Last year was "challenging," NielsenIQ said in its annual review, with total dollar sales easing 3.4%, driven by volume softness. "Consumers remained highly value-conscious, moderating consumption and prioriting fewer but more intentional purchase occasions," it added.

"Consumer demand has not disappeared but shifted," NIQ said, noting the Ready-to-Drink, Non-Alcohol Beer, Wine and Spirits and premium-led segments all saw some growth. Nonalcoholic beer, wine and spirits surpassed $1 billion, "signaling moderation as a complement, not a replacement, to alcohol consumption.

Premiumization persisted as a mindset across categories, though increasingly enabled through small formats, trial sizes, and affordable premium cues rather than trading up alone, Nielsen said.

Total beer and total wine both saw declines in both value and volume. Only total spirits saw growth in volume, up 2.4%, but value declined off-premise. Excluding RTDs, there wasn't any growth,

Off-premise beer sales were down 3.7% vs. 2024, and volume was down 5.2%, NIQ says. Weekly dollars peaked during the July holiday weekend, but fell below 2024 most weeks of the year.

Beer premiumization driven by Non-Alcs andsuper premiums. Overall, beer/FMB/cider dollar sales fell 3.7%, with declines in all major channels.

Spirits

Spirits, including RTDs, trended above 2024 comps, but year-end holiday weeks fell short. The result was that off-premise spirits sales fell 1.8% in 2024. Excluding RTDs, the picture is even worse: dollar sales fell 4.1%, exceeding the decline in volume of 4.8%.

The importance of RTDs cannot be over-emphasized, Total spirits sales were down 1.8%, but sales in the convenience channel were driven by RTDs.

Wine

Total off-premise wine dollar sales were down 4.9% vs. 2024, Nielsen said, Volume was off 5.5%. Domestic wine sales, which represent 65% of wine dolars. fell 5.4%. Conceern about President Trump's tariffs was well place; imported wine was off only 4%.

In general terms, Rose performed the worst, with sales falling 9.6%, followed by red table wine. down 9.1%. White table wine was the best performer, off 4.6%, and sparkling wine was off just 4.7%.

.Looking Ahead

Ready-to-Drink continues to be a bright spot in Bev/Al, representing 12.4% of dollar sales, driven by spirits and wine RTDs. Hard Juice, a newer sement within FMBs, Nielsen says.

Non-Alcohol

The non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits market exceeded $1.01 billion, last year, up 19.2%, or $162.3 million, from the 2024 level. Some 95% of buyers of nonalcohol beer, wine and spirits also purchase alcohol products, Nielsen's research found.

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