Market Watch, December 2020

DECEMBER 2020 MARKETWATCHMAG COM MARKET WATCH 39PHOTO BY WILLIAM DESHAZERword elixir and the Swedish word lyx which means luxury Polands Belvedere vodka which depleted 405000 cases last year according to Impact Databank is also a longtime super premium leader Allison Varone vice president of the brand says that Belvedere is appealing to consumers who are looking for an elevated experience and looking to trade up Varone adds that todays consumers are hyper aware of qual ity mostly avoiding value brands This certainly has aided Belvedere which markets itself as a luxury brand Its flagship Pure vodka retails at 30 a 750 ml while its terroir driven Single Estate Rye offer ings are 40 and its Heritage 176 expres sion released this fall sells for 35 Despite the success some leading names have found in the premium space many have had to compete heavily on price Imported vodka has lost the premium upscale image in my opinion says Zaborowski of Westport Whiskey Wine The whole idea of imports in the beginning was to be upscale more authen tic and higher quality Zaborowski says those values were traded for chasing sales at chain businesses which pushed prices down They gave up the ground they fought so hard to win he says adding that brands instead got caught up in trends which diluted the core message of the category Jim Ruane vice president of reserve vodkas at Diageo thinks consumers are willing to pay more for select products in both the imported and domestic vodka spaces However TOP 15 IMPORTED VODKA BRANDS IN THE U S 1 millions of 9 liter cases Percent Change2 Rank Brand Importer 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2018 2019 1 Svedka Constellation Brands 064 327 420 432 440 438 455 39 2 Absolut Pernod Ricard USA 473 463 407 393 381 357 341 43 3 Pinnacle Beam Suntory 006 140 262 259 246 244 242 07 4 Ketel One Diageo North America 160 190 217 217 210 231 240 40 5 Grey Goose Bacardi USA 208 296 265 271 218 226 223 15 6 Stolichnaya Stoli Group USA 199 180 167 172 175 180 185 29 7 Cîroc Diageo North America 007 074 174 186 157 152 138 90 8 Three Olives Proximo Spirits 048 136 101 099 096 095 090 45 9 Sobieski Marie Brizard Wine 077 078 077 078 075 070 60 Spirits USA 10 Exclusiv Serge Imports 005 067 061 060 057 052 80 11 Belvedere Moët Hennessy USA 037 040 050 046 042 041 041 05 12 Luksusowa Deutsch Family Wine 013 018 025 025 028 027 029 94 Spirits 13 Fris Pernod Ricard USA 013 036 023 022 022 023 023 20 14 Pearl Sazerac Co 002 012 028 027 025 024 022 65 15 Effen Beam Suntory 004 005 010 018 021 021 019 97 Total Top 15 1230 1998 2294 2305 2196 2188 2171 08 Other Brands 105 145 167 162 160 158 152 38 Total Imported Vodka3 1335 2143 2461 2467 2357 2346 2323 10 1 Includes flavors2 Based on unrounded data3 Addition of columns may not agree due to rounding Source IMPACT DATABANK 2020Imported vodkas have long seen success at the off premise channel Retailers like Kentuckys Westport Whiskey Wine exterior pictured however note that theyve lost momentum in the overall vodka categorys image wars as compared to domestic labels