Spirits Sales Slow, though Some Categories Feel Fine

Spirits volumes were flat and sales were only up 1% in all Nielsen-measured channels for the four weeks through May 21-- a marked deceleration from the 13-week sales trend at 4.2% growth.For the period, only three categories were in the black -- tequila, whiskey and brandy. Tequila sales grew 6.5%, whiskey was up 5.4%, and brandy sales were up 3.1%. Moreover, tequila and whiskey were the only dollar share gainers, picking up 0.4 and 1.4 points, respectively.Tequila growth has been