Market Watch, September 2018

42 MARKET WATCH MARKETWATCHMAG COM SEPTEMBER 2018PHOTO BY TK TKsays Erin Schlader vice president and North American marketing director at Brown Forman We just passed a half million cases in the U S on a 12 month basis on the parent brand in May which is pretty exciting Elizabeth McCall assistant master distiller at Woodford sees the brands history of quality as one of its key assets Woodford recently released a straight malt whiskey and will continue to experiment with barrel finishes for its Bourbon as well We have a luxury series release a Cognac finish that will likely debut next year in global travel retail McCall says noting that the brands strategy for finishing barrels is to build on flavors that already exist in the core whiskey In addi tion McCall is excited about using local heritage varieties of grains for special Woodford releases though she notes that spirit Now even long term Bourbon drinkers are changing their regular buying habits to include more premium bottles according to Alex Poreda director of sales for the Florida based ABC Fine Wine Spirits chain Were almost at the point where guests have a go to like Beam or Jack that theyll drink in a cocktail during the week he says Higher end brands like Woodford or Makers meanwhile are becoming their Saturday night bottles Super Premium SuccessContinuing its tear from last year Brown Formans Woodford Reserve 35 a 750 ml leads the way for the company in the super premium and above tier The most consistently and fastest growing brand we have right now is Woodford Reserve TOP 25 BOURBON AND TENNESSEE WHISKEY BRANDS IN THE U S 1 thousands of 9 liter case depletions Percent Change2 Rank Brand Distiller 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2016 2017 1 Jack Daniels3 Brown Forman Beverages Worldwide 4805 4887 5058 5176 5231 11 2 Jim Beam4 Beam Suntory Inc 3475 3454 3553 3681 3823 38 3 Evan Williams Heaven Hill Brands 1650 1865 2144 2294 2431 60 4 Makers Mark5 Beam Suntory Inc 1249 1338 1413 1544 1617 47 5 Bulleit Diageo North America 437 665 864 1080 1217 127 6 Wild Turkey6 Campari America 590 590 610 636 658 34 7 Woodford Reserve7 Brown Forman Beverages Worldwide 234 301 374 446 532 193 8 Early Times8 Brown Forman Beverages Worldwide 558 531 517 516 493 44 9 Ten High Sazerac Co 445 450 475 458 442 35 10 Knob Creek Beam Suntory Inc 231 290 348 379 410 82 11 Gentleman Jack Brown Forman Beverages Worldwide 287 312 349 361 387 72 12 Old Crow Beam Suntory Inc 442 451 388 361 341 56 13 Ancient Age Sazerac Co 400 385 375 355 342 35 14 Heaven Hill Heaven Hill Brands 295 266 275 280 274 20 15 Ezra Brooks Luxco Inc 185 190 200 220 260 185 16 Four Roses Four Roses Distillery 70 105 146 181 210 160 17 Old Forester Brown Forman Beverages Worldwide 94 109 148 174 195 121 18 Basil Haydens Beam Suntory Inc 55 76 111 141 181 290 19 Buffalo Trace Sazerac Co 96 114 137 160 172 75 20 Kentucky Tavern Sazerac Co 155 160 165 170 168 10 21 George Dickel Diageo North America 150 160 171 170 166 24 22 Old Charter Sazerac Co 175 165 160 150 144 40 23 Weller Sazerac Co 110 115 115 112 116 40 24 Elijah Craig Heaven Hill Brands 60 65 70 85 110 294 25 Rebel Yell Luxco Inc 47 53 62 91 106 160 Total Top 25 16295 17096 18228 19218 20025 42 Other Brands 1415 1504 1667 1777 1925 83 Total Bourbon9 17710 18600 19895 20995 21950 45 1 Includes Tennessee whiskey Rye and other straight whiskies excludes flavors2 Based on unrounded data3 Includes Sinatra Select and Rye excludes Single Barrel Honey and Fire4 Includes Devils Cut Jacobs Ghost and Rye excludes Red Stag Kentucky Fire Apple Honey Maple and Vanilla5 Includes Makers 466 Includes Rye excludes American Honey7 Includes Double Oaked and Rye8 Includes 354 excludes Fire Eater and Blind Archer9 Addition of columns may not agree due to rounding Source IMPACT DATABANK 2018MW0918_