Welcome to Issue #12 of The Quench Report, the newsletter that delivers the latest and greatest in Beverage Alcohol that gives you liquid courage.

What’s on tap for today:

• 🥃 10 Years of Spirits Premiumization

• 📈 Key Takeaways from Brown-Forman’s Investor Day

• 🆕 Gallo Debuts 200ml Tetra Packs

• ♨️ This Week’s Hot Jobs in Beverages

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WHAT’S ON TAP THIS WEEK

📊 Oct 21
• Nielsen data through Oct 11
• Circana data through Oct 12
• Coca-Cola Q3 Results

📊 Oct 25
• Campari Q3 Results

📊 Oct 26
• KDP Q3 Results

📊 Oct 27
• Pernod Ricard Annual General Meeting

🥃 10-YEARS OF PREMIUMIZATION IN SPIRITS

This week, there was a lot of press around premiumization in various spirits categories. So we decided to see how “premium” each category was today and how it’s evolved. Take a look below 👇️ 

🧠 A few reflections on the data:

• 20 years ago, few would’ve believed how “Premium” Tequila would become. The industry has done an impressive job shifting perceptions, so what’s the next Tequila-level breakout?
  

• Brandy and Gin still show significant upside for premiumization. Cordials and Canadian Whisky also have room to move up. Consumers want to trade up; it’s just a matter of when.
  

• note: Gin’s shift toward premium the past 10 years is driven more by a decline in Value Gin than by explosive growth in Premium offerings, although Premium+ is growing.

Taking a long view like this is helpful. Premiumization isn’t linear, and this industry is cyclical. Tequila had its moment, and RTDs are having their moment. What’s next?

📈 BROWN-FORMAN INVESTOR DAY REFLECTIONS

Last Wednesday, Brown-Forman hosted their annual investor day. The fact that the following was the cover of the presentation should have been foreshadowing that virtually the entire scripted presentation would be focused on Jack Daniels 👇️ 

Word has it this is how the VP of Marketing for Jack Daniels looked at the other VPs of Marketing for Woodford Reserve and Herradura upon getting 99% of the air time…

🧠A few takeaways:

• The company highlighted its significant Route-to-Market shifts, including distributor changes in 14 markets. Most attention has been on California (due to the move to a beer distributor), but the overall scale of this change was substantial. A summary of impacted states 👇️ 

• Globally, Jack Daniel’s still has runway. In many markets, U.S. Whiskey can grow its share within the broader Whiskey category, and Jack can grow its share within U.S. Whiskey. A lot of brands can follow this process to showcase their growth potential.
  

• During Q&A, leadership revised their target to double the business by 2032, extending the timeline by 1–2 years. They cited softer global spirits demand and broader economic pressures.
  

• We found it a little strange that the CFO, who is retiring in May 2026, didn’t present.
  

• Overall the stock is up +7% the last 5 trading days so seems like the investor day was well received.

🆕 GALLO LAUNCHES NEW 200ML TETRA PACKS

Last week, Gallo announced a first-to-market 200ml Tetra Pack. Check it out below 👇️ 

The following brands are included, per Gallo:

• Barefoot

• Gallo Family Vineyards

• Clos du Bois

• Mark West

Although we haven’t seen these in the wild, we suspect they are shorter than 187 4-packs, so Gallo was smart to have the graphic callout that there is actually more liquid inside.

Keep an eye out. These could do exceptionally well in convenience retail. Time will tell if the 200ml Tetra becomes the following go-to small format.

THIS WEEK’S HOT JOBS IN BEVERAGES

These roles came to us via personal channels (not public job boards). Want your open role featured? Email: [email protected] 👇️ 

• Territory Manager - Kiva Brands - San Diego, CA

• Director of Sales - Dalla Valle Vineyards - Napa, CA

• Market Manager - Lady Bird Soda Co - Austin, TX

• Category Manager - Reyes - Sacramento, CA

• Director, Human Insights - Coca-Cola - Chicago, IL

• Director of Wholesale - Dutton-Goldfield - Sebastopol, CA

• Director THC Beverages - Total Wine - Bethesda, MD

• Sr. Analyst, Marketing Analytics - Pernod Ricard - New York, NY

• Head of Sales - Bawi Agua Frescas - (email for intro)

• Field Marketing Manager, Beverage - Green Thumb - Illinois

THANKS FOR READING

The Quench Report is a free weekly newsletter from Thirsty Insights, a beverage consulting company that serves top clients in strategy, insights, analytics, and funding prep.

Any questions, please email us at [email protected]