Jack Daniel’s flowed during covid. Now comes the hangover.
he biggest American whiskey is losing its punch. Demand has been sliding for Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 for months and the company behind it, Brown-Forman , is forecasting a sluggish
U.S. whiskey business for at least the next year.
Drinkersguzzledwhiskeyand other spirits during the pandemic , driving banner sales growth for Brown-Forman and other distillers, but the party has ended. Whiskey makers’ revenue in the U.S. fell 2.2% in 2023 to $12.3 billion, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the UnitedStates,whilerevenuewas flat overall for makers of spirits.
“The phenomenal sales growth we saw during the pandemic was unprecedented and unpredictable but also unsustainable, and now, the spirits market is recalibrating,” Chris Swonger , the group’s president, said last month.
Consumers are under pressure from rising prices and interest rates hovering near their highest level in years. People have returned to their prepandemic activities and are spending less time at the home bars they stocked during Covid-19 lockdowns. Many people are cutting back on their alcohol consumption for health reasons—or choosing marijuana instead.
The whiskey market is also facing shifts in the types of products people buy when they opt for liquor. Cheaper canned cocktails and other spirits like tequila are growing in popularity. Some drinkers of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7—often used to make the cocktail Jack and Coke—are trading down to cheaper alternatives while others are trading up.
Brian Moran, a tile-setter who lives in the Chicago suburbs, used to order a Jack Daniel’s and Co’ca-Cola whenever he went to a bar with friends. About a year ago, a client offered him a trade to tile a kitchen backsplash: five pricier bottles of bourbon, including Stagg, Eagle Rare and E.H. Taylor. From his first sips, Moran was enthralled.
“I don’t know anyone who even drinks it anymore,” he said of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7, which has a national average price of about $22. “You spend an extra $10 and you get something that’s so much better.”
Moran, 42 years old, now buys a variety of whiskeys and has returned to the Jack Daniel’s brand for its higher-end offerings, including Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof and Jack Daniel’s 12-Year-Old Tennessee Whiskey.
Brown-Forman is leaning into its pricier drinks, which are gaining fans among whiskey aficionados. Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof is priced around $64. Dollar sales of the product rose about 60% in the first two months of this year, according to Nielsen data analyzed by consulting firm Bump Williams. Those gains haven’t made up for the decline in Old No. 7, however.
Brown-Forman, which is