Fewer people are drinking. The ones who still do will pay more per bottle, if the bottle earns it. The market shrank, but it also got fussier.
Gallup puts the share of US adults who drink at a record-low 54%, the second year running, down from 62% in 2023. Price is not the driver. Health is: 51% of Americans now say one or two drinks a day is bad for you, against 27% in 2001.
Globally, IWSR recorded a 2% fall in total beverage alcohol volumes in 2025, about 500 million nine-litre cases. Across 21 leading markets value fell 4%, the first time in recent history that volume has outperformed value. Premiumisation, IWSR says, is "taking a back seat."
Then look at global travel retail. IWSR reported 7% value growth and 5% volume growth there in 2025, super-premium up 10%, Scotch up 10% by volume. Luke Tegner of IWSR: consumers "are looking for value in the truest sense, not cheapness."
Marten Lodewijks, also of IWSR, puts the behaviour plainly: "Consumers aren't abandoning alcohol, but they are being more intentional about the frequency and intensity with which they drink it."
The shelf has not turned against expensive spirits. It has turned against expensive spirits that cannot say why.
Meanwhile, the warehouses are full
Supply moved the other way, and it moved years ago.
Roughly 22 million casks are maturing in Scotland, about 12 billion bottles. Kentucky's Distillers' Association counted 17.1 million barrels ageing on 1 January 2025, an all-time high. KDA president Eric Gregory: "most of these barrels won't be ready to bottle until 2030 and beyond." Stock laid down for a growth curve that flattened.
Shipments say the same. Scotch Whisky Association figures for 2025 show exports of £5.3bn, down 1.8% in value and 4.3% in volume, with US volumes down 9.2%.
Bulk pricing has absorbed the difference. VinePair reports six- to eight-year-old bourbon trading at $2,200–$2,500 a barrel against roughly $4,000 in 2022, with four-year stock near $1,200. Dixon Dedman, who founded Kentucky Owl, reckons "the cost of liquid is probably at deeper than 50 percent discount."
Discounting is the most expensive thing you can do with good liquid
A discount is not a tactic. It is a new price. Cut once and you reset what the trade believes your brand is worth, and every conversation after that starts from the lower number. Sell into bulk and your margin leaves on the tanker.
Re-cask instead and the same litres come back as a different SKU at a different price, with a new name, a new label, a reason for a buyer to take the meeting. You are launching a product rather than defending a price.
What a sherry cask does to stock you can't move
Secondary maturation is the fastest lever in spirits. Three to twelve months in ex-sherry oak changes the liquid and the positioning together.
Pedro Ximénez gives raisin, fig, dark chocolate and deep colour, and does the most for a thin or unremarkable base spirit.
Oloroso brings walnut, dried orange, leather and structure. The classic route to a richer, older-tasting profile.
Amontillado sits between them, nutty and dry without the sweetness.
Fino and Manzanilla lend saline, almond and green-apple lift, which suits lighter rums, agave spirits and delicate malts.
Buyers already understand the category. Diageo's Malts platform flags cask-driven flavour and sherried whisky in its 2026 trends outlook, so you are not explaining a novelty from scratch when you pitch the listing.
Rum, brandy, tequila, gin and barrel-aged beer all take sherry wood.
Provenance is the part you can't fake
Most barrels sold as sherry casks are new American oak seasoned with sherry for 12 to 18 months. In fact, all the DO certified "Sherry Casks" are new American oak, as one of the many requirements dictated by the Consejo Regulador in Jerez in order for a barrel to be certified. Markus Eder, a barrel dealer, told VinePair that customers routinely assume they are buying wood that spent decades in sherry production when they are buying a newly built cask seasoned for a year. The same report counts around 84,100 casks exported annually, triple the figure of five years ago and more than the sherry actually produced.
Both have their place. They are not the same material, they do not give the same result, and only one gives you the depth of years of sherry character.
The Consejo Regulador registered the Sherry Cask trademark in 2015, and certified casks carry a guarantee label stating the wine type and the minimum seasoning period, verified by the OECCA Foundation.
Solera Cask is located in the heart of the DO, Jerez de la Frontera, and we supply both: new casks seasoned 12–24 months certified to DO standards, and historic solera barrels pulled from working bodegas and restored by our coopers. 225L bordelesas, 500L butts, 700L bocoys, in Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez.
Start with ten casks, not ten thousand litres
Timing is the argument. New spirit laid down now is a 2030 product. Stock you already own, finished, is a release this financial year.
A typical trial runs five to ten barrels. Take the batch that isn't selling, split it across two cask types, sample at three, six and nine months, and see which one gives you a bottle you'd price a tier above where you sit now. Spread across the litres a butt or bocoy holds, the wood costs little against the uplift from standard to premium.
If you have stock that deserves better than the bulk market, book a call with our team. We'll suggest cask types that fit your spirit and the price you're aiming at.
Sources
Gallup — Americans' Drinking Remains at Record Low
IWSR — 'A major reset': beverage alcohol volumes fall again in 2025
IWSR — Premiumisation stalls as difficult trading conditions persist
The Spirits Business — IWSR: premiumisation still alive in GTR
Scotch Whisky Association — Facts & Figures
Scotch Whisky Association — 2025 export figures
Kentucky Distillers' Association — Record Barrel Inventory
VinePair — No One Wants to Talk About the Oversupply of Scotch and Bourbon
VinePair — The Actual Business Behind Sherry Barrel-Aging
Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry — Certification of a Sherry Cask
Malts (Diageo) — Expert whisky trends and predictions for 2026