Nearly two thirds of British cocktail drinkers now want more low or medium strength options when they go out, and among 18 to 34 year olds that figure climbs to 73 per cent. The number comes from NielsenIQ's Mixed Drinks Report, published on 13 August, and it lands days before the August bank holiday on Monday 31 August, one of the busiest drinking weekends of the British summer.
The report surveyed 1,000 nationally representative spirits consumers alongside NIQ's own sales and stocking data. Sixty four per cent said they would like to see more low or medium strength options on menus, with the appetite strongest among younger drinkers who, NIQ notes, are particularly conscious of both health and spending.
What makes that interesting is that the category itself is still growing. NIQ puts the on-trade cocktail market at £733 million in the twelve months to March, up 3.0 per cent year on year, roughly in line with inflation. More than half of spirits consumers, 56 per cent, drink cocktails at least weekly, and two in five are drinking more of them than a year ago. Britain is not ordering fewer cocktails, it is asking harder questions about what is in them.
The backdrop is NIQ's REACH data, which found that 44 per cent of all consumers are drinking less alcohol than they were twelve months ago, with saving money and improving health the two biggest reasons given. Katie Lawton, Insights Manager for UK and Ireland beverage alcohol on-trade at NielsenIQ, said moderation is reshaping many aspects of the global on-premise market and that Britain's mixed drinks market is no exception, and that reduced consumption brings a chance to broaden cocktail occasions rather than shrink them.
Alcohol-free spirits are part of that story but not the whole of it. NIQ found 72 per cent of spirits drinkers now feel confident enough to order one, which is a real shift in social acceptance, yet only 54 per cent say they like the taste and 62 per cent think the range is good enough. Of those who have not tried them, 35 per cent simply prefer a soft drink, 34 per cent do not see what the alternative adds, and 22 per cent think they are poor value. Once people do try a non-alcoholic cocktail, though, 51 per cent say they would order one again, against 13 per cent who would not.
Bar operators would fairly point out that none of this argues against the classic cocktail. A drink built to order, with fresh citrus and proper dilution from the ice, is a different product from anything poured out of a can, and NIQ frames the opportunity as menu design and daypart rather than packaging, singling out lunchtime and mid-afternoon as the occasions with most room to grow.
The serve that best fits this mood is barely twenty years old. The Hugo was created in 2005 by Roland Gruber, a barman in Naturns in South Tyrol, who wanted something lighter than the Aperol Spritz dominating the local aperitivo hour. His original used lemon balm syrup, swapped for elderflower because it was easier to get hold of, and the drink spread through the German-speaking Alps before the rest of Europe caught up.
"The thing people actually want is not a weaker drink, it is a drink where they know the number," said David Baddeley, founder of Boozy. "I get asked how strong something is far more often than I get asked how strong it should be. A fixed 200ml serve with the ABV and the units printed on it answers that question before anyone has to ask it, and that is a very different conversation from a jug on a kitchen worktop."
Boozy's own range spans 8.4 per cent to 12 per cent ABV. The Hugo Spritz is the lightest at 8.4 per cent, about 1.7 UK units in a 200ml can, while the Espresso Martini sits at 12 per cent, or 2.4 units. Anyone who would rather build either from scratch can follow our Hugo Spritz recipe or our Espresso Martini recipe, and our Cocktail ABV Calculator estimates the strength of more than 100 classic recipes from the measures you actually pour.
The NHS guideline is no more than 14 units a week, spread over three days or more. If you are looking at your own drinking this bank holiday, drinkaware.co.uk has free tools and advice. Please drink responsibly.
