In 2025, the pendulum of drink trends didn’t swing back and forth — it ran amok. Tariffs drove prices up, and general market chaos ensued. The wine industry took a big step back from major entry-level brands in its ongoing struggle to connect with consumers. Martinis (and their garnishes) somehow got even weirder. And coffee shops piled clouds of cold foam — some of it even protein-infused — onto just about every beverage.
While much of the conversation around alcohol skewed negative this year, many companies are using this market reset as a time to consider the future. So what will next year hold for the booze industry? We suspect businesses across the board — from wine bars to RTD brands — will work to make drinks more approachable and (dare we say) fun again.
From bright green liqueurs to mountains of snow ice, here are eight drinks trends to look out for in 2026.
Wine Lists Lean Into Lower Prices
Last year, we predicted higher price tags for wine across restaurant lists, and unfortunately, we were right. Ordering a bottle of wine for the table at even a casual dinner out started to feel like an intensive financial decision. But the tides might be turning. Amid the never-ending negative noise surrounding the wine industry, establishments like New York City’s Lei are working to make wine accessible again. One of Lei’s goals was to create a well-priced list that could encourage new wine drinkers to order a bottle. The same sentiment can be seen at Stars, a new wine bar from the team behind powerhouse wine haunts Claud and Penny. It recently opened with a clear purpose: Get more people to drink more great wine. Its list offers a rotating selection of 88 wines under $88, and the by-the-glass list follows a strict range between $11 and $19. As other places notice the move and the success it can bring, we suspect more will follow suit.
‘On the Rocks’ Becomes Shaved Ice
This is not your lakeside snow cone. Spirits douse glasses filled with frozen chards for one of the latest emerging trends in drinks: shaved-ice cocktails. Equal parts refreshment and presentation, more bars and restaurants are channeling shock factor with these snowy cocktails. Order a Daiquiri at Bar Kabawa, and a show starts to take form: A bartender churns a blade beneath a block of ice to dispense ice shards that are then dressed up in flavorings and rum. Gus’ Sip & Dip in Chicago offers a less showy yet still-enticing take on the trend, where the Dirty Martini comes studded in ice chunks. Whether they lean kakigori, granita, or slushy, we know one thing’s certain: Shaved ice is all abuzz.
The Aperitivo Craze Moves Beyond the Spritz
Though spritzes in just about every form caught on with younger drinkers in recent years, their heyday isn’t over yet. We predict consumers will dive even further into the Italian aperitivo drinks culture and develop a taste for classic apero-hour cocktails beyond the spritz.
Whether it’s due to the low-ABV appeal or dreams of a Euro summer, this rise is seen in the recent onset of glitzy aperitivo bars across the U.S. In October, the team behind Dante opened its sister bar Dante Aperitivo in the West Village — sure to become a hub for scenesters to post pictures of their fluorescent-colored drinks. Just a few avenues away lies Bar Bianchi, which also began operation this year, bringing the Italian pre-dinner drinks ritual to the East Village. Los Angeles’s bar scene is experiencing a similar revival: Bar Bacetti, built around a similar motivation of celebrating Italian spirits, opened in June. With more apero-themed spots, we suspect drinkers will take their love for aperitivo to the next level. Expect to see more offshoots of the classics. Think: Enzonis, White Negronis, and zhuzhed-up Americanos and maybe even more 4 p.m. drink dates.
A Bright Green Boom of Alternative Green Liqueurs
It’s still heavily debated within industry circles whether or not we’re actually in the midst of a Chartreuse “shortage.” Still, cocktail enthusiasts in search of the green herbal liqueur might be hard-pressed to find a bottle in the wild, as there’s no denying interest in the Alpine spirit has spiked over the past few years. So how can at-home bartenders make a compelling Last Word or Bijou? Luckily, a swanky new set of green liqueurs are here to fill the void.
Last year, Burgundy-based Fontbonne entered its herbal spirit into the U.S. market. Savvy Brooklyn-based producers also released verdant liqueurs to fill the gap on your bar cart: Faccia Brutto’s Centerbe is already a staple for many bartenders, and in October, Forthave Spirits launched its inaugural olive-colored spirit. We suspect consumers will see a lot more small, craft Chartreuse dupes in 2026.
Beer Dials Back
From wild fermentations and almost undrinkable, hopped-up triple IPAs to surges in Guinness sales (accompanied by shocking Guinness-based trends), recent beer fads have been anything but bland. After the wave of oddball, if not overwrought, brews, the beer market is ripe for a return to form — whether mass-production corporations or small-batch craft brewers. We think beer drinkers will find simplicity refreshing and look toward clean, quaffable brews. Blue Jay Brewing Co. and Sacred Profane are just two examples of breweries that have garnered consumer attention for returning to more finessed flavor profiles.
Beer isn’t just pulling back in flavor — many craft breweries have noticed success in scaling back distribution. The blurred line between big beer and craft beer in recent years made the craft sector a murky business: Some breweries tanked, and others received the short end of a large acquisition. We suspect we’ll see craft producers pull back distribution and focus on their core consumers.
Shareable Cocktails Become Cool Again
As bars look for more ways to pop on social media, a number of large-format cocktails are making punch bowl culture cool again. While the concept of sharing a cocktail might have made us squirm five years ago, it seems like people are ready to lean into communal experiences again. We already see this happening at NYC hot spots like Bar Kabawa where guests can share a whole coconut filled with their choice of rum and Wild Cherry, which offers a high-end take on a college-day throwback with an $86 Scorpion Bowl.
Alternative Packaging Beyond Boxes and Cans
In what was perhaps a surprise to most of the market, booze-bomb RTD products like BuzzBallz and BeatBox made a big splash in 2025. The explosive growth of these brands over the past few years even inspired acquisitions from Sazerac and AB InBev. And as more drinks companies attempt to attract Gen Z consumers, we expect to see more products embrace similar unconventional packaging. In October, Gallo spotted the trend and began packaging some of its wine brands — namely, Barefoot, Clos du Bois, and Gallo Family Vineyards — in Tetra Paks. Whether due to the ease of an RTD, the eye-catching designs, or nostalgia of a drink in a pouch, the format is working, and we expect more to populate retail shelves in the next year.
The Continued Growth of Celebrity-Backed NA Drinks
While some big names were early to the non-alcoholic beverage game — like Bella Hadid’s Kin Euphorics and Katy Perry’s De Soi — it seems like that was just the beginning for celebs in the NA space. This year the category saw an influx of sober and sober-curious personalities with launches like Tom Holland’s BERO, John Mulaney’s Years Beer, and Ben Stiller’s Stiller Soda. Robert Downey Jr. even got in on the action, announcing a buzzy collaboration between his coffee company and Holland’s BERO. And let’s not forget the opening of Soft Bar, a new NA bar in Brooklyn, from Bravolebrity Carl Radke. As this trend continues to pick up steam, we suspect we’ll see more celeb-backed NA booze hit the market in 2026.
