The popularity of the G&T has always been a driving force in the premium mixers category. However, with the gin market plateauing, there’s room for further innovation and a look at other spirits and their mixers. This has become especially apparent with the rise in popularity of pink grapefruit soda, a solution to making quick, consistent Palomas.
Pink grapefruit boom
With the introduction of pink grapefruit soda, Edvinas Rudzinskas, chief executive and founder of bartending community Cocktails For You, says it is a “real delight for bartenders”. With flavoured sodas emerging that allow bartenders to put twists on classic cocktails, Rudzinskas notes while they “may not be designed explicitly for particular cocktails, they present exciting opportunities for creative mixology”.
Two Keys co-founder, James Simpson, says the brand’s Pink Grapefruit soda was designed to “be mixed with tequila or mezcal, to create the perfect two-ingredient cocktail every time”, as he wanted to make a drink that was “as easy and quick to make as the Gin & Tonic”.
The brand uses real pink grapefruit juice (more than 40%), with Simpson saying: “Bar people and home drinkers can easily and consistently make the perfect drink. There’s no need to shake up juice, agave and lime like you’d have to do traditionally.”
The Paloma is the national aperitif of Mexico, and Simpson says: “Nearly all the ultra-premium tequilas are now pushing the Paloma as their serve of choice. There’s definitely been a movement by mixer brands away from tonic water and just being aimed at gin and vodka. There’s far more targeted choice now for agave spirits, whisky and rum.”
Despite this success for pink grapefruit soda and its use in the Paloma, there is still some scepticism about whether this will continue with other cocktails. Three Cents co-founder George Tsirikos says the trends in mixers are “always following the bartending trends”. He adds: “In the past few years we have seen bartenders more focused on classics and for that reason mixer companies are not creating any new types of mixers.” Tsirikos notes this is because classic cocktails are very specific with the ingredients they require, “therefore there is no room for big innovations in that category”.
Founded by bartenders, the Greek brand was recently bought by the Coca-Cola Company and also appeared as the third Top Trending brand in the Drinks International Brands Report 2023. Tsirikos adds that the future looks “very promising” as the past decade has seen the premium segment of mixers showing that “except for bartenders, consumers also want the ability to create great drinks. That need has become the driving force for many companies to create different products that appeal to a wider audience”.
Thomas Henry brand activation manager Britta Grolig adds that when looking at the global growth of agave spirits: “There is no doubt about the connecting trend for mixers that support the taste of tequila and mezcal, rather than only focusing on classics like the G&T.” However, when creating a mixer for one drink only, Grolig adds this will “not be enough in the long run”.
“There are higher expectations of a tasty mixer these days as there is so much competition. A balanced portfolio with even more balanced mixers that are created for more than just one drink has become more important than ever”, says Grolig, adding there should always be a “hero” drink for each flavour that “works in as many countries as possible and has the power to convince the guest from sip number one”.
Tonics
When it comes to tonic, Juan Carlos Maroto, co-founder of Curius, which has recently launched Match Tonic, says the market was “quite boring” as “nobody had been able to challenge Fever-Tree”. But the brand hopes to be “taking around 20% of the global business from Fever-Tree in the next five or so years. We’ve seen that nobody has really been able to challenge it because they’ve been copy and pasting both the design of the bottle and the communication”, Maroto continues.
When developing the flavours for Match, Maroto says his team wanted two styles proven to work – Indian and Mediterranean tonics – and also to play with two or more SKUs based on new drinking habits. Maroto adds it was “important for the flavours to be easy to understand for consumers without having to put them through a masterclass to get it”.
The brand’s Mediterranean tonic is designed to mix with ‘new wave’ western gins such as Hendrick’s, Gin Mare and Martin Miller’s, Maroto says. But for its Indian style, classic London Dry gins that are juniper forward are better suited.
However, for its Floral, Match wanted to “capitalise on the trend for pink gins and also the Spritz movement”. Its Spicy tonic can be a substitute for ginger beer to pair with dark spirits such as rum and whisky. Maroto notes: “It’s also interesting when mixed with agave spirits. When it’s combined with tequila the spiciness comes through, and with mezcal the smoky character is elevated.”
Match also uses one superfood as a botanical for every SKU to connect with the no-alcohol market, aiming to offer a more complex non-alc option. “In terms of communication, we want to go more down the lifestyle industry route rather than the soft drinks category, because it’s more interesting and more sexy to consumers,” Maroto continues.
Thomas Henry is another brand looking at the low and no space, with Grolig saying: “There is definitely an ongoing trend for low and no-abv cocktail creations to be found. This trend opens up an even wider field for mixer brands.”
The trends
Britvic is one brand that is leaning into the idea of mixers for particular drinks and has recently launched three cocktail mixers to tap into the demand for easy drinks. The new range features Mojito, Piña Colada and Strawberry Daiquiri mixers and will “help bartenders prepare perfect drinks every time, with only the addition of the chosen spirit needed to mix up classic cocktails”, according to Britvic director of food service & licensed Adam Russell.
In the company’s Soft Drinks Review 2023, Britvic found that “alcohol is still the lifeblood of the licensed sector”, says Russell. Selling more spirit/mixer drinks such as G&Ts or whisky and cola drinks can “raise both the top and bottom lines as spirits and mixers hold the highest average price at British bars”. Russell also notes these drinks are “highly profitable” and “encouraging drinkers to trade up to more premium mixers can push those margins higher”.
Vantguard has also noticed the move towards mixers made with specific cocktails in mind. Vantguard global marketing manager Jacobo Lauda says: “Mixers are becoming the household toolkit in order to make drinks at small social gatherings. Somewhere between a more evolved and sophisticated long drink and less complicated and scary than a cocktail.”
Lauda notes that bars are heading towards a percentage of simplicity on their menus. “They now know that not all things mixology are liked by the larger masses, so they favour well-done Palomas, Horse’s Necks, Dark ’n’ Stormys and drinks that have a good spirits base plus a heft y top-up with a well-made mixer.”
For the future, Lauda predicts that brands will simplify other gastronomical and bartending techniques to mass-produce new mixers, adding that “similar to what happened with the new golden age of gin and G&Ts, newer, younger generations will be willing to skip a longer process of sugary drinks to start trying more mature and evolved mixers”.
Rudzinskas has also found that bars are increasingly focusing on mixed drinks. “This trend has been further fueled by the intense competition among premium mixer brands as they strive to gain prominence in the bar scene.
“I might say that nowadays, about half of the mixer brands are dedicating their efforts to creating mixers tailored for specific cocktails. In the past, there was a heavy emphasis on various types of tonic water for Gin & Tonics. However, things have changed, and these brands are now exploring other options as well,” Rudzinskas adds.
