Perhaps unsurprisingly, the craft spirits trend carried on strong in 2014.  As Shanken News Daily reports, of the 6 brands to sell more than 10 million cases, only posted positive growth: Jack Daniel’s.  Of the remaining five, Smirnoff (the world’s largest spirit brand) performed best, posting flat year over year sales, while and Bacardi, Johnnie Walker, Absolut, and Captain Morgan all posted decreases between -1% and -10%.

Across the top 100 brands, including Fireball (whose growth was featured yesterday, and this article adds that Fireball experienced the most growth of any spirit brand), there was growth, but it was meager at 0.6%.  Other players that helped push big brand sales into the positive came from within whiskey brands: Jim Beam, Evan Williams, and flavored variants of Jack Daniel’s.  Some “craft” spirits also saw significant gains, with Tito’s Vodka rising ~55% and New Amsterdam Vodka rising ~45%, bucking the trend of declining vodka sales to combine to sell ~5 million cases.

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