Absolut and Smirnoff Are Taking Shots at the Craft Vodka Market
- American millennials fueling move to craft brands, whiskey
- Tito's Handmade Vodka, New Amsterdam gaining market share
Left to right, bottles of Jameson Irish whiskey, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Absolut Vodka, and Olmeca tequila, all produced by Pernod Ricard SA, sit on a shelf in a restaurant in Paris, France, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015. Pernod Ricard SA, Europe’s second-biggest distiller, owner of Absolut vodka, Chivas Regal whisky and Ricard Pastis report full year results tomorrow.
Photographer: Christophe Morin/BloombergAmerica has hit peak vodka, and the world’s largest distillers are struggling to stay on top of it.
Diageo Plc’s Smirnoff and Pernod Ricard SA’s Absolut are clinging to their collective one-fifth share of the $18 billion U.S. market for the liquor after failing to stem a consumer shift toward independent producers and a whiskey resurgence that’s kept vodka consumption flat for more than three years.