The global advocacy director for Bacardi, Jacob Briars, has spotlighted the Spritz as a “breakout success” while the group is also “investing heavily” behind the Paloma cocktail and mezcal.
Bacardi released its sixth annual Cocktail Trends Report this week, which predicts the five trends that will drive the cocktail and spirits world next year.
The report also revealed its top bar calls for 2025 globally with the Mojito topping the list. It was followed by the Margarita, Spritz, Piña Colada, gin and tonic, rum and Coke, Dry Martini, vodka and lemonade, and vodka with soda.
In Europe, Bacardi claims the Spritz is dethroning Champagne as the drink of choice for socialising with friends, chosen by more than three quarters of respondents in Italy (77%), almost half in Germany (49%) and more than two fifths in Spain (41%), according to the company’s Global Consumer Survey.
Briars says the Spritz has become a “breakout success”.
“The Spritz has been bubbling away, literally for a little while, but I think what has happened now in the last few months, probably the last summer, is it has become, in the minds of consumers, a drink category rather than a recipe.”
He adds that “two years ago, it wasn’t even in the top 20 drinks”, however he has noticed that venues are now offering menus of Spritzes, similar to how some pubs have G&T menus.
He also cites how the Prosecco and elderflower-based Hugo Spritz “blew up this summer”, showing that the Spritz serve is “kind of reaching a level of maturing in people’s minds”.
Hugo Spritz searches surged by 172% this year, while the St-Germain Spritz rose by 52%, according to Google data in the UK, the US and France, cited by Bacardi in its report.
Briars also notes that the popularity of the lower-alcohol Spritz reflects changing consumer habits as drinkers shift their socialising to earlier in the day, from 3pm “when once they might have gone out at 5pm”.
No-and-low booms
The report also noted that alcohol-free ‘spirits’ were the third most-interesting product for bartenders (53%), after Tequila and mezcal.
Briars says that no-and-low drinks have “seamlessly become part of the repertoire of drinks” that bars and consumers want on menus.
He believes that a younger generation of drinkers are switching between alcoholic serves and zero-ABV drinks throughout the evening.
Briars likens the movement towards alcohol-free serves to the “way that vegan and vegetarian food started as a trend”, noting that over time more of these options became available on restaurant menus.
In terms of differing cocktail trends across the world, Briars believes most trends start in the US before trickling into other markets.
He says: “Drinks that become famous and have a better revival in the US tend to be slowly moving up the scale in other markets.”
While cities such as London, Singapore and Barcelona have “unbelievable bars”, he says that a trend will generally take off in the States first due to its “sheer scale” and “cultural power in terms of cocktail culture”. He cites the Margarita as an example.
One exception to this rule is the Espresso Martini, which was “exported from the UK, Australia and New Zealand” and has since “exploded” globally.
Briars notes: “So in the US, bartenders feel that the Espresso Martini will be the number-one drink for the year ahead, and certainly it’s the drink that they’re able to charge the highest price for, on average.”
Coffee/espresso was the leading flavour picked by bartenders based on the Bacardi Global Brand Ambassador Survey.
The other omission to the US-first cocktail trend is the Spritz, Briars says, describing it as a serve that was bigger in Europe and is now “blowing up” across the Pond.
UK appetite for gin
Based on consumer research conducted for the report, Bacardi expects the gin and tonic to be the most-ordered serve in UK bars next year, despite the category being in decline.
Briars affirms that gin remains hugely popular in the market: “It’s effectively a cultural pillar in the UK – it has unbelievable distribution to the level that other spirits categories simply can’t imagine. The only viable model would be sort of Scotch whisky within Scotland.”
He adds that gin is likely to be the most prevalent spirit on most back bars, from restaurants to neighbourhood pubs.
However, he notes: “There’s not going to be 150 gins as there have been in the past. And so there is definitely a pooling of, in particular, flavoured gins. We’ve seen that kind of trimming and destocking with flavour before.”
But he believes that consumers continue to “seek out reliable quality gin brands” including “global iconic gins” like Bacardi’s Bombay Sapphire.
Investing behind agave
While it didn’t make the top 20 cocktail list, Briars is also confident in the Paloma as the next Tequila-based serve for drinkers to adopt after the Margarita.
Briars adds that Bacardi is “heavily investing in Paloma weeks or even in some occasions, months, to make sure that it’s the next drink that people are really interested in”.
He also notes that interest in agave spirits has grown further this year. For the second year in a row, Tequila and mezcal were the spirits of most interest to bartenders. The Bacardi Global Brand Ambassador Survey saw 77% choose Tequila, while 66% picked mezcal.
Bacardi is also “investing heavily in mezcal”, through its Ilegal brand, which is performing particularly well in the US on-premise, Briars says.
“We’re moving it around the world as fast as we can, being respectful of supply constraints and making sure we’re able to look after the mezcal consumers that have already fallen in love with it.”
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Author: Nicola Carruthers
