Top Alcohol Trends of 2022 & 2023
Limoncello Spritz
A Limoncello Spritz is a cocktail that is made with limoncello, sparkling water, and a splash of club soda. The drink is light, refreshing, and perfect for summertime sipping.
White Tea Shot
A white tea shot is an alcoholic beverage that is typically made with white tea extract, gin, and lime or other citrus fruit juice. The tea is brewed and then strained and served in a shot glass.
Ice Tropez
Ice Tropez is a wine cocktail with 6.5% alcohol content and has a slightly sweet white peach flavor. It is a popular drink during the summer season.
Paper Plane Cocktail
A paper plane cocktail is an equal parts drink made with lemon juice, bourbon, Amaro Nonino, and Aperol. The drink was invented in 2008 by the famous bartender Sam Ross.
Hard Soda
Hard soda is a type of soda that is made with hard liquor. The liquor is typically mixed with carbonated water and other flavors to create a sweet and fizzy drink. Hard soda is often marketed to adults and is considered a niche market.
Ranch Water
Ranch Water is a popular cocktail in Texas that is made with tequila, lime juice, and sparkling water. The drink is meant to provide a low-calorie alternative to other alcoholic drinks.
Maraschino
Maraschino is a sweet liqueur distilled from Marasca cherries. The term also refers to a type of cherry that is typically used in cocktails and desserts. The cherries are soaked in a brine made from marasca cherries, sugar, and water. The cherries are then often dyed red or green and flavored with almond, vanilla, or citrus.
Drink Sachet
A drink sachet is a small, tear-open pouch that is filled with a beverage. The sachet is designed to be convenient for on-the-go drinking, and is often used for powdered drinks, juice, and tea.
Espresso Martini
An Espresso Martini is a cocktail that is made from espresso, vodka, and vermouth. The drink is typically served cold and is often used as an after-dinner drink.
Bumbu Rum
Bumbu Rum is a craft rum made in Indonesia. The rum is distilled from sugarcane and then infused with a variety of spices, fruits, and other flavors. The rum is meant to be enjoyed neat or in cocktails.
Espolon Tequila
Espolon Tequila is a brand of tequila that is made in Mexico. The tequila is made from 100% blue agave and is available in a variety of flavors, including Reposado, Añejo, and Blanco.
Hugo Cocktail
A Hugo Cocktail is a drink that is made with elderflower liqueur, sparkling wine, and mint. The drink is light and refreshing, and is often served as a summertime cocktail.
Zero Alcohol Wine
Zero Alcohol Wine is wine that has had the alcohol removed. The wine is made by using a process that either removes the alcohol during the fermentation process or by using a vacuum to remove the alcohol after the wine is bottled.
Makgeolli
Makgeolli is a traditional Korean rice wine that is made from fermented rice and nuruk, a type of yeast. The wine is cloudy and has a sweet and sour taste. It is often served cold and is considered to be a health drink.
Alcohol Gummies
Alcohol Gummies are gummy bears that are made with alcohol. The gummies come in a variety of flavors and are meant to be consumed as a party game or as a way to get drunk.
Strong Zero
Strong Zero is a canned alcoholic beverage from Japan that is 9% alcohol by volume (ABV). The liquor is made from grains, potatoes, barley, or rice. Its production process starts by freezing fruit using liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius in order to lock in the fruit's flavor.
Mexican Candy Shot
Mexican candy shots are a type of alcoholic drink made by mixing fruity cocktails and tequila with sweet and spicy flavors and then serving them in shot glasses.
Cosmopolitan Cocktail
The Cosmopolitan Cocktail is a cocktail that is made with vodka, cranberry juice, and lime juice. The drink is often served in a martini glass and is popular among women.
Soju
Soju is a distilled beverage that is popular in South Korea. It is made from rice, barley, or sweet potatoes and is typically around 20% alcohol by volume. Soju is often consumed neat or mixed with other drinks.
Boulevardier
A Boulevardier is a cocktail that is made with bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth. The drink is served on the rocks and is typically garnished with an orange slice or a cherry.
Reposado Tequila
Reposado Tequila is tequila that has been aged for a minimum of two months but less than a year in oak barrels. The tequila takes on a golden color and a mellower flavor than unaged tequila.
Mango Mule
A Mango Mule is a cocktail made with vodka, mango puree, lime juice, and ginger beer. The drink is served in a copper mug and is garnished with a slice of mango and a sprig of mint.
Mezcal
Mezcal is a type of agave liquor that is made in Mexico. It is often compared to tequila, but is said to have a smokier flavor. Mezcal is often served with a worm in the bottle, though this is not a requirement.
Hazy IPA
Hazy IPAs are a newer style of IPA that is cloudy or murky in appearance. The beer is made with a large amount of wheat and is often served unfiltered. The flavor is typically fruity and juicy with a moderate bitterness.
Non Alcoholic Beer
Non-alcoholic beer is beer that has been brewed to have a very low alcohol content compared to regular beer. The beer is made by removing the alcohol from regular beer during the brewing process. Non-alcoholic beer is often favored by people who are not allowed to drink alcohol, such as pregnant women or people who are driving.
Hard Seltzer
Hard seltzers are a type of alcoholic drink that is made with carbonated water and flavored with fruit, herbs, or spices. The drinks are often seen as a healthier alternative to other alcoholic beverages, as they are lower in calories and sugar.
Trend Highlight – The Rise of Alcohol Gummies
DIY Alcohol gummies have been a party hack for decades, but they take 24 hours to prep. The pre-packaged alcohol gummies category, still in its infancy, is now taking off and has strong potential to become a much larger category.
Evolving party dynamics are, in part, driving the growth of alcohol gummies: Party-goers increasingly have one hand occupied with their phone and card-based party games are getting more and more common.
Hosts also say taking drinks out of the equation is an easy way to avoid spills and makes them more comfortable leaving expensive furniture uncovered. A product that makes a consumer more likely to host parties and to use that product at the parties has a natural built-in viral loop.
Any time a snack is convenient to eat but inconvenient to prepare, there's an opportunity for a brand to offer a pre-packaged version. While there’s only a single brand selling alcohol gummies now, along with a handful of Etsy sellers, we expect the category to grow significantly.
Trend Highlight – The growing popularity of the world's most consumed alcohol: Soju
The single most consumed liquor brand on the planet isn’t a whiskey, vodka, rum, or gin; It’s Soju. This Korean drink owes its popularity to several factors: second-order consequences of some unique legal issues, Korea’s drinking culture, and, more recently, the rise of Korean music and cinema.
In the US, liquor laws give Soju a boost. Because of its low alcohol content, it can be sold at restaurants that have a beer and wine license but no liquor license, which often costs more. And because it’s usually consumed in shots, it’s a popular substitute for liquor.
Historically, one early reason for Soju’s success is the Korean industrial development model. In the 60s and 70s, the Korean government offered multiple businesses in the same industry access to below-market-rate loans to support their growth. When an industry went through a downturn, the government encouraged the stronger players to buy out weaker ones, putting the best management in charge of the entire industry. The government applied this model to cars, chemicals, electronics—and liquor, creating the massive Hite Jinro beverage conglomerate.
In Soju’s home market of Korea, the beverage benefits from a liquor-first drinking culture. Korea’s liquor consumption is the highest in the world, at an average of almost 14 shots per adult per week, compared to roughly 6 in Russia.
More recently, Soju has benefited from Korea’s cultural moment. The rise of K-pop and the growing success of Korean movies internationally has renewed interest in Korean culture, and Soju—rarely seen in music videos but ubiquitous in Korean TV dramas—is one more way to experience it. And unlike some other forms of content-driven consumption, the revenue from selling them scales as people get more involved in the trend.
Trend Highlight – Non-Alcoholic Alcohol
Like sober bars and 0% ABV beer, the rise of non-alcoholic gin highlights an important facet of the growing “sober curious” movement: Most people don’t want to have to stop socializing in bars or drinking their favorite cocktails — they just want to do so without the effects of alcohol.
Non-alcoholic gin brands like Ceder’s and Seedlip position their products as “gin alternatives” better suited to grown-up drinks than the fruity mocktails of decades past. With their sleek branding and sophisticated ingredients, they’re also able to maintain a similar premium price point to alcoholic gin.
As in the case of the company Athletic Brewing, the business models that are gaining the most traction are those that allow consumers to maintain some of their old habits while shifting their consumption in meaningful ways.
