October 22, 2025: ACSA’s 2025 report on US craft spirits and other news
ACSA about US craft spirits and distilleries, Brown-Forman campaign for Jack Daniel's, Morelos mezcal first DO certifications, IARD, Jackie Thomson at Portintruan, Irish apple brandy and more...
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Hello everyone!
Here is a quick selection of the latest and most significant news mid-week. Let’s begin.
ACSA’s Craft Spirits Data Project 2025 is out
The American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA) has just released its 2025 Craft Spirits Data Project, analysing the US craft distilling sector’s performance over the 12 months to August 2025, in partnership with Park Street.
The key figures make for sobering reading:
The number of active craft distillers in the US has declined by 25.6% (from 3,069 to 2,282).
The US craft spirits category sales volume has declined by 6.1% year-on-year (down from over 12.7 million 9L cases in 2024). In value terms, sales fell by 3.3% to $7.6 billion.
The craft spirits market share of total US spirits has decreased to 4.5% by volume.
Exports of US craft spirits plunged by 20.7% year-on-year (to 142,000 9L cases).
Employment numbers within the US craft market also declined: 28,628 full-time domestic employees, compared to 29,373 in 2023.
You can find the complete and much more detailed report here:
Marketing
Eyes on Brown-Forman’s new marketing campaign for Jack Daniel’s
Janet Patton pens an interesting article in the Lexington Herald Leader about Brown-Forman’s new global brand campaign for its well-known Tennessee Whiskey. The campaign is considered to be the most expensive in the company’s history and aims to strengthen brand awareness and consumer loyalty by pushing across all channels, from TV and films to social media platforms, YouTube, and non-traditional buying spaces. Flavoured whiskeys form a significant part of the strategy.
You can read the article here:
Brown-Forman’s biggest ad campaign ever: Fruity flavor helps juice Jack Daniel’s
Mexico
Morelos delivers first Designation of Origin certifications
The governor of Morelos, Margarita González Saravia, has presented the first Mezcal de Morelos Designation of Origin certifications, granted by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). The first certificates were awarded to Emma Cazales Quintero of Cazales (Tlaquiltenango) and Alfredo Vargas Sánchez of the brand Xonesco (Palpan, Miacatlán municipality).
The state of Morelos has clearly been pushing hard to promote its agave spirit at local events recently, based on the news updates I’m seeing from Mexico.
You can find Estrella Pedroza’s article in the local publication Proceso here:
Morelos entrega las primeras certificaciones de Denominación de Origen Mezcal
Lobbying
IARD issued its October activity update
The International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) has issued an update on its Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) campaigns and activations worldwide over the last month. A quick reminder: this not-for-profit organisation is formed by some of the largest multinational companies in the drinks industry:
This is very likely to be sponsored content, but I believe it is worth keeping an eye on what they are doing, as some of their actions may affect the entire industry.
Article on Global Drinks Intelligence:
Drinks industry Environment, Social & Governance activations around the world in October ’25 – ESG
New roles
Jackie Thomson joins Portintruan after 30 years at Ardbeg
I skipped this news on Monday, but a few people kindly sent me the link in the last couple of days, so here it is: Jackie Thomson has been appointed Visitor Experience Manager at Portintruan, Sukhinder Singh’s Elixir Distillers’ new distillery in Islay, which is due to open in spring 2026.
Jackie leaves her role as Visitor Centre Manager at Ardbeg, where she worked for almost 30 years.
News by Melita Kiely in The Spirits Business:
Something to read
Irish apple brandy
While I doubt that apple brandy will somehow replace Irish whiskey (see the title below!), I found John Wilson’s article in The Irish Times an interesting, albeit brief, read on a topic that doesn’t come up very often.
You can read it here:
Meanwhile, in Normandy, Domaine du Coquerel is busy collecting apples for its Calvados AOC.
Nicolas Pesce visited the estate and his video-report can be watched in Ouest-France:
À Milly, la distillerie du domaine de Coquerel récolte ses pommes pour son calvados
That’s all for today.
Quick update: Venice Cocktail Week
From today until this Sunday, October 26th, Venice is hosting the 2025 edition of Venice Cocktail Week.
Tomorrow evening at 6 pm, I’ll be presenting three (yes, three!) books from some very special colleagues of mine at the St. Regis Hotel’s Arts Bar: “La grammatica dei cocktail” by Maurizio Maestrelli, “Spirits dei luoghi” by Federico Silvio Bellanca, and “Aperitivo” by Chiara Buzzi.
If any of you are interested, please contact the organisation via their website for details on the event: https://venicecocktailweek.it/
I also heard that a very good friend of mine,
, will be in town during this time. Can’t wait to catch up with everyone!In any case, I’ll see you on Friday for a final press release to wrap up the week. 😉