![]() ![]() (Perhaps we pine for “simpler” days, before 2020 arrived with all its subsequent hardships and social upheaval.) While on-premise reopening has certainly driven consumers back into bars and restaurants, people remain interested in mixing high-quality drinks at home.Īnd what are they mixing, or ordering when they do go out? Nostalgia is now the big trend. Suddenly, everybody built a well-stocked bar into their place of residence. The Covid-19 lockdowns spurred a large movement in at-home mixology. We believe this 400M case category will grow in the next five years by another 25%.” Making Martinis All predictions are that momentum will continue in the future as consumers look for more flavorful products. It represents a fundamental consumer shift over the last 25 years. ![]() “The RTD space has grown to the largest category within the beer aisles in America, with about 27% of the market,” says Andrés Faustinelli, Master Blender, White Claw Vodka. White Claw, which helped create the current hard seltzer and RTD trends, recently entered the vodka category with White Claw Premium Vodka and White Claw Vodka + Soda. Fortunately, vodka is a spirit that benefits from its versatility, allowing vodka brands to take advantage of these consumer trends.” “Both continue to have a positive impact on the vodka category, as we see the emergence of hard seltzers and RTD formats. “The increasing health consciousness of consumers drives the rise of low-abv sprits and the desire for convenience is driving the growth of RTDs,” says Damola Timeyin of the South African brand Vusa Vodka. It helps that vodka is a clean and easy spirit to work with in cocktails, lending itself perfectly for the kind of canned drinks consumers prefer nowadays. “People spend twice as much on a nice vodka in a canned cocktail than they do for a single beer.” “As RTDs come into wider use, and people drink more spirits and less beer, vodka’s premiumization stretches beyond the bottle and into the can,” says Shaun Meglan, Texas Mixologist and Director of Product Education at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. High-end vodka-based products like that are more on the consumer’s radar now thanks to RTDs. ![]() “The market remains vibrant, propelled by both vodka-based RTD and RTS, which are recruiting new drinkers into the category,” says Aleco Azqueta, Grey Goose, Vice President of Marketing, North America.Īccordingly, the brand recently launched Grey Goose RTS Classic Martini Cocktail in a bottle. The rapid rise of ready to drink (RTD) and ready to serve (RTS) beverages in the past few years has benefitted vodka. So what does it take for a vodka brand, established or smaller, to succeed in this modern market? Ready to Drink Vodka Another entrepreneurial story steeped in Americana, coming from the hometown of Tito’s. Founded by a former winemaker, Deep Eddy is named for the oldest swimming pool in Texas - a 1900s-era attraction still operating along the banks of the Colorado River. This flavor-focused, all-natural vodka was bought by Heaven Hill in 2015, after the brand rapidly sprung up in Austin in 2010. Both hail from Sazerac Company, which remains much on the mind of consumers these days thanks to its red-hot whiskey portfolio.Īlso among the gainers was Deep Eddy. Svedka was down 4.5% for 4.38 million cases, while Absolut rounded out the top five with 3.12 million cases after a 1.8% decline.īig brands that achieved growth last year included Platinum 7X (+2.8%, 1.99 million cases) and Barton’s Vodka (+1.4%, 1.93 million cases). To broaden the comparison, or possibly as a bit of mischief, our tasting coordinator, Bernard Kirsch, added to our blind tasting a bottle of Smirnoff, the single best-selling unflavored vodka in the United States… After the 21 vodkas were sipped and the results compiled, the Smirnoff was our hands-down favorite.After those three domestic brands, the next two top-sellers in vodka in 2022 were imports. “The idea for the Dining section’s tasting panel was to sample a range of the new high-end unflavored vodkas that have come on the market in the last few years in their beautifully designed bottles and to compare them with a selection of established super-premium brands. It’s been a few years for me, not sure if they still sell it.Īnd to back up my claim about premium vodka, I brought in a panel of experts: If you are near a Trader Joe’s which sells liquor, they used to have excellent Monopolowa vodka for about $14/liter. Really cheap vodka can be awful, but I wouldn’t pay more than $15 US for 750ml (prices vary a lot from state to state based on taxes, that’s my Illinois cap. I am going to be contrary here and say “premium” vodka is ridiculous. ![]()
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