Vibrant vodka is the biggest and most exciting spirits category today, with vigorous sales and innovative products.
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By Thomas Henry Strenk
odka is not only the biggest spirits category, and one of the fastest-growing, it is by far the most exciting, churning with new brands, new products, and perhaps, most importantly, new innovations. Indeed, vodka's vigor is the chief driver in the U.S. spirits market. Stats indicate the category is seeing a return to premiumization. In terms of innovation, vodka sets the bar high, not only with a palette of flavors encom- passing whipped cream, peanut butter & jelly and wedding cake, but also in emerging subcategories such as organic, brightly colored, kosher and low calorie. There's a vodka to appeal to every consumer — and that's the category's biggest appeal.
Behemoth
odka is still the most exciting category in the world and specifically the U.S. market with growth in every part of the category, at the bottom, middle and the top," declared Charles Gibb, president of Belvedere Vodka.
Despite the lingering recession last year, the category grew a robust 6.0% in volume nationally, to 65.85 million 9-liter cases, according to the Handbook Advance 2012, published by the Beverage Information Group. In the control states, vodka volume increased by 5.0%, to more than 15.75 million casres. Vodka now accounts for nearly one-third of all spirits volume, and at least 25% of all spirits revenues nationwide.
StateWays s www.stateways.com s May/June 2012
