Hardys still UK biggest wine brand for 2014

By Erin Smith

Published: 23 July, 2014

The annual review looks at the 100 biggest alcohol brands in the off-trade and found that over the last year UK consumers spent £400 million more on alcohol, an increase of 5% and consumed more than 70.3 million litres, an increase of 3.3%.

Hardys is the still the biggest wine brand in the UK, coming in just above Blossom Hill. Hardys was knocked from its position as the sixth largest UK alcohol brand down to seventh, but sales still grew 8.9% to hit £278.5 million. Blossom Hill is the ninth biggest brand, down from the eighth largest brand last year, replaced by Strongbow. Sales for Blossom Hill hit £248.3 million but sales declined by 1%.

The top biggest alcohol brand in the UK is still Stella Artois, with sales reaching £492.4m a growth of 0.7%

The top spirit brand in the UK is Smirnoff, which moved from being the fourth biggest overall drinks brand to the number three spot this year. Smirnoff saw a growth increase of 6.7% and sales were £399.5 million for the last year.

Some of the big winners from last year's warm summer included Pimm's, which grew 23% in volume. Several beer brands also saw a huge spike during last summer's heat wave including Budweiser, which grew 15.5% in the three months to July 27, 2013.

Other big movers were Desperados which grew 209.3% and premium cider brand, Rekorderlig. which grew 106.4% for the three-month period covering the heatwave.

For the full list visit Britain's 100 biggest booze brands.

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