As new ingredients and ethnic flavors are introduced to consumers, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages undergo changes in trends.
Symrise collected the top beverage trends for 2016, introducing a variety of new flavors and a potentially new beverage category.
- Latin spirits—Beverages, like Brazilian Cachaça, are derived from pressed cane sugar and used in cocktails with ingredients such as guava and lemon.
- Zest, spice and everything nice—With ingredients such as nutmeg, cardamom, Thai chile, cumin, coriander, cloves, cinnamon and hot pepper leaving a footprint with ethnic cuisines, these ingredients are now favored in drinks, helping to add heat into alcoholic beverages.
- Fresh-squeezed juice blends—Cocktail lounges around the country will find mixologists experimenting with combinations of carrot, orange, parsnip, turmeric, lemon and ginger shrub with alcoholic beverages such as gin, triple sec and kummel.
- Pinkies up—An interest in the classics has risen and traditional cocktails, such as mojitos, martinis, Manhattans, cosmopolitans and the old fashioned are popular projections.
- Low-calorie sensations—Katy Carter of Cellar Trends, a UK distributor of alcoholic beverages, researched and found 25% of cocktail drinkers choose a low-calorie or no-calorie option when available. Low-calorie or non-alcoholic drinks are growing with popularity and have potential to create a new beverage category.
- Add the “ability” in sustainability—Sustainably sourced ingredients in meal shakes, especially vegan shakes, are beginning to see more love from consumers who are fans of sustainable food technology.
- Savory>sugar—Various sources are noting a decline in sugary drinks and an increase in savory flavor drinks. Developers should be on the lookout for fermented flavors, vinegar and pickled juices combined with other juice ingredients.
- Sweet wines—Moscatos and Rieslings are growing in popularity with millennial.
- The year for beer—Heading further into 2016, 27% of all beer produced will be labeled as, “craft beer” and India pale ale will remain a popular brew to sip.
- “You’re killin’ me smalls!”—Starbucks is releasing “shake shooters,” which is looking to become a fad quickly among other chains and consumer products. The shooters are smaller, fewer in calories and cheaper than the average 10-ounce drinks.
Source: In-Sight Symrise
