COCKTAILS have enjoyed a meteoric rise in the UK in recent years, with the annual value of on-trade mixed drinks now sitting at £686million, thanks to the 9.6m consumers regularly seeking them out.
But this trend is not confined to cocktail-centric venues – CGA’s latest bi-annual Mixed Drinks Report found that customers are increasingly expecting cocktails to be available in outlets that haven’t traditionally offered such serves, with 46% drinking cocktails in pubs.
This is reflected in the total share of sales for cocktails rising massively in these venues, hitting 10% in food-led pubs (+122%) and 7.9% in drink-led pubs (+107%), according to CGA’s latest data.
Regardless of the venue, cocktails continue to be a profitable addition to the offering, with drinkers willing to pay on average £9.05 per drink.
However, there is bad news for the prudish, as the UK’s top alcoholic mix-up remains, by a sizeable margin, the Pornstar Martini, accounting for 15.5% of sales – while its closest rival is the equally blush-making Sex on the Beach, at 7%, having recently usurped the Mojito (6.7%) from second place.
Thereafter, the brightly-coloured league table runs thus – in fourth place, the Flavoured Martini; in fifth, the Long Island Iced Tea; in sixth, the Daiquiri; in seventh, the Spritz; in eighth, the Espresso Martini; in ninth, the Aperol Spritz; and finishing bottom of the top ten, despite having by far the most popular theme song, the Pina Colada.
Commenting on the CGA stats, Funkin Cocktails’ marketing director Ben Anderson observed that this top ten accounted for more than 65% of all cocktails enjoyed in the on-trade, making them all important for inclusion on cocktail menus, particularly as at least half of customers expressed a preference for ‘classic’ mixes.
Mr Anderson also noted the recent popularity gains for the Pornstar Martini, the closely related Flavoured Martinis, and Sex on the Beach: “These are all drinks on the sweeter end of the scale, which reflects the ever-younger typical cocktail drinker, with 18 to 34 year olds accounting for 53% of cocktail drinkers in the UK.
Revolution Bars has also published stats on its cocktail best-sellers for the year, gleaned from over six million serves across its chain, and it too concluded that the Pornstar Martini reigns supreme, taking the top spot with no less than 364,000 sold this year.
Broken down into location, Liverpudlians passion for Pornstars led the UK, with a whopping 25,000+ serves sold in the city this year, with Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds and Glasgow following closely behind.
Manchester took the crown as the UK’s biggest consumer of Espresso Martinis, closely followed by Glasgow and then Leeds. The classic Mojito was also most served and enjoyed in Manchester, but with Aberdeen hot on its heels. Incidentally, according to Revolution, Aberdonians do lead the UK in one bar preference – lining up shots, with more shots sold at Revolution Aberdeen than in any other of its 49 bars.
