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Across all of bev alc, no category is contributing as much growth as ready-to-drink wine & spirits. And it ain't close. These RTDs are collectively up 25.5%, about $750 mil to $3.7 bil total in tracked yr-to-date NIQ off-premise scans provided by Bump Williams Consulting. Not only does their collective clout cut dollar declines in half when counted as part of the broader "beer" category (see above); they also grew to ~7.4 share of beer + RTD $$, up from 5.8 a year ago. More like 4 share of all-channel beer + RTD volume given the price premiums these products command. But shipments of ready-to-drink wine & spirits are on track to finish between 7-8 mil bbl equivalents in 2025, we estimate, including ~6 mil bbls from the top 10 brand fams. Growth of RTD wine and spirits is more than triple the $237 mil added by all the growing beer segments combined in yr-to-date off-premise NIQ: super premiums (+$126 mil), non-alc (+$101 mil) and cider (+$10 mil). And while RTD gains don't make up for traditional beer's drops, they do entirely offset domestic premiums' dollar declines (-$682 mil) in tracked off-prem scans. Looked at another way, RTD growth is almost double the collective declines from malt/sugar-based seltzers (-$205 mil YTD) and FMBs (-$190 mil).Spirits-based products make up nearly 3/4 of non-malt RTD sales. Up 24% and $526 mil to $2.72 bil in tracked NIQ off-prem scans. On pace to soon surpass malt/sugar-based hard seltzers (-7% to $2.86 bil), already bigger in recent periods. But RTD wine growing even faster, up 30% and $225 mil to $970 mil. Significantly ahead of NA beer (+17% to $694 mil) and almost 2x the size of cider (+2% to $517 mil) in this dataset. Could RTD wine and spirits collectively pass FMBs too? FMB $$ dropped 4% to $4.75 bil in YTD scans. So RTDs still over $1 bil behind, tho that gap was nearly $2 bil just a yr ago.ABI, BeatBox Deal Imminent? Wine RTDs are dominated by 2 brands: BuzzBallz and BeatBox. At 61 share combined and both increasingly playing in other bases too. On wine side, BuzzBallz picked up 7.2 share (+69% to 31.5 share) and surpassed BeatBox (+33% to 29.4 share) as the #1 player after Sazerac bought the brand for ~$1 bil last yr. But BeatBox could soon be spoken for as well: ABI in talks to buy BeatBox in deal valued "around $700 million" that "could come together soon, assuming the talks don't fall apart," Wall St Jnl reported this wk, citing "people familiar with the matter." In prior yrs cos couldn&#39;t come to terms on valuation, INSIGHTS understands. Tho with over 85% of BeatBox distribution already moving thru AB network, in many ways it's a natural fit. Along with Cutwater and Nutrl, addition of BeatBox would bring AB to around 1.5 mil bbl equivalents of RTD wine and spirits, we estimate.13 of Top 15 RTD Spirits Brand Fams Growing; Many Still Flying Both BuzzBallz and BeatBox are bigger than all RTD spirits brand fams other than High Noon and Cutwater by scan $$. (BuzzBallz well ahead of Cutwater when counting both wine and spirits-based offerings.) But nearly every top RTD spirits brand family is growing, including 13 of the top 15, with many up double or triple digits.Cutwater, Surfside, Sun Cruiser Collectively Added Double Digit Share of Segment One big exception is segment leader High Noon. Its $$ sales down 5.5%, shedding 8 share to 25.8 in NIQ. Yet High Noon still about twice the size of Cutwater, which grew 61% and 3.2 share to 13.7 YTD. Only 2 brands picked up more share than Cutwater: Surfside (+140%, up 4 share to 8.3) and Sun Cruiser (+436%, up 3.3 share to 4.3). Those 3 collectively added 10.5 share between 'em, as Surfside climbed to the #3 spirits RTD by $$ and Sun Cruiser shot up to #7 in this dataset. Tho Surfside's ahead of Cutwater by all-channel volume, we estimate, on track for 11 mil cases this yr. Between Surfside and Sun Cruiser alone, that's well over 1 mil bbl equivs of vodka tea + lemonade.BuzzBallz #4 RTD Spirits Supplier Too; VMC, Lucky One, Carbliss, Good Boy Each Up ~1 Share Still plenty of growth to go 'round in RTD spirits. BuzzBallz spirits versions up 59% by scan $$, +1.5 share to 6.8 as the #4 player. Gallo's VMC (+108%) and Lucky One (all-incremental) each picked up ~1 share, now the #10 and 14 brand fams in this dataset. As did #8 Carbliss (+66%) and #12 Good Boy (+279%). #5-6 brands Monaco (+7%) and Nutrl (+20%) both growing but losing share, at 5.1 and 4.8 share, respectively. Same goes for #9 Long Drink (+24%) and #11 Jack Daniel's RTDs (+1.1%). But a number of legacy spirits RTD crossovers are fading fast in 15-20 range, including Absolut (-18%), Crown Royal (-30%), Malibu (-8%) and Jose Cuervo (-10%).Beer Distribs as Brand Builders and Beneficiaries; More Supplier M&A on the Way? Importantly, many RTD products move mainly thru beer distributors. They're perhaps best positioned to capitalize on this age of convergence given their existing service frequency and cold box clout. Yet while #1 wine supplier Gallo sits atop the RTD standings, thus far most top beer and spirits cos aren't playing meaningfully in this space aside from AB and Boston Beer. Might that soon change? Both MC and Mark Anthony have openly talked about ready-to-drink M&A oppys. By and large it's been new-to-world brands winning in this space. Bigger strategics may feel more compelled to build their own or go on a shopping spree, particularly as RTDs continue to buck category trends.

RTDs Keep Climbing; Biggest Growth Category By Far; Up to 7.4 Share of Beer + RTD $$

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