The beverage alcohol shuffle

"Much has been written about the acceleration of declines in beer during 2025 along with spirit ready-to-drink (RTD) growth and wine softness. In fact, Suntory and Pernod have/are establishing separate route-to-market organizations for RTD spirits. At the same time, ABI has become a major player in the space and emerging brands like Surfside are projecting more than 10 million cases for its business."

"At S&D Insights LLC, we began tracking this segment in 2000 and named it alternative beverage alcohol. With all the activity around cannabis beverages, we changed the name to alternative adult beverages (AAB) to incorporate cannabis beverages in 2019. Others such as Boston Beer use beyond beer to address this market. In looking at the dynamics of beverage alcohol market, AAB has been the leader in the adult beverage for the past 10 years."

"On a servings size basis in which RTD spirits equals 8 ounces; FMB equals 12 ounces; traditional wine equals 5 ounces; traditional beer equals 12 ounces; and traditional spirits equals 1.5 ounces, AAB with cannabis has a 15.8% share of the market, which total 127.9 billion servings. When removing cannabis beverages, the story does not change as alternative alcoholic beverages have also outperformed over the past 10 years. Although share for AAB drops to 13.4%."

RTD spirits and flavored malt beverages (FMBs)/hard seltzers have grown while wine shows softness and beer faces accelerated declines in 2025. Major companies including Suntory, Pernod, ABI, Gallo, Mark Anthony, Boston Beer and emerging brands like Surfside are expanding RTD and FMB offerings and routes to market. S&D Insights LLC tracked the segment since 2000, renaming it alternative adult beverages (AAB) in 2019 to include cannabis beverages. On a servings basis AAB with cannabis holds 15.8% of the market (127.9 billion servings); without cannabis AAB retains a 13.4% share and has outperformed traditional categories over the past decade.

Read at Bevindustry