The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) reported in February that 2018 marked the ninth straight year of record spirits sales and volumes during its annual economic briefing. Supplier sales were up over 5.1 percent, rising $1.3 billion to a total of $27.5 billion, while volumes rose 2.2 percent to 231 million cases, up five million cases from the prior year. In 2018, spirits gained market share versus beer and wine with sales rising seven-tenths of a point to 37.4 percent of the total beverage alcohol market. Key category drivers included American whiskey, up 6.6 percent or $224 million to $3.6 billion; tequila, up 10.2 percent or $279 million to $3 billion; cognac, up 14.2 percent or $250 million to $1.8 billion; and Irish whiskey, up 12.0 percent or $108 million to $1 billion. Single Malt Scotch, up 9.4 percent or $72 million to $843 million and the sales strength of super-premium gin, up 15.6 percent; and super-premium rum, up 28.5 percent. Vodka, the sector’s largest category, saw volumes up 1.6 percent and revenues up 2.9 percent to $6.4 billion, paced by high-end premium products with revenue growth of more than 11.4 percent to $2.6 billion.