Sales: £102.8m (+5.1%)
Launched: 1995
Value sales have continued to grow solidly for this South African wine brand as it enters into a new phase under private equity ownership, former owner Constellation having opted to focus on other markets instead.
Sales: £102.6m (-13.4%)
Launched: 1843
Now part of Treasury Wine Estates, Lindeman's has recently been repackaged, repositioning it as a more modern label. The quality of recent vintages and a new image means now is the time for a "further push", the brand says.
Sales: £101.2m (+14.3%)
Launched: 1973
How has Wolf Blass turned around its fortunes? A new sparkling rosé and national TV campaign, both launched last year, helped. And in January the brand signed a two-year deal to be the official wine of England Rugby.
Sales: £95.7m (+13.6%)
Launched: 1984
Beck's has tended to yo-yo around the sales charts, often as a result of spasmodic deep discounting in certain multiples. Owner AB InBev says the brand's performance is also heavily influenced by the art and music-themed promotions that are the mainstay of its above-the-line programme.
Last year's music download promotion in which bottles and cans came with a code redeemable at Play.com created a sales spike. AB InBev UK president Stuart MacFarlane explains: "Beck's performed really well in the autumn when we ran the music download promotion, one of the most successful promotions we've run on any brand over the last two years. Over one million tracks were downloaded."
Beck's Vier, primarily an on-trade phenomenon, has also raised the brand's visibility. "We are seeing a real halo effect in the off-trade," MacFarlane reports. Also adding to the increased visibility is Beck's Fusion, the limited-edition orange-flavoured variant, which launched in the off-trade in April and is backing a host of music and art events in London and Manchester this summer.
Sales: £95.7m (+4.2%)
Launched: 1974
Baileys is working hard to reposition itself as a drink to enjoy with friends, enlisting supermodel Helena Christensen's help in October. But even value sales growth of £4.2m failed to save the brand from slipping two places.
Sales: £94.6m (+2.5%)
Launched: 1952
Kronenbourg's first TV ad since 2006 featured a Motörhead soundtrack. It may have been Lemmy's crooning, a genuine love of the French beer, or even its updated packaging but something worked. Sales are up 2.5%.
Sales: £77.0m (-0.4%)
Launched: 1995
While new listings prompted a storming performance in 2009-2010, sales of Isla Negra have fallen marginally over the past 12 months. A key reason, says brand owner Concha y Toro, is the later timing of promotions in 2011.
Sales: £77.0m (+0.8%)
Launched: 1898
Despite heavy investment over the past year, including sponsorship of Piers Morgan's Life Stories, Grant's saw sales growth fall. The brand has high hopes for two new variants: Sherry Cask Finish and Ale Cask Finish.
Sales: £76.5m (-3.5%)
Launched: 1993
The canned ale category is being outpaced by premium bottled ales, many from small producers. John Smith's is still leading the field, but the Grand National sponsor is finding the going quite tough at the moment.
Sales: £75.0m (+5.3%)
Launched: 1988
Guinness knows its audience, hence the ongoing relationship with top-level rugby. The 2011 launch of the 1759 online magazine, the new tulip-shaped glass and the new 'Life in the Dark' TV ads have brought fresh impetus.
Sales: £70.9m (-4.5%)
Launched: 2001
Concha y Toro is having a tough time, thanks in part to the dwindling of the Chilean bulk wine surplus. The brand hopes, however, that the March purchase of Brown-Forman's Fetzer vineyards has ushered in better times.
Sales: £70.9m (+2.2%)
Launched: 1885
Sales of Tennent's, which C&C Group acquired from AB InBev in 2009, are growing at the same rate as a year ago. C&C says it is focusing its efforts on rebuilding the value and price position of the lager brand.
Sales: £70.4m (-20.7%)
Launched: 1981
This year is "set to be a big year" for this brand, says Accolade, which launched a major £500,000 revitalisation for Stowells in May. The range has a new look and is being repositioned to "tap into its wine merchant heritage".
Sales: £68.6m (+22.8%)
Launched: 1846
Pushing Peroni's sophisticated image has worked wonders for sales. "It is not a laddish beer. We are very disciplined in promoting Peroni and building the association with Italian style," says Miller MD Nick Miller.
Sales: £68.1m (-18.7%)
Launched: 1974
High Commissioner relies on its price proposition for its sales, but the gap between itself and the big brands can be less than £2 a litre which partly explains the decline, all the more dramatic after the previous year's 44% growth.
Sales: £67.2m (+18.2%)
Launched: 1995
It's been a busy but profitable year for Banrock Station. Three limited-edition wines created exclusively for The Co-operative Group were followed in April by a new low-abv range and, in June, by new packaging.
Sales: £66.9m (+11.5%)
Launched: 2005
Younger drinkers appear to have turned their backs on beer and lager in favour of cider over the last 12 months, adding almost £7m to the Magners brand and bumping it up two places in the rankings. This is a stark turnaround for the cider brand after struggling to keep pace with bigger rivals 12 months earlier, something Magners put down to poor levels of engagement with consumers and brand pricing that was "too expensive".
In its full-year results in May this year, parent company C&C reported a 3.6% lift in Magners' GB volumes over the 12 months to the end of February, buoyed by a new 'There's Method In The Magners' campaign and input cost reductions on the supply side.
The off-trade channel continued to be the source of "dynamism" in the category, according to the company, up 18% in volume, with increased promotional activity in the second half of the financial year. C&C CEO John Dunsmore said the group would strengthen Magners with incremental support, adding that the halo effect from the launch of Stella Artois Cidre in February (see page 60) would further help its cause in the off-trade in 2011.
Sales: £66.6m (+18.9%)
Launched: 1890
The "biggest poster campaign in the history of Carlsberg UK" gave San Miguel a summer boost last year. Keen grocery pricing (as low as 19.1p for 10cl) has clearly aided volume sales, helped by cinema and national press support.
Sales: £65.4m (+6%)
Launched: 1996
Owner Beverage Brands spent £30m marketing WKD in 2010, with a big on-pack promotion ahead of the World Cup driving take-home sales. March 2011 saw the launch of the company's first limited WKD edition, WKD Purple.
Sales: £64.7m (-4.4%)
Launched: 1984
Despite declining sales J.P. Chenet is in better shape than some of its nearest competitors. Distinctive packaging, including its oddly-shaped bottle, has helped the brand sustain sales where other French wines have struggled.
Britain's 100 Biggest Alcohol Brands 2011
![drinks_RGB[48]](https://dmrqkbkq8el9i.cloudfront.net/Pictures/380x253/2/9/2/297292_drinks_rgb48_667484.jpg)
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