Spirits

Jack Daniel's whisky falls victim to tariffs: net sales -5%, net profit -15%.

Brown-Forman CEO Lawson Whiting predicted another difficult year. "Consumers and their wallets don't have as much money anymore."

6 June 2025

Whiskey barrels are placed on a truck at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, U.S. February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm/File Photo

2' min read

Whiskey producer Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, Brown-Forman, reported a drop in sales due to difficult market conditions generated by global trade conflicts and shrinking consumer spending. The Louisville, Kentucky-based spirits giant said its full-year net sales of nearly $4 billion fell 5% from a year ago and 7% in the fourth quarter. Net income fell 15% for the full fiscal year and plummeted 45% in the fourth quarter ended 30 April, the company said.

The quarterly drop came as Brown-Forman and other US alcohol producers that rely heavily on foreign sales felt the impact of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff plans and consumer anxiety about the economy. Brown-Forman also offered a pessimistic assessment for the coming year. After guiding the company through an "extremely difficult and uncertain operating environment" over the past year, Brown-Forman CEO Lawson Whiting predicted another difficult year. "Fiscal year 2025 was unlike any year I have seen in the last 30 years," he said during a conference call with industry market analysts.

Moneyless consumers

Whiting cited industry data showing that many consumers are buying alcoholic beverages in smaller packages. He called this an unusual phenomenon and said it reflects a consumer "who has empty pockets and goes to the shop with $10 instead of $20 and then buys the smaller pack".

"Consumers and their wallets simply don't have as much money anymore," he continued, noting that "they spend money on things like holidays, accommodation and other such things. But then, when they get to the shopping, I think that in some cases alcohol has been somewhat excluded from the trolley".

In its forecast for next year, the company said that challenges include continued consumer uncertainty and the 'potential impact of currently unknown tariffs'.

"We know it's a very volatile situation," said Leanne Cunningham, the company's CFO, responding to a question about tariffs during the conference call. "None of us can predict what will happen." The company believes market volatility "will create sustained levels of uncertainty among consumers, which we believe will lead to another year of below historical average trends for distilled spirits sales," she added.

Canada penalising

Brown-Forman executives said American alcohol brands remain mostly off shop shelves in Canada. Trump has infuriated Canadians with his trade war and calls to make Canada the 51st state. Meanwhile, Brown-Forman's annual results showed that net sales of its whisky products remained unchanged. Growth recorded by Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey and the Woodford Reserve brand was offset by the negative effect of foreign exchange and declining sales of other Jack Daniel's super premium products, the company said. This summer the company will launch a new product, the Jack Daniel's Tennessee Blackberry. "Blackberry is a globally recognised and established flavour that naturally complements the taste of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey," Whiting said.

In January, Brown-Forman announced a global workforce reduction of about 12 per cent and the closure of its barrel production plant in its hometown of Louisville. Whiting reiterated that these measures should result in annual savings of between USD 70 million and USD 80 million.