The pandemic performance reflected the industry s durability, the distilled spirits trade group said. We often romanticize the past, but when it comes to American whiskey the golden age is today, said David Ozgo, the council s chief economist.
Industrywide, overall sales and volumes grew for U.S. spirits suppliers, and the spirits industry increased its share of the total beverage alcohol market, the council said.
But restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 took a toll. The spirits industry s on-premise sales from U.S. restaurants and bars collapsed by 44% last year, the council said.
An 18% surge in off-premise sales at liquor stores and other retail outlets helped offset those losses, as consumers increasingly mixed their own drinks while cooped up at home.
Industry wide, overall sales and volumes grew for U.S. spirits suppliers, and the spirits industry increased its share of the total beverage alcohol market, the council said.
But restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 took a toll. The spirits industry s on-premise sales from U.S. restaurants and bars collapsed by 44% last year, the council said.
An 18% surge in off-premise sales at liquor stores and other retail outlets helped offset those losses, as consumers increasingly mixed their own drinks while cooped up at home.
At Barret Liquors in Louisville, Kentucky, sales surged 30% to 40% last spring as the pandemic took hold, store owner Manoj Uppal said this week. Each spring day resembled a weekend, and the rush at times left him without some brands, he said. But customers unable to find their favorite spirits didn t leave empty handed. They ended up buying something else, he said.
Press release content from Business Wire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.
Distilled Spirits Council: 2020 Pandemic & Tariffs Crush U.S. Hospitality Businesses
January 28, 2021 GMT
WASHINGTON (BUSINESS WIRE) Jan 28, 2021
The pandemic’s devastating impact on U.S. hospitality businesses in 2020 resulted in major shifts in consumer buying behaviors and innovative relief measures that will boost economic recovery, modernize the alcohol marketplace and increase consumer convenience for years to come, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) reported today at its annual economic briefing for media and analysts.
“Tariffs and the pandemic left a wake of destruction in the hospitality industry in 2020,”
Craft distilleries look for better 2021 after pandemic hurt on-site sales - Jacksonville Business Journal bizjournals.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bizjournals.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The rewarding world of collecting whisky, whether for investment or sheer enjoyment…
Last October the US$1.9 million sale of a bottle of The Macallan single malt Scotch distilled in 1926 the highest price ever paid at auction for a bottle of spirit made even those who never touch the stuff sit up and take notice. At 700ml, it contains about 45 pours, making each dram worth around US$42,000. Martin Green, Whisky Specialist for the storied Bonhams auction house in Edinburgh, Scotland, and one of the world’s foremost experts, was, however, hardly surprised.
“For the past two years, Scotch whisky has been making headlines around the world as never before,” Green tells us. “Records have tumbled at such a pace that, at one point, Bonhams broke the world record for a bottle of whisky at auction twice in the same sale,” in Hong Kong in May 2018 both of them also Macallans from 1926.