Bacardi Restricted has launched its seventh annual Bacardi Cocktail Traits Report, produced in partnership with The Future Laboratory (TFL).
The 2026 version identifies 5 defining developments which can be set to form cocktail tradition and the spirits panorama within the 12 months forward. Drawing on Bacardi-led and third-party analysis, shopper surveys, bartender insights, and TFL’s pattern forecasting, the report uncovers the forces influencing taste innovation, evolving ingesting behaviors, and the rise of extra intentional, experience-driven cocktails. It additionally spotlights the drinks anticipated to dominate 2026, together with key developments amongst youthful Authorized Consuming Age (LDA) shoppers.
“Gen Z isn’t ingesting much less, they’re merely ingesting earlier, lighter, and with extra intention,” says Sean Kerry, Vice President for World On-Commerce for Bacardi.
“World wide, we’re seeing a transfer in direction of extra significant ingesting moments whether or not meaning in-person get-togethers with buddies, discovering flavors rooted in native tradition, or embracing new types of inventive expression by way of cocktails.”
“Customers are transferring from curating experiences to cultivating connections. The pendulum has swung from digital comfort to human creativity, and the drinks trade sits on the heart of that shift,” says Martin Raymond, Co-Founding father of The Future Laboratory.
“In 2026, worth shall be outlined not by shortage or standing, however by depth: the provenance of components, the tales behind serves, and the flexibility to remodel a second into that means.”
Listed below are the macro-trends defining the spirits trade in 2026:
1. Afternoon Society
Completely happy hour is having a glow-up as earlier-day sipping replaces the outdated late-night grind. “Daycaps,” these late-afternoon cocktails that wrap up the workday, have gotten the brand new mini-celebration. Customers throughout markets are heading out earlier to drink, snack, and unwind, with youthful LDA drinkers setting the tone. In line with the Bacardi World Client Survey, 51% of youthful drinkers in France and 34% within the U.S. are embracing earlier evenings. Spritz tradition, mood-based cocktails, and petite serves are shaping daytime ingesting in a approach that matches actual life. It’s about creating small, joyful moments that match your power and your schedule.
2. Rewilding Connection
With a lot of life taking place by way of screens, drinkers are craving experiences that really feel actual once more. Eighty-four % of shoppers say expertise has made interactions really feel much less private, and bars are responding with moments that encourage presence. Display-free areas, shared serves, analog leisure, and small rituals are serving to spark precise dialog. Whether or not it’s martini flights or intimate micro-gatherings, “Rewilding Connection” is about slowing down, being within the second, and rediscovering what makes sharing a cocktail particular.
3. New Localogy
As transparency and sourcing reshape the trade, bars are turning into labs of regional taste. This pattern isn’t about changing world spirits however amplifying them with what’s grown near house. Micro-farms, native ecosystems, seasonal garnishes, and culinary science are giving cocktails a deeper sense of place. Customers need to know the story behind what’s of their glass, with 77% checking ingredient origins. “New Localogy” caters to that curiosity by creating serves rooted in terroir, method, and the panorama they arrive from.
4. The Liquid Expertise IP
Cocktails have developed past the glass and into full life-style expressions. Gen Z and millennials gravitate towards manufacturers that really feel culturally linked, and 70% of individuals say emotional engagement drives loyalty. Bars and types are responding with immersive cocktail worlds: playlist pairings, sensory particulars, touring pop-ups, character-inspired serves, and design parts pulled from vogue, music, journey, and sport. In 2026, ordering a cocktail feels extra like becoming a member of a inventive universe than merely selecting a drink.
5. Extra-is-more Mixology
Minimalism had its second, however maximalism is formally again behind the bar. Edible pearls, metallic finishes, fire-kissed garnishes, layered flavors, and dramatic glassware are taking heart stage. In line with the Bacardi survey, 76% of drinkers need heightened, memorable experiences. Bars from Dubai to Las Vegas are displaying that daring design and joyful spectacle are in demand. In a world craving enjoyable and a bit drama, folks don’t simply desire a cocktail. They need a second.
Globally, the highest 10 cocktails in 2026 shall be:
- Margarita
- Mojito
- Piña Colada
- Rum and Coke®
- Whisky and Coke®
- Spritz
- Vodka Lemonade
- Vodka Soda
- Gin & Tonic
- Dry Martini Cocktail
About Bacardi Restricted
Bacardi Restricted, the world’s largest privately held worldwide spirits firm, produces, markets, and distributes spirits and wines. The Bacardi Restricted portfolio includes greater than 200 manufacturers and labels, together with BACARDÍ® rum, PATRÓN® tequila, GREY GOOSE® vodka, DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, MARTINI® vermouth and glowing wines, CAZADORES® 100% blue agave tequila, and different main and rising manufacturers together with D’USSÉ® Cognac, ANGEL’S ENVY® American straight whiskey, and ST-GERMAIN® elderflower liqueur.
Based greater than 163 years in the past in Santiago de Cuba, family-owned Bacardi Restricted at the moment employs roughly 8,000, operates manufacturing amenities in 10 nations and territories, and sells its manufacturers in additional than 160 markets. Bacardi Restricted refers back to the Bacardi group of firms, together with Bacardi Worldwide Restricted. Go to bacardilimited.com or observe us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Adrian Biggs, Director of Commerce Advocacy at Bacardi
Adrian Biggs was born in Tasmania, the little island state under mainland Australia, Biggs has lived and labored in Australia, New Zealand, England and the USA. Kicking off a profession in Meals and Beverage operations Biggs spent 10+ years honing his craft within the hospitality world having labored in massive scale on line casino lodge operations, wonderful eating eating places, craft cocktail bars and a stint within the cruise trade. Biggs made his approach into the provider world through an in depth reference to 42BELOW vodka in New Zealand that blossomed into an Account Growth Supervisor function with Bacardi UK in London.
As destiny would have it a 42BELOW ambassador function opened in San Francisco at a pivotal level in Biggs profession. Being an organization man has seen Biggs flourish in an array of roles up to now 14 years within the US, the place he most definitely calls house. At the moment as Director of Commerce Advocacy for Bacardi North America Biggs has channeled his years of premise and ambassador expertise into efforts that help the organizations passions to win within the on premise. With the most effective portfolio of manufacturers and devoted staff of ambassadors, Biggs is already arrange for achievement. Residing in Miami, Adrian when not working can smash a golf ball a yard or two, retains match and energetic, is understood to be a contact overzealous round Passionfruit cocktails and is wrapped round his two daughters’ fingers.
