Spend is up even as profits are squeezed

By Dave Hunter

It should go without saying that 2024 has not been the recovery year the trade was hoping for, with price squeezes continuing and no governmental support anywhere to be seen. 

And so this year’s Top Brands figures must be taken in context. While the figures provided to us by CGA report an increase in spend in Scotland’s bars and pubs – up to £2.3 billion from £2.2 billion in 2023 – that comes against a backdrop of increasingly tight margins for operators. 

Nonetheless, this year’s figures do seem to reveal some interesting shifts in consumption – from an increase of over £30 million in lager to drops in vodka, gin and rum. In fact, it’s been a strong year for beer overall, with ale up more than £6m to £131m and stout growing by over £20m to £102m. 

In the following pages you will find information on the top 40 drinks brands in the Scottish on-trade in the 12 months to 15th June 2024 according to CGA’s OPMS data, with details on numbers 1 to 15 followed by some analysis of the top spirits categories and an interview with outgoing Tennent’s master brewer, Keith Lugton. The popularity of pints is evident in this year’s top five, with Irish giant Guinness and Diageo stablemate Captain Morgan swapping places while Heineken-owned Birra Moretti overtakes Gordon’s to enter the top five for the first time. 

Among the spirits categories vodka – long a staple in Scotland’s pubs and bars – is perhaps the biggest surprise, with sales dropping by more than £14m in the course of the year, to £229m. 

Gin, too, has continued to fall in value, from £151m last year to £140m in 2024. 

Rum – incorporating both light and dark rums – has also dipped, from £153m in last year’s report to £148m this year. 

Meanwhile, comparatively smaller spirits categories including Scotch whisky and tequila are both up over the past year, with Scotch growing by more than £7m to a value of £103m and tequila growing from £19m to £23m.

1. Tennent’s Lager – C&C Group

Another year, another trophy for the iconic Big Red T. This year Tennent’s cheered on our boys oversees with its support of the Scottish national football team during the Euros, while its now well established ‘Oooft’ campaign continued to raise a smile with pub punters. Tennent’s Lager is entering a new age in 2024 as long-time master brewer Keith Lugton retires but the brand is likely to remain as popular north of the border as ever.

2. Smirnoff – Diageo

Vodka values are down this year, but pub punters continue to love Smirnoff, with the global giant retaining its place as the second biggest brand in Scottish venues. This year Smirnoff expanded its already sizeable flavoured range with the launch of Smirnoff Spicy Tamarind, a 30% ABV vodka designed for use in cocktails such as a Spicy Margarita as well as for standard spirit mixer serves.

3. Guinness – Diageo

Moving up a place from last year’s list, Guinness is now the third-biggest brand in Scottish bars, pubs and restaurants. CGA reckons stout overall was worth over £102m in the year to June 2024. Several other brewers have stated their ambition to take a larger slice of the stout pie in recent years, but with Guinness ubiquitous in pubs across the land, that could be a tough task. This year Guinness has continued to push its zero-alcohol Guinness 0.0 in the on-trade with the draught format gaining ground. 

4. Captain Morgan – Diageo

Scotland’s famous sweet tooth – together with Diageo’s deep pockets – has helped to keep Captain Morgan firmly in the top five brands in 2024, albeit down one place from last year. In the UK, the range now includes Captain Morgan Original Spiced Gold, Captain Morgan Tiki, Captain Morgan Sliced Apple, Captain Morgan White Rum, Captain Morgan Dark Rum, Captain Morgan Black Spiced and the alcohol-free Captain Morgan Spiced Gold 0.0%.

5. Birra Moretti – Heineken UK

Heineken will be delighted with the success of Birra Moretti over the past year. Not only can the world beer brand now claim to be the biggest-selling draught beer in the UK overall – which is no small feat in itself – but in Scotland it has managed to overtake gin powerhouse Gordon’s to become the fifth biggest-brand in Scottish venues.

That’s an incredible achievement. Heineken UK has helped to achieve this through continued heavyweight advertising support for Birra Moretti, as well as innovation for the brand including the launch of the unfiltered Birra Moretti Sale di Mare. The fact beer brands now account for three of the top five brands is an interesting development this year, and seems to reflect a shift towards beer over the course of the past year.

6. Gordon’s – Diageo

It may have slipped a place down the rankings this year, but Gordon’s remains an on-trade powerhouse as the biggest-selling gin – and third biggest-selling spirit – in Scottish venues. Gordon’s has been quiet in the on-trade in the past year, with much of the brand’s marketing effort focused on ‘at-home’ occasions such as gatherings with friends. But it would be a brave – and foolish – soul that counted the London Dry giant out. It remains a staple on back-bars across Scotland. 

7. Absolut – Pernod Ricard UK

Vodka overall is down in value this year, but Absolut has climbed a place to number seven on SLTN’s Top Brands list. The brand kicked off the year with the latest stage of its Born to Mix campaign, which promotes diversity, bringing in several noted ‘changemakers’ from ethnic, plus-size and queer organisations, respectively. The same month the Absolut range was extended with the launch of new flavoured vodka, Absolut Hunni, sporting an eye-catching honey-bee-style colour scheme. 

8. Peroni Nastro Azzurro – Asahi UK 

Peroni slips a place down the list this year, but remains the third-biggest lager in Scotland’s pubs, bars and restaurants. Peroni entered 2024 with the announcement of a major sponsorship deal with another quintessential Italian brand – perhaps even the quintessential Italian brand – Ferrari. The deal, for Peroni’s alcohol-free variant, Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%, included a limited-edition bottle themed around famous Ferrari supporters club, the Tifosi. Later in the year Asahi UK promoted the Peroni brand through a summer marketing campaign for Peroni’s lighter beer, Stile Capri.

9. Madrí Excepcional – Molson Coors

It’s been a truly exceptional year for Molson Coors’ ‘Spanish-inspired’ lager, Madrí Excepcional. This time last year, the beer wasn’t in the top 20. Fast forward 12 months and it’s now the ninth-biggest selling alcohol brand in the Scottish on-trade. That’s an impressive performance by anyone’s standards. Coors backed the brand with a £4 million marketing campaign this summer, celebrating the ‘soul of Madrid’. At the time, the brand team spoke of Madrí’s ‘great momentum’. They weren’t kidding. 

10. Stella Artois – Budweiser Brewing Group 

The world beer brand that started it all here in the UK, Stella Artois has enjoyed another steady year, retaining tenth place in this year’s Top Brands list. This year parent company Budweiser Brewing Group engaged on-trade customers directly by asking them to rate their pints of Stella in over 2000 venues across the UK. The company supported participating venues with targeted advertising to drive footfall, as well as training staff on the brand’s perfect serve. Meanwhile, participating consumers had the chance to win a range of prizes. In addition to critiquing the quality of their pints. And who doesn’t love that, right?

11. Jack Daniel’s – Brown-Forman 

If Stella is the beer brand that kick-started world beer, Jack Daniel’s could well be said to be the brand that did the same for world whiskey. The highest-ranking whisk(e)y on this year’s list, and the fifth-biggest spirit brand overall, Jack Daniel’s offers publicans and consumers a pretty wide range of products in 2024, from the best-selling Old No.7 to its more top-shelf Single Barrel Select and Bonded whiskies through to the flavoured Tennessee Fire, Tennessee Honey and Tennessee Apple liquids. 

12. Belhaven Best – Belhaven/Greene King 

Scotland’s best-selling ale slips a place down this year’s Top Brands list to number 12, but that still puts it more than ten places above its closest rival. Produced at one of the UK’s oldest surviving breweries, Belhaven Best is one of those brands that can rightfully be thought of as a Scottish institution, and at a time when the ale category overall isn’t what it once was, Best’s 12th place on this list speaks volumes – literally. 

13. Strongbow – Heineken UK

The best-selling cider in Scottish pubs, Strongbow gives Heineken UK another cause for celebration by holding onto its 13th place on this year’s Top Brands rankings. This year saw Heineken expand the Strongbow range – which already included flavours such as Cloudy Apple, Tropical and Rosé as well as the popular Dark Fruit cider – to include the new Strawberry flavoured cider

14. Carling – Molson Coors

Carling retains 14th place on this year’s list, as the sixth-biggest selling lager in Scottish venues. The British powerhouse – which was only earlier this year deposed as the UK’s best-selling draught lager – remains one of the most recognisable brands on bar-tops. Carling became the first official beer partner of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup in 2023 and continued to back the competition in 2024, as well as sponsoring TalkSport’s coverage of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.

15. Famous Grouse – Edrington UK

Famous Grouse holds onto 15th place in this year’s list, as well as the title of best-selling Scotch whisky. The past year saw the first global advertising campaign for Famous Grouse in several years, with the brand targeting the elusive ‘next generation’ of whisky drinkers by stressing the accessibility and mixability of the spirit. It was a noble effort. Someone has to get those whippersnappers fired up about Scotch, after all. As SLTN was going to press there was also huge Famous Grouse news: the legendary brand is to be sold to Glenfiddich parent company William Grant & Sons.