WSWA's latest SipSource commentary asks whether beverage alcohol has found its floor. Points of distribution for spirits and wine have improved 140 basis points since January, to -2.2% and -3.3%, and the latest three-month results are running ahead of the rolling twelve-month trend [1].
Worth reading. I would add one thing from the operating side.
The cost of holding inventory is units, times cost, times time held. In a slowing market the third term moves on its own. If depletions slow and purchasing holds steady, days on hand stretch without anyone approving a larger position. That working capital cost is real, and it never arrives as a decision someone signed off on.
Which is why a stabilising trend is not a recovered balance sheet. Distribution losing ground more slowly still means fewer placements than last year, and the stock already in the chain still clears at whatever rate the shelf allows.
Before reading a floor as permission to resume normal buying, I would want to know what my own days on hand did over the same period, by SKU. If that number stretched while everyone watched the demand trend, the cash is already committed.
References
[1] Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, "SipSource® June Blog: Has the Beverage Alcohol Market Found its Floor?," 4 August 2026. Read the SipSource June commentary.