In 2016 the spirits category increased its market share relative to beer for the seventh consecutive year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council's (DSC) annual economic briefing this morning. Spirits supplier revenues were up 4.5% in 2016 to $25.2billion--a $1.1 billion gain--and volumes grew 2.4% to 220 million cases, representing a 5.2 million-case gain. As a result, spirit market share grew from 35.4% in 2015 to 35.9% in 2016. That half a point may not seem like a lot, but each point is about $700 million, according to DSC.