Jack Daniel’s Flowed During the Pandemic. Now Comes the Hangover.

livemint.com:

The biggest American whiskey is losing its punch. Demand has been sliding for Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 for months and the company behind it, Brown-Forman, is forecasting a sluggish U.S.

whiskey business for at least the next year. Drinkers guzzled whiskey and other spirits during the pandemic, driving banner sales growth for Brown-Forman and other distillers, but the party has ended. Whiskey makers’ revenue in the U.S.

fell 2.2% in 2023 to $12.3 billion, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, while revenue was flat overall for spirits makers. “The phenomenal sales growth we saw during the pandemic was unprecedented and unpredictable but also unsustainable, and now, the spirits market is recalibrating," Chris Swonger, the group’s president, said last month. Consumers are under pressure from rising prices and interest rates hovering near their highest level in years.

People have returned to their prepandemic activities and are spending less time at the home bars they stocked during Covid-19 lockdowns. Many people are cutting back on their alcohol consumption for health reasons—or choosing marijuana instead. The whiskey market is also facing shifts in the types of products people buy when they opt for liquor.

Cheaper canned cocktails and other spirits like tequila are growing in popularity. Some drinkers of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7—often used to make the cocktail Jack and Coke—are trading down to cheaper alternatives while others are trading up.