From the continued rise of the espresso martini to savory cocktails, 2023 was a year of bold flavors at the bar, so what’s in store for 2024? We polled experts in spirits, flavor innovation and mocktails about what trends are on tap for cocktails and ready-to-drink versions. Expect global influences, culturally-driven takes and inspiration from the vegetable aisle of the supermarket.
Garden Party In a Glass
The green juice is coming for your cocktail.
Expect more botanical and herbal flavors, a style given the nickname “garden party” by Kerry Group, which surveyed the top 40 trendiest bars in North America for emerging trends. That data was shared by Eddie Simeón, co-founder and CMO of Hella Cocktail Co at Brewbound Live last month.
“So pulling in green things that you would actually find in the garden and anything extending from cardamom to radishes,” he said.
John Stanton, director of Beverage at Bar Clara and Ristorante Per L’Ora in Los Angeles agreed.
“Creative bartenders have long incorporated vegetables in their cocktails (think cucumbers, peppers, and the Bloody Mary), but I think less common vegetables like beets, sea kelp, carrots, ube and edamame are starting to be more of a trend,” he said.
Spirits that accentuate those vegetal and mineral flavors, like sotol, aquavit and mezcal, seem to be getting a boost too, he added. Martinis with subtle savory touches may also take a more vegetal tone.
Global Citrus
Mixologists are stepping up citrus, too, but choosing “elevated citrus flavors,” added Simeón, with more exotic and international variants such as calamansi and yuzu shaking menus up. That taste for international flavors is in part due to consumers’ desire to travel, added Amanda DeVore, senior director of flavor innovation at Molson Coors at Brewbound Live.
“People are traveling more than ever, but travel is getting more expensive,” she said. “So there’s a gap between how much people want to travel and how much they actually get to travel, so I expect to see a lot more globally inspired flavors like yuzu coming into the U.S.”
Bitter Italian Cocktails
Negronis and Aperol Spritzes have firmly interested themselves into American bar culture, so bartenders expect bitter aperitifs and amaros to find their way into more shaken cocktails and new versions of the spirit-forward cocktails they’ve traditionally called home.
“I’ve loved the bitter Italian aperitif-style cocktail trends of the last couple summers like Negronis, Aperol Spritzes, and of course the Sbagliato, and would love to see that continue with something like an Americano (Campari, vermouth, soda), or a Spaghett (Aperol, lemon, and High Life),” said Stanton.
Nostalgic and Cultural Flavors
After dessert-flavored whiskeys and nostalgic drinks such as the Dirty Shirley made a comeback in the last few years, DeVore expects older millennials to continue to drive nostalgic trends.
“Millennials are having a lot of nostalgia and then the 21 to 26 Gen Z consumers are looking to the turn of the millennium as fun and retro, so I expect to see a lot of the flavors that some of us might remember from high school and college coming back,” she said.
But like flavored whiskey has boosted the category, producers in other spirits categories may look for a niche with flavor variants. We might see inspiration come more frequently from cultural roots, such as Coconut Cartel’s Guatemalan rum proofed with coconut water or newly launched Madam Paleta Tequila, which takes its flavor inspiration from Mexican fruit popsicles.
“I think what’s going to happen next in rum and a few other categories is going to be the flavor variants, which I think are going to come out of cultural nuances,” said Jomaree Pinkard, former CEO of Pronghorn, at BevNET Live. “We’re just at the beginning of the flavor realization on top of the premiumization of whiskies, and more tequilas and rums.”