Ready-to-drink alcohol products have taken the U.S. by storm in recent years further blurring the lines between the three traditional categories of beer, wine and spirits. RTD cocktails alone saw a 35.6% overall increase in consumption from 2019 to 2020, compared to 4.6% growth for the entire spirits category, according to data from Beverage Information Group. The category represents just over 9.1 million cases.
In 2020, the leading brands were Jose Cuervo, Monaco Cocktails, 1800 Ultimate Margarita, Cutwater and Chi-Chi’s, but there were quite a few brands further down the rankings that saw a big jump in performance last year including: Twisted Shotz (+26%), Skinnygirl (+19%), BuzzBallz(+19.5%), and Bacardi RTD (+310%)
Below are the top ten markets for prepared cocktail consumption based on nine-liter cases sold in 2020.
1. California: 1.2 Million Cases
Along with representing the top market for overall consumption, California also saw the biggest year-to-year increase in consumption of all the top markets, with consumption spiking 37.1% from 2019.
2. Texas: 745k Cases
Texas took the second overall spot with the Dallas-Ft. Worth-Arlington area consuming 170k of the state’s 745k total cases.
3. Florida: 740k Cases
The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area represented a top five metropolitan area in the country for RTD cocktails, consuming 207k cases.
4. Illinois: 569k Cases
The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area was the top ranked metropolitan area in the nation for consumption of RTD cocktails, consuming 504k of the state’s 569k cases.
5. New Jersey: 375k Cases
New Jersey also ranked 10th overall in per capita consumption with 58 cases consumer per 1,000 people.
6. Missouri: 330k Cases
Missourians worked hard to make it into the top markets for RTD cocktails, consuming 73 cases per 1,000 people and coming in third in the nation for per capita consumption.
7. Pennsylvania: 319k Cases
Pennsylvania is the top control state for RTD cocktail consumption and the only control state to show up in the top ten markets for overall RTD consumption.
8. New York: 291k Cases
New York also saw strong year-over-year growth with a 36.4% increase in RTD cocktail consumption from 2019.
9. Colorado: 285k Cases
Colorado was another market in the top five for per capita consumption, with 66 cases consumed per 1,000 people.
10. Indiana: 275k Cases
Indiana sold 70k more cases of RTD cocktails in 2020 than they did in 2019 to earn their way into the final spot in the top ten markets.
If you’d like to learn more about the top markets in beverage alcohol, check out our summary on the Top Ten States for Tequila Sales.