Whisky is consumed all around the world and the interest in the category continues to grow based on Google Search trends. Taking into account the last ten years (2014-2024) for some of the top spirits categories with wide distribution, Vodka used to be the dominant category holding the number 1 position in terms of searches worldwide within food & drink back in 2014, followed by Whisky, Rum, Gin and Brandy.
Ten years later, Whisky is now the top searched category followed by Vodka, Gin, Rum and Brandy and this is clearly visible on the graph below, especially within the seasonal spikes of demand at calendar year end (October-December), typical of the holiday season in a number of countries. The Gin Boom in markets such as the UK is also partially visible and helped the category to move into 2nd place for a period of time before coming down to 3rd place (the red line on the graph below) due to the surge of searches for Whisky.
Note the ‘Search Interest over Time’ definition by Google: Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term.
Above is a map of the world depicting the top category searched by country from the five spirits categories selected, including low search volume regions (such as China).
Interestingly, when we replace brandy as one of the options in the Google Search with ‘whiskey’ (the term generally used for American and Irish whiskey for example), the top colour for the US, Canada and a number of African countries including South Africa switches from vodka or gin to whiskey.
Delving more deeply into specific countries, it is interesting to see the dominance of whisky in terms of searches via Google, for example in Brazil (where I have substituted Brandy for Cachaça, the national spirit made from sugar cane juice). Whisky dominates as the top searched category in most locations, except for the state of Amazonas (coloured red on the map, representing gin) and six other states in the North and North-East regions of Brazil (coloured purple for Cachaça).
On the other hand, France shows us an example of a market where Whisky is coming second behind Rum (or Rhum in France). This may be a surprise to some as Scotch whisky has a greater share of the spirits market than Rum in France in volume terms, however, a large amount of that volume will be at the entry price level end of the market. This could suggest perhaps that any expected engagement and interest by consumers – expressed as a Google search – tend to be driven by more premium brands. France also happens to be the top Rum market in Europe with over 20% volume share based on IWSR data from 2022, followed by Germany, UK and Spain.
In the United States, I have searched for whiskey (rather than whisky) and replaced brandy with tequila, given its popularity in the country and also proximity to Mexico. Note that the state of Pennsylvania is highlighted in green indicating that vodka is the top search term, however it is actually tied with whiskey.
Below, the Google search interest graph over the last ten years is a great visual representation of the ‘Gin Boom’ that took place in the UK. Although sales for the category are now in decline year on year, it is still the top category in England and Wales for Google searches over the last 12 months, with whisky dominating Scotland and likewise, vodka in Northern Ireland during 2024.
Other selected markets:
Brandy/ Cognac was used as one of the 5 spirits categories selected for comparison, however if we replaced it with Tequila, please find the graphs below for comparison – quite a contrast:
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