The Famous Grouse overtakes Jack Daniel’s to become Britain’s No.1 Whisky by Value.
The Famous Grouse overtakes Jack Daniel’s to become Britain’s No.1 Whisky by Value.
Sales topped £71m over Christmas.
Value grew +2.6% compared to the year previous.
No.1 whisky in the No.1 spirits category with total whisky sales larger than both gin and vodka at £393m.*
The Famous Grouse enjoyed an outstanding Christmas in the UK off-trade, with sales topping £71m – making it the number one whisky in the UK.*
The whisk(e)y category in total was valued at £393 million, larger than both vodka and gin making The Famous Grouse the number one whisky in the number one category this Christmas.*
While The Famous Grouse has a long-standing streak as the UK’s favourite whisky, the brand has returned to No.1 Whisk(e)y by value this Christmas. The Scotch blend reports +2.6% value growth over the festive period compared to the previous year, in turn, overtaking Jack Daniel’s. The US whiskey had held the top spot in 2018 but saw value drop -9.3%.
The news comes despite the wider blended Scotch category continuing to struggle, with value down -4.1% over Christmas.
Mark Riley, managing director, at Edrington-Beam Suntory UK says:
“The Famous Grouse for years has been the UK’s favourite whisky and driving force behind the blended Scotch category, so we are delighted to have reclaimed our number one spot in the UK’s largest spirits category.
It’s fantastic to see a Scotch back in the top spot, particularly for The Famous Grouse, where success has been driven by our strong equity, premiumisation and increased demand for smaller bottle sizes.”
*Source: Nielsen ScanTrack, Off-Trade Total Coverage, 12wks To 04.01.2020.
Stuart McNamara (@WhiskeyBlogger) is an international Whiskey Blogger who edits several International Whisk(e)y and Whiskey Tourism sites including IrishWhiskey.com and WhiskeyBlogger.com. He is Chair of the Irish Craft And Artisan Distilleries Association (ICADA) and is an elected member of the National Council of ISME, the Irish SME Association. He is also the creator and editor of International Irish Whiskey Day which is celebrated on 3/3 or 3rd March each year and had a global social media reach in 2021 of over 20 Million. He is a Director of Portmagee Whiskey and has also acted as both a brand and product development consultant to several other Irish Whiskey and other spirits producers.
