Hi. I’m Ferron Salniker, and if you’ve been an Insider for long you’ve likely noticed that my name has surfaced with more BevNET’s spirits coverage. Last year I started as the spirits editor after years of covering food and spirits as a freelancer. 

Before writing I worked in the restaurant world, which was my first entry into making chit chat about booze but not where I encountered my favorite spirit: that was in the agave fields of Oaxaca. Mezcal at the time was showing up at the coolest of my local Bay Area bars, but having traveled and lived in Mexico, I quickly familiarized myself with the spirit. I actually started producing an event in San Francisco with the goal of raising awareness of mezcal— now those events happen across the country. 

Watching the trajectory of mezcal is maybe why I’m fascinated by how trends develop and what that means for the future of the spirits I love. 

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Export data is in for 2023, so we took a look at what the numbers mean for rising spirits like Scotch whiskey and mezcal. 

📉After a “bumper” year for many exports, Scotch exports were down -9.5% by value and -19%, French exports of wine and spirits fell -5.9%, and agave spirits like mezcal and tequila fell a bit too. 

💀 Destocking and consumers tightening their belts in the U.S. were to blame for much of those dips. With analysts at WSWA now proclaiming premiumization as dead, the down-trading in Scotch or agave spirits may create headwinds for those categories. 

🌏 With so many new entrants in agave spirits, competition may heat up too, but European spirits may face obstacles that have more to do with global politics. The long-term tariff-free trade of Scotch and other European exports will be up for renegotiation in a few years, and as you may remember, the free-flow of other spirits was interrupted during the Trump administration. 

Read the full story on BevNET.

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