The Luxury Brand Index (LBI), a new tool created by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) to analyze sales of spirits brands at the top end of the distilled spirits market, showed luxury brands grew 47% in the third quarter of 2021 compared with the same quarter of 2020. The pace has been more than twice the annual average growth rate of 18% between 2015 and 2020. Key highlights of the LBI 2021 Third Quarter Report include: Tequila saw the biggest gains with 83% annual growth rate, followed by American whiskey and Cognac at around 38% each; following the removal of tariffs, Scotch whisky rebounded with a strong 20% growth rate after showing losses during 2020; and Irish whiskey kept pace with Scotch whisky by rising 19%. Over the five years between the third quarter of 2016 and 2021, all spirits categories included in the luxury index increased annual growth ranging from 3 to 46%, with an average rate of 22%.