![]() ![]() The early successes seen by a handful of new brands-plus the continued solid performance for premixed mainstays like Margaritas-have made the category a must for spirits producers. Gallo’s High Noon Sun Sips, a canned Vodka Soda, has skyrocketed since its 2019 release, reaching nearly 3 million cases in just its second year on the market. The PLCB stocks roughly 181 pre-packaged cocktail SKUs, compared to 95 SKUs in 2018.Į. “Premixed cocktails appeal to many demographics, from a customer seeking portability and low calories to someone seeking the simplicity and ease of opening and pouring a drink rather than buying, mixing, and measuring ingredients to a customer looking to try something new with a lower cost commitment,” says Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) chairman Tim Holden. Canned and premixed cocktails offer simple ways to serve drinks and provide a variety of flavor profiles, ranging from traditional cocktails like the Margarita and the Old Fashioned to fruit-spiked extensions like a Watermelon Vodka Soda. Volumes were up 86% to 9.15 million cases in Nielsen channels in the 52-week period ending December 26, 2020. note that pre-packaged cocktails have broad appeal across demographics. “High Noon Sun Sips and the new Crown Royal cans are very popular,” she adds, noting that interest has grown across the board for the category. ![]() “The consumer is figuring out that a quality base spirit makes for a great canned cocktail, and they’re experimenting with brands they know and love already,” says Sandra Spalding, market director at Texas-based Twin Liquors, which stocks 60-70 SKUs of canned cocktails. Marketers within the industry attribute this to the on-premise shutdowns removing traditional cocktail occasions, as well as to consumers trading up from malt-based seltzers to some of the newer Vodka Soda-style drinks on the market today. Category volume more than doubled since 2016, driven by new entrants to the market and a massive increase in consumer interest. After rising by 21.5% in 2019, the segment jumped nearly 50% in 2020, to just under 13 million cases, according to Impact Databank. While many embraced the home consumption move as a chance to bump up their cocktail-making skills, another trend accelerated during the worst of 2020: spirits-based pre-packaged cocktails. Categories large and small, ranging from industry fulcrums like vodka to smaller, more on-premise-focused ones like mezcal, found ways to grow as happy hour moved from bars to living rooms. While sales patterns shifted and many companies suffered severe losses early on, the industry overall thrived. Roughly one year after the shutdowns began, data-from Impact Databank, Nielsen, NABCA, and other organizations tracking sales and consumption patterns-shows that the wine and spirits world still saw success. Producers of all sizes had to immediately pivot early last year, shifting almost entirely toward marketing off-premise serves and encouraging consumers to create their favorite drinks and explore the world of cocktails from home. ![]() The leading story of 2020 within the beverage alcohol world was the impact of widespread on-premise shutdowns and the subsequent shift to at-home consumption as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pre-packaged cocktails, such as Anheuser-Busch InBev's Cutwater brand (pictured), increased 48.5% in 2020, driven by a host of new entrants and consumer interest. Once an afterthought, the pre-packaged cocktail format has suddenly become one of the hottest trends in the industry. ![]()
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