Within the final three years, Knob Creek bourbon has restored the nine-year age assertion on its bottles, up to date its label design and began promoting 12-year and 15-year variations of its whiskey. Costs used to vary from $25 to $50 a bottle, however now a bottle can set prospects again anyplace from $36 to just about $200.

It is all a part of Beam Suntory’s technique to shift to higher-end spirits. It is paying off for the corporate, which noticed gross sales rise 11% in 2021. And as prospects pay extra for his or her spirits, they’re much less delicate to cost hikes to offset inflation.

In the US, the corporate’s 2021 gross sales rose by high-single digits, fueled by demand for its premium spirits. The corporate additionally mentioned gross sales from wholesalers to retailers, which signifies real-time shopper demand, climbed by double digits through the yr.

One success story for the corporate’s high-end technique is its Bowmore Scotch whisky, which noticed its quantity climb 16% and its gross sales soar about 50%. To lift its status, the model has partnered with luxurious automaker Aston Martin on a number of events, together with launching one of many rarest single malt whiskies collectively in 2020. A bottle of Bowmore offered for a report $532,340 at the Distillers’ One of One charity public sale in December, demonstrating the perceived worth for a uncommon whisky from the model.

Worldwide, Beam Suntory’s gross sales rose 11% in 2021 in contrast with the year-ago interval and on a two-year foundation. As a result of the corporate is privately owned, it is not required to reveal its monetary outcomes like a lot of its publicly traded rivals.

“Two years in the past, in 2020, we weren’t as affected as quite a lot of firms, so the bounce again is not as sturdy as a few of the different numbers that you simply’re nonetheless seeing, however nonetheless I believe double-digits towards 2019 is kind of highly effective,” Beam Suntory CEO Albert Baladi mentioned in an interview.

For comparability, rival Diageo reported 20% natural gross sales development for the primary half of its fiscal 2022 in contrast with the year-ago interval.

Regardless of its sturdy gross sales efficiency, Beam Suntory wasn’t proof against lots of the challenges dealing with the broader spirits trade. Gross sales in Japan had been up by midsingle digits, however authorities restrictions weighed on demand. Glass supply constraints hurt supplies of some Jim Beam bottle sizes. And inflation minimize into income.

Baladi mentioned that a few of its manufacturers raised their costs twice in 2021 to offset larger prices, and its American whiskey portfolio led the trade with its value hikes.

“The truth that we’re premiumizing our enterprise, and we’re more and more taking part in on the premium finish of the value tiers offers a little bit of a protect,” Baladi mentioned. “These value tiers are much less delicate about pricing than others.”

To this point, the corporate hasn’t seen any adjustments to shopper demand for its pricier bottles, though Baladi identified that the spirits trade performs nicely in most financial circumstances. Elevating costs additionally serves as encouragement for the corporate to maintain up its efforts to improve its spirits, in line with Baladi.

Seeking to 2022, Baladi mentioned the corporate is elevating costs once more. January’s shopper value index climbed 7.5% in contrast with the identical time a yr in the past, surpassing the corporate’s prediction for inflation.

As Beam Suntory invests in upgrading its spirits, it is also making an attempt to maintain with shopper demand for ready-to-drink merchandise, which have an surprising upside for its enterprise.

“The premiumization of the enterprise, significantly in spirits, is money and capital intensive, and ready-to-drink generates money,” Baladi mentioned. “So ready-to-drink isn’t solely smack consistent with shopper developments, however on the similar time, it generates money that may be invested within the capability, the warehouses, the aged liquid and the whole lot else we’ve got to do to gasoline the premiumization technique.”

Final yr, throughout the trade, premixed cocktail sales noticed the quickest development of any spirit class, in line with the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.

As a part of its efforts to broaden its ready-to-drink choices, Beam Suntory partnered with Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer to convey every firm’s manufacturers into new classes. Prepared-to-drink cocktails beneath Beam Suntory’s Sauza model will begin delivery out in March, whereas Really Vodka is anticipated to hit cabinets in March and April.