After a period of Mediterranean flavours dominating premium mixers, the latest move is towards pickles and spice, finds Shay Waterworth
The mixers category is one of the fastest moving in the drinks industry. It can react to consumer trends instantly given the nature of production, unlike whiskies and dark spirits which require ageing, while its volumes aren’t determined by harvests like wine or brandy.
The latest trend is savoury. Pickles, brine and spice are in when it comes to flavours for the premium market, in line with the growth of classic cocktails such as the Dirty Martini and Spicy Margarita, or Picante.
“People are getting more adventurous with flavours and certainly on the more savoury side,” says Joe Mantle, UK brand ambassador for Franklin & Sons. “Spicy notes and brine flavours such as pickles are showing more uplift. Rosemary & Black Olive is doing well for us on the savoury trend.
“Pan-Asian flavours are certainly on trend too. Not everyone knows what yuzu is still, but it’s approachable and treated like an elevated Sicilian tonic, and that’s why our Yuzu Soda is doing so well.”
When it comes to isolating a specific flavour, Three Cents is a leader. Its original Pink Grapefruit Soda remains a favourite for Palomas in Europe, while the launch of its Fig Leaf Soda in the UK was another success with the on-trade. Its latest flavour, Pickle Soda, is showing similar popularity.
“The recipe is actually 10 years old because one of our co-founders, Dimitris (Dafopoulos), entered a Chivas competition and he made the pickled soda for the drink,” says co-founder George Bagos. “So originally whisky was the inspiration, but as the savoury trend has evolved we’ve seen it go well in a Hugo Spritz or Aperol because the vinegar notes cut through the sweeter liqueurs nicely.”
One of the strengths of Three Cents is in isolating a particular flavour rather than trying to build one, letting an ingredient shine rather than using multiples to achieve an end goal.
Bagos adds: “It’s part of our core philosophy. By adding too many flavours you actually lose them – it’s better to focus on one specific flavour. If you have too many things going on in a recipe then there’s not much flexibility with it. We keep it simple so that bartenders can do the creative part and offer lots of different serves.”
While Franklin & Sons’ Mantle argues consumers are being more curious with flavour exploration, when it comes to cocktails Bagos thinks the opposite.
“I actually think people are getting less adventurous with flavours. For cocktails people are going more and more towards classics because it’s safe, especially during a period of financial stress, and this is happening everywhere from the UK to China. I’m seeing it all over the world.
“That’s also why we want to keep our flavours simple and easy to understand. For some brands launching a product is just for content. It doesn’t require much thought, it makes some noise on social media and sells well for a few months, then disappears. We want bartenders to work with our products in the long term.”
Building momentum
The rise of premium mixer brands is in line with the rise of the Spritz movement. At the time of interview, Mantle was creating four different Spritz menus for bars and the parent company of Franklin & Sons, Global Brands, has moved into the liqueurs space in order to build on its momentum and, ultimately, sell more mixers.
Mantle adds: “We’ve had the weather for it this summer [in the UK and Europe], which has boosted the trend, but ultimately it comes off the back of the success of the Aperol Spritz.
“But now people are wanting more nuanced flavours, and we’ve recently launched Asuki, our Japanese-inspired liqueur to go in a Spritz.”
The official line from the Global Brands website reads: “Asuki is a Japanese-inspired liqueur designed for the modern Spritz occasion, tapping into the growing demand for Asian flavour inspiration in cocktails. Available in Yuzu Citrus and Cherry Blossom with an abv of 17%, both are designed to work perfectly in Spritz serves, Highballs and modern cocktails.”
Mantle continues: “I don’t see any reason why it would drop off. Other than the weather, not much will change – people still want longer, lower-abv serves which have distinct flavours.”
For Three Cents, the hero serve for Pickle Soda is called Pickleball – vodka, tobacco, celery stick and Pickle Soda. It’s somewhere between a Bloody Mary and a Highball, which fits the brief for long, lower-abv serves with spice and brine flavours.
There’s still not much evidence to suggest mixer brands set trends. However, given their agility, they can be fast reactors, adapting to the latest flavours quicker than most, which makes them a strong barometer. In 10 years we’ve gone from Mediterranean and blood orange to pickles and chilli, making it difficult to predict what’s next. But if in doubt, look at what the premium mixer brands are launching.
