The data, which was produced in December 2021, also showed world lager had grown in status but cask and standard lager were losing favour when compared with 2019.
Sales of spirits over the past quarter were 3.6 percentage points higher than over the same quarter in 2019, most likely helped by a surge in interested of cocktails as consumers celebrated their return to on-trade following lockdown.
Certain drinks in particular benefitted from the increased interest in cocktails; rum’s share of spirits sales increased by 1.9 percentage points since 2019 while vodka saw a rise of 1.8 percentage points.
Lager sees largest sales growth
The largest growth was seen by world lager as its share of long alcoholic drinks (LAD) sales went up 5.9 percentage points compared with two years ago, and the smallest by Tequila, which rose 0.3 percentage points.
CGA’s On Premise Measurement Service, which delivers in-depth analysis of sales by value, volume, and outlet as well as a complete picture of distribution and price, also revealed past favourites such as wine had lost favour when compared with 2019.
Wine lost two percentage points of its share of all drinks sales in the last quarter compared to 2019, however, CGA 2022 Wine Insights Report, also published in December 2021, predicted a possible wine revival if suppliers and operators work together to capitalise on major trends, such as wine-based cocktails.
Champagne was the exception to the downward wine trend, having grown its share of wine sales by 2.3 percentage points.
Chance for revival
Gin also lost favour with consumers with its sales down four percentage points, while its fruity counterpart, flavoured gin, saw a value sales growth of 9% against 2019.
Imported whisky and Scotch have also seen a decrease in sales of 0.6 and two percentage points respectively, while standard lager saw its LAD category fall 4.4 percentage points and cask’s share of LAD sales dropped 1.1 percentage points.
CGA predicted cask’s drop in LAD sales were possibly because older drinkers, whom cask is most popular with, have been slower to return to pubs and bars.
However, as with wine, there was a chance for revival when the market returns to normal if brands can innovate, educate people about cask’s provenance, and increase its appeal among young adults.