Sales of Jack Daniel’s parent Brown-Forman plummet, erasing decade of stock growth
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- Brown-Forman's share price dropped over 15% after reporting weak 2025 earnings.
- Jack Daniel’s sales declined 6%, offsetting growth in Woodford Reserve, Old Forester.
- Company forecasts continued sales pressure in 2026 from tariffs and consumer shifts.
Share prices plunged Thursday morning for Brown-Forman, the parent of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and premium bourbon Woodford Reserve.
The Louisville company announced its fourth quarter and full-year sales were down significantly: For the fourth quarter, reported net sales fell 7% compared with the previous year, dropping to $894 million. Sales for the full year were down 5% compared with the same period for the previous year, at $4 billion.
Profits also were down 45% for the quarter and down 14% for the year.
After the early morning news release, Brown-Forman share price dropped more than 15%, essentially erasing more than a decade of stock growth.
The price decline began in 2021, when shares topped $80. Thursday’s price in the high $20s was the lowest since 2013.
Prediction for 2026
Lawson Whiting, Brown-Forman president and CEO, in a conference call with stock market analysts, described the year as an “extremely challenging and uncertain operating environment.”
Lawson said that the company expects 2026 to continue to be challenging. In its corporate guidance, the company said it faces “low visibility due to macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility as we face headwinds from consumer uncertainty, the potential impact from currently unknown tariffs, and lower non-branded sales of used barrels.”
The company doesn’t expect the pain to end soon: Brown-Forman said it expects organic net sales and organic operating income to decline in 2026 “in the low-single digit range.”
The sales decline came despite an 8% increase in the sales of Woodford Reserve and of Old Forester, the company’s most prominent premium bourbon brands.
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Jack Daniel’s sales declining
Jack Daniel’s, which has been the economic pillar of the company for decades, has seen overall sales drop 6% for the brand family.
To counteract that, Brown-Forman is launching new products, including a Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Blackberry, announced on Thursday, with launch later this summer, as well as older versions of Jack Daniel’s aimed at the premium collector market.
“BlackBerry is a globally recognized, well-established flavor trend, and naturally complements the flavor of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey in consumer testing,” Whiting said. “Jack Daniels Tennessee Blackberry had high consumer appeal, resonating with a broad audience.”
What’s driving the plunge in sales?
In response to a question from a stock analyst about the major stock plunge, Whiting said that three of the biggest factors remain the impact of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, legalized cannabis and the decline of drinking in Gen Z-age drinkers.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of newness to necessarily add to that conversation. I mean, I’ve seen more and more people with it’s the same big three ... and we’ve been saying that for a year and a half now,” Whiting said.
Other big factors: the overall economy and tariffs.
“The consumer and their wallet just doesn’t have as much money in it,” he said. “They’re spending money on things like vacations and lodging, and other things like that. But then when it trickles down and they go to the grocery store, I think in some cases, spirits have fallen out of the basket a little bit.”
Industry-wide, bourbon sales are “basically flat,” Whiting said, but so far that has not resulted in lower prices.
Instead, consumers are sizing down. Whiting said industry figures show that 80% of the growth in sales has been in the smaller size. “That’s unusual,” he said.
That shows consumers still want the products, they are just “coming to the store with a $10 bill rather than a $20,” he said.
President Tump’s tariffs continue to have an impact, particularly in Canada, where American whiskey remains largely off the shelves.
“None of us can predict what’s going on,” said Leanne Cunningham, Brown-Forman CFO. “What we have included in our guidance is what we do know as of this date, and largely that’s coming through as the indirect impact from Canada.”
Whiting said that historically, overseas buyers haven’t taken anti-American sentiment “out on the brand.”
They’ve recently adjusted their advertising strategy and increased brand investment by about $100 million, which Whiting and Cunningham said they think demonstrates overall brand health among foreign and domestic buyers.
