Welcome to BevNET’s new spirits newsletter! We’ll be serving your inbox with shots of news, analysis, and commentary to help get you an edge in the spirits business. As with any service business, send us tips!

This week we’ll be looking at what RTD brands and styles are making gains so far this year.

What insiders are reading: Check out recent headlines like a chat with the founder of Amante 1530 and NIQ’s latest data on the fourth category. 

Thanks for reading.

-BevNET spirits editor, Ferron Salniker

Labor Day is behind us, so let’s put away the white linens and bust out the ready-to-drink sales data. Who won the summer? Who is winning 2024? 

Overall, spirits- and wine-based RTD dollar sales are still growing double-digits, but slowed by more than half from +44% last year at this time to +20% year-to-date (YTD) through July 27 in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels. 

Little has changed at the top: the top five spirit- and wine-based RTD suppliers account for two-thirds of total RTD dollars, according to a new report from Bump Williams Consulting. Also nothing surprising: New-to-world brands (brand families that didn’t exist before RTDs) represent the majority of dollar share, with High Noon still leading. But Gallo’s golden child has dropped nearly a share point of total RTD dollars YTD, while the other 16 new-to-world brands among the top 30 RTDs picked up a collective +7.4 points. 

Among this group, BeatBox, Surfside, VMC, Big Sipz, and Carbliss have the largest share gains. How? We know Surfside took its hard tea to new heights with additional flavors and distro this spring. We’ve also zeroed in on BeatBox’s big bet for 2025 (a product and a partnership with Shaq) after achieving triple digit growth in 2024 and No. 1 single-serve status in c-stores. Big Sipz seems like it's aiming to carve out share from another uniquely-shaped, high-ABV, budget favorite. 

Meanwhile Mexican world champion boxer, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s VMC came out swinging around this time last year and is achieving sales velocities in Hispanic retailers three times higher than all other retailers, and three times higher than the total retail average, based on Circana data for the rolling 10-month period ending May 31. The team has been methodically expanding, but the brand's priority continues to be connecting with Mexican-American consumers, said Britt West, EVP and general manager of Gallo. 

Tequila-based seltzers are one of the winners of 2024, according to Zach Poelma, senior vice president of strategy and insights at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, with “tropical flavors and vibrant marketing campaigns” driving success. 

Another trend? Among low-cal and low-sugar segments, zero-sugar products are resonating with health-conscious consumers, especially Gen Z and Millennials, and higher-income groups compared to average spirits shoppers, said Poelma. That would hint at Carbliss’s growth. Poelma also said the West and East Coasts also show a preference for flavored margaritas, including passion fruit, spicy, and coconut varieties. 

As for the future, the category is maturing (High Noon is five years old now, yipes!) and there are now 3,000 spirit- and wine–based RTD items selling— so retailers are going to be busy decluttering as they head into resets. Dive deeper into the data.

Gin is one of the less popular bases for ready-to-drink cocktails, but the original team behind On The Rocks cocktails is aiming to change that— and they’re working with 90s rap icons to do it. Since launching in February, the team behind Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop has been on an aggressive sales push, aiming to leverage over 30 years of pop culture relevance to build the RTD as a gateway to gin, the spirit base for any future innovations from the team. Read about their plans. 

Facing pressure from conservative activists online, Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman dropped its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, following a broader trend of major multinational companies cutting programs created to address systemic inequality in the corporate world. Molson Coors also just retreated from its diversity efforts. What does the trend mean for employees and what’s at stake for these companies down the road? I got some input from a DEI coach as well as a professor of law. 

Taste Radio got some straight talk from Taylor Foxman last week, who has over a decade of experience in beverage alcohol and beyond, having worked for globally recognized wine, beer and spirit companies including Pernod Ricard and Gruppo Campari. She’s currently the founder and CEO of The Industry Collective, a leading beverage and cannabis advisory firm and is also a partner with investment firms Alethia Ventures and MacArthur Capital. Listen to the episode.

Amid ongoing struggles, Constellation finally revised its wine and spirits net sales projections from between -0.5% and +0.5%, to between -6% and -4%. President and CEO Bill Newlands said the group is focusing its attention and investment on 10-12 brands “that really matter,” as well as “doing a lot of cost work on the wine side” and working more closely with distribution partners to combat declines. My colleague Zoe has the report on Brewbound.

Fawn Waver, CEO of Uncle Nearest Inc., who is one of only five African American women in U.S. history to found and lead an $1 billion+ company, responds to Brown-Forman’s decision to cut its DEI programs. In this Time op-ed, she poses the question, “how do we address historic injustices without creating new ones?”

You’ve heard Gen Z is not drinking, but Millennials are really behind non-alcohol brand growth in the U.S., according to the IWSR, consuming NA products with greater frequency than other age cohorts and exploring the category most through trial. Get the report.