By Andy Young
Hennessy has been named as the International Wine and Spirits Record's top world class brand for this year, just edging out Jack Daniel's.
The IWSR's World Class Brands list ranks the top-performing global spirits trademarks, with 142 brands being classed as 'international'. Each of these brands was then scored by the IWSR on its overall market volume in 2014, average price per case and volume growth over the last year.
Hennessy topped the list, just ahead of Jack Daniel's, with Jameson, Grey Goose and Jim Beam rounding out the top five.
Hennessy's ranking came despite slowdowns in two of its key markets, China and Russia. The brand still achieved overall market volume of 5.2 million cases, an average price per case of just under US$800 and volume growth of 3 per cent in 2014.
The near 21 per cent decline that Hennessy suffered in China was offset by impressive growth in the US as well as high rates of growth in South Africa, Nigeria and travel retail.
Jack Daniel's was boosted by the whiskey revival being enjoyed in the US and successful innovations such as Tennessee Honey and Tennessee Fire.
The IWSR reported that Jameson remains one of the real momentum brands in the US and, last year, surpassed the 2m-case mark there.
Last year’s top World Class Brand, Johnnie Walker, only ranked 34th this year, which the IWSR put down to “a loss of global volumes between 2013 and 2014”.
The report added: "It is worth noting that not one Scotch brand ranked in the top 10 of this year’s World Class Brands list despite having the largest overall number of brands on the list with 40. The growth of US and, to a lesser extent, Irish whiskey may also be a contributing factor behind the Scotch slowdown."