Cocktails and Tequila were the two products to eke out growth in the US spirits market in 2025, according to the latest round of NABCA data.

Overall US spirits sales declined again in value and volume terms last year, figures released yesterday (29 January) by the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) showed.

Volumes fell to 1.4% to just under 60.4 million nine-litre cases in 2025. Dollar sales were down 2.8% at $13.21bn.

The NABCA data covers 18 control states, including off- and on-premise sales.

Investment bank TD Cowen estimates the NABCA numbers account for 20-25% of the US spirits market.

The category data showed cocktails and Tequila sales grew in value and volume terms last year.

There were 5.2m nine-litre case equivalent sales of cocktails in the NABCA states last year, a rise of 23.2%, a result led by canned RTDs, the association said.

The increase in volumes translated to a 22.6% increase in sales value to $434.4m. Sales were boosted by the loosening of some state rules on selling RTDs in recent quarters.

Tequila volumes grew 2.2% to just under 7.1m cases, leading to a 0.2% increase in sales value to $2.51bn.

However, both categories saw a decline in their price/mix, the NABCA data showed – 0.6% for cocktails and 2.1% for Tequila.

US whiskey, gin and Scotch were the only categories to register a positive price/mix – up 0.9% for both US whiskey and gin and 0.2% higher for Scotch.

2025 ended on what NABCA called a “modestly positive note” with a 0.4% in total spirits volumes in December.

However, the association said the increase was “primarily calendar-driven”, with ten additional selling days versus last year the same month in 2024. Sales value fell 1.4% in December.