Year-Over-Year Declines Continue

I wish I had better news for you. But during the four weeks ending April 25th, Total Alcohol continued to lag year-ago performance, NIQ reports.

Dollar sales reached $8.2 billion but remained down -3.3% vs a year earlier, while case volume totaled $159.0M, falling -3.6% vs YA.

On a weekly basis, dollar sales held steady versus the prior period (w/e April 18th) at $2.0B, representing a modest +0.6% WoW increase and signaling limited momentum approaching summer.

All we can say is thank goodness fore Prepared Cocktails which stood out posting modest growth while traditional categories lost ground into late April. NIQ reports that sales of prepared cocktails were up 3% even as case sales eased 1.7%.

Distilled Spirits continued to post the sharpest losses across categories, with dollar sales down -5.8% and volume down -5.1%. Wine performance weakened further versus recent periods, with dollar sales down -5.6% and volume down -6.7%, showing a continued pullback from early Spring progress.

Beer maintained relative outperformance compared to other traditional categories, though pressure persisted, with dollar sales down -2.4% and volume down -3.4%.

Overall, results underscore ongoing instability across the category landscape, as Spirits remain a significant drag, Wine momentum erodes, and Beer’s resilience shows some signs of strain. Prepared Cocktails continue to act as the primary source of growth, with sustained consumer interest in pre-mixed options helping to offset broader declines across traditional segments, NIQ says.

Ohio extends leadership as regional pressure intensifies elsewhere

Regional performance continued to reflect April instability at the Total U.S. level. Ohio remained the only key state to post growth, with dollar sales rising +2.4%, while Michigan delivered the most stable declines at -0.4%. Massachusetts maintained its position as the leading decliner among major states, with sales down -7.4%.

Volume trends remained broadly pressured across the top ten states, though dispersion increased, NIQ noted. Club (+0.5%) and All Others (+0.1%) experienced slight growth, while declines were seen in Mass -2.3%, Food -2.8%, Liquor -3.0%, and Convenience -5.1%. • Compared with the prior L4W period (w/e April 18th), Mass drove industry results with newfound losses versus its previous dollar growth (+0.7%) and slight volume declines (-0.9%).

Top 5 Brands by Dollar Growth according to NIQ

• No. 1 Lunazul Tequila (+31.9% in dollars, +18.5K in cases)
• No. 2 Colonel E.H. Taylor (+75.0% in dollars, +3.8K in cases)
• No. 3 Lalo Tequila (+56.0% in dollars, +5.1K in cases)
• No. 4 W.L. Weller (+39.1% in dollars, +4.4K in cases)
• No. 5 Svedka (+13.5% in dollars, +37.1K in cases)