ITS OREGON PRESENCE WITH THE acquisition of Willamette Valley’s Willakenzie Estate. Known for single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, Willakenzie has 125 planted acres in the Yamhill-Carl-ton and Dundee Hills areas. The deal includes the brand, winery, hospitality cen-ter and vineyards. A price wasn’t disclosed. Concurrently, Jackson Family has an-nounced plans to build a new small-lot winery in McMinnville, Oregon, dedicated to producing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. Construction began in Au-gust, and the facility is expected to be operational by the 2017 harvest. In addition to the newly added Willakenzie, Jackson Family’s Oregon portfolio includes Zena Crown Vineyard, Gran Moraine and Penner-Ash. The company’s La Crema and Siduri brands also offer Willamette Valley wines.…
