The World’s Top Spirits Brands By Sales 2011 – Johnnie Walker Is King, Smirnoff A Distant Second

Impact Databank is set to release its exclusive analysis of the world’s top 100 spirits brands by retail sales value, which shows total top-100 retail revenues rising by 6.5% to $77.3 billion last year. The overall top brand…Johnnie Walker.

The most dominant categories by retail sales value continue to be vodka and Scotch. Vodka had 23 brands in the top 100, totaling $17.18 billion in retail sales value (up 6.8%), while Scotch had 17 brands totaling $16 billion (up 5.6%). No other spirits category came close to those two. Rum, ranked third by retail sales, was at around $6.64 billion, up 4.6%.

Tops Overall:

1. Johnnie Walker had a world-beating retail value of $5.24 billion last year on an 6.5% volume increase to 18 million cases
2. Smirnoff at $3.18 billion
3. Hennessy is the world’s third-largest spirits brand by value with a global volume of only 4.9 million cases.

Tops in Rum:

1. Bacardi at $2.53 billion
2. Captain Morgan at roughly $1.5 billion

Tops in Tequila:

1. Ultra-premium Patrón became the world’s largest Tequila brand at $1.1 billion
2. Jose Cuervo at $1.03 billion

Tops in Cognac:

1. Hennessy at $2.77 billion
2. Rémy Martin at $1.2 billion
3. Martell at $845 million
4. Courvoisier at $575 million

Tops in Bourbon:

1. Jack Daniel’s at $2.38 billion
2. Jim Beam and portfoliomate Maker’s Mark combined for nearly $1.3 billion
3. Jameson, the sole Irish whiskey on the list, posted a double-digit retail value increase to $735 million

Tops in Vodka:

1. Smirnoff at $3.18 billion
2. Grey Goose at $1.37 billion
3. Skyy at $610 million
4. Cîroc debuted at $550 million
5. Ketel One at $535 million
6. Svedka at $530 million
7. Pinnacle debuted at $455 million.

Tops in Single Malt Scotch:

For more on Impact Databank’s survey of top 100 spirits brands by retail value, see the March 1&15 issue of Shanken’s Impact Newsletter.

Get the Details on Facebook and Twitter