The full extent of Cognac’s so-called “normalisation” in the US has been laid bare by recent figures for the country’s Control States.
Data released last week by the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association showed the combined Brandy/Cognac category sliding in the 12 months of 2022. The pace of decline for sales by value, which dropped by 17.2% on 2021, was starker than for volumes, which were down 15.7%.
The numbers underline Rémy Cointreau’s comments last week in its fiscal Q3 results announcement, where a “very strong double-digit decline” for the Rémy Martin Cognac owner in the US was linked to a “normalisation of Cognac consumption”.
The leading spirits categories in the Control States last year were spirits-based RTD and Tequila, both of which were in healthily positive territory, both for volumes and value sales. American and Irish whiskey were also both in growth value-wise, albeit on less-impressive volumes showings.
Also of note was the performance of gin in the country’s Control States last year, with overall volumes declining by 5.6% and value coming in flat at +0.2%.
NABCA’s figures, which measure sales across 17 US states [and Montgomery County in Maryland], are considered by industry analysts to be one of the best barometers for spirits across the country in both the on- and off-premise channels.
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Why Tequila is dominating spirits growth in US on-premise – Market Intel
