Overall sales for the spirits category, however, are still down compared with two years ago and a long recovery still lays ahead, despite some positive increases.
CGA senior client manager Tom Quinn said: “Spirits on the quarter this year have bounced back seeing an uplift in sales vs two year ago with volume growing by 5.7% and value by 9.9%, demonstrating clear appetite for the category for consumers who have re-entered the market and are looking to indulge in treating themselves, or spending more.
“From a more long-term point of view, recovery on the moving annual (MAT) total for spirits has fallen very much behind figures seen two years ago, which is largely due to the two periods of market closure present within the latest MAT, alongside the strain imposed on consumer confidence post-lockdown.”
Strength to strength
Over the past few years, the Gin category has gone from strength to strength, though during the first quarter of 2022 sales of vodka soared, taking over sales of gin.
Total sales of Vodka in the three months to January 2022 grew by 19.2%, rising from £456.7m for the same quarter in 2019, to £545.6m, according to data from CGA.
Quarterly sales of Vodka prevailed despite total sales being down 27.3% for the year when compared with 2019, dropping from £1.880.5m to £1,366.2m.
However, total sales of gin were down 11.2% in the same quarter when compared with 2019, falling from £412.6m to £366.2m, while total sales for the year were down 38.5% having decreased from £1,695.6m to £1,042.7m.
Whisky was another category to see a decrease in value with total sales down 43.5% in the three months to January 2022, according to the data from CGA.
Standard and premium shine
The categories moving annual total (MAT) sales value fell from £1,017.7m to £574.9m in the three months to January 2022 compared to two years ago, while total sales of 9 litre cases of Whisky decreased by 46%, dropping from 875,006m to 472,379m.
Tequila has seen the biggest growth in on-trade sales of all spirits, with sales having increased by 106% in the past year, rising from £68.12m to £140.6m and gaining a 0.3 percentage points share of the spirits category compared with two years ago.
CGA data showed super premium brands of Tequila experienced the biggest growth in value over the past year for the category, rising from £9.35m to £22.43m, whereas sales of standard Tequila increased from £40.22m to £81.47m.
Quinn added: “In terms of quality, it is the standard and premium spirits that have outperformed vs two years ago, growing in value by 12.7% and 8.5% respectively.
“Super-premium spirits however have not seen the same speed of recovery, falling short of value figures on the quarter two years ago by 6%.”
