Non-craft spirits grew by approximately 5% in the same period and the growth gap is expected to widen in the coming years. US craft spirits are forecasted to grow by 21% CAGR in 2020-2025 and non-craft by 4% CAGR in the same period.
“While there was a substantial deceleration in growth, craft producers and indeed the total US beverage alcohol market as a whole, performed better than projected last year due to consumption switching to the home-premise,” said IWSR analyst Ryan Lee.
In 2015, craft spirits’ volume share in the US was at 2%, by 2020 this had more than doubled to almost 5%. Greater gains were seen in value terms, with 2015’s share of 3% increasing to 7% by 2020.
The craft spirits value and volume market share are expected to reach the double-digit milestone in 2024, at 12%.
All craft spirits categories, even those that are seeing total market declines, are predicted to grow in the years to 2025.
The total US rum category for example is expected to see a 2020-2025 CAGR decline of 1% while craft rum is forecasted to grow 12% over the same period.
The biggest market shareholder in the US craft spirit category remains US whiskey, which holds 36% of total volumes.
Craft gin is expected to enjoy the greatest growth in total spirits over the forecast period, in 2020 craft gin possessed a 9% share of the total US craft spirits market, but the category is forecasted to post 23% CAGR from 2020 to 2025.
“Brands are also driving up their popularity with consumers by leveraging regional botanicals, aged expressions, flavours and other innovations,” said Lee.
