The spirits industry has fundamentally changed. While brands once viewed bars as non-negotiable, many of today’s most successful brands have achieved success through a targeted approach at retail and e-commerce. Yet the on-premise isn’t just surviving, it’s evolving into a channel where brands need to be more strategic than ever.
On this episode of the Park Street Insider Podcast, we delve into why understanding cocktail culture remains crucial for achieving brand success. With on-premise sales up 4% year-over-year and venue counts rising as we enter the peak holiday season, the bar world continues to serve as the critical channel ground where consumer trends are born, not just observed.
Charlotte Voisey, Executive Director at Tales of the Cocktail and former Global Head of Ambassadors at William Grant & Sons, reveals how the most significant shifts in cocktail culture took root and why direct dialogue with bartenders delivers strategic intelligence that shapes smarter brand decisions. Then Overproof’s Chief Analytics Officer Ed Dobbles breaks down exactly what’s winning in the 2025 on-premise: which cocktails dominate menus, what flavors consumers crave, and why emerging brands have a unique advantage right now.
Featured Guests:
Charlotte Voisey, Executive Director, Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Ed Dobbles, Chief Analytics Officer, Overproof
Mentioned in this episode:
Watch on YouTube:
The Evolution of Cocktail Trends in the Last 25 Years
Cocktail Trends: How Bar Menus are Changing
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Podcast Transcript
Emmett Strack (00:01:58)
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Park Street Insider podcast. This is your host, Emmett Strack. Spirits brands have never had a more diverse set of paths for successfully selling at retail.
(00:30:15)
While the on-premise was considered non-negotiable for years, many spirits brands have now found success by nearly exclusively targeting off-premise retailers and e-commerce options—something that’s really picked up more and more steam since 2020.
(01:05:40)
If you look at what someone like Brothers Bond Bourbon has done, for example, capturing an exorbitant percentage of online sales via social media, or an ever-increasing number of emerging brands who are exclusively meeting their consumers on off-premise retail shelves and finding a great amount of success doing so, brands are starting to deviate from the traditional sales channel playbook.
(01:38:22)
Yet, the on-premise still maintains a really high degree of relevance as a linchpin of social culture, an incubation site for developing trends, and a way for spirits brands to meaningfully connect with their consumers in an experiential way that other channels simply can’t replicate.
(02:05:10)
The on-premise has also shown signs of recovery in the last year. As of August 2025, the number of traditional on-premise venues with alcohol licenses in the U.S. has increased by 0.5%. And as of June 2025, on-premise sales were up 4% year-over-year.
(02:25:35)
So, with the holiday period approaching and lots of on-premise visitation due to happen over the next month, we’re giving spirits brands a guide into the past and present of cocktail trends in the U.S. This is going to be a two-part episode.
Charlotte Voisey (02:36:94)
Hi everyone, it’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you, Park Street, for inviting me. I’m going to talk about the trends of the last 25 years because my intent is to show you how all of these numbers that my co-presenters have shared with you came to be. It is my belief that they came to be because of bartenders.
(03:10:15)
Let’s take a look at some examples. I’m going to start off with the Negroni. Everyone knows Negroni; your grandmother drinks Negronis. She probably drinks them with a different spirit base other than gin, right? But that was not the case 25 years ago.
(03:45:20)
When I first moved to the U.S. in 2006, I met people like Dale DeGroff, Tony Abou-Ganim, and Francesco Lafranconi, and they were all drinking Negronis. I’d never seen that in person before. I’d only ever read about Negronis and knew it was a classic drink, but I’d never actually met anyone who drank them.
(04:20:10)
If you’re a bartender in the room enjoying a Negroni, think back to the very first one you had—it was probably recommended to you by a bartender. They were passionate about this drink. They weren’t paid by Campari to drink them at that time; that would come later. But Campari was smart as a brand. They saw this and they backed the passion of these influential bartenders.
(04:51:92)
By 2013, we had Negroni Week established. You can’t just establish Negroni Week out of the blue; that was built off the back of what I call a “labor of love.” And of course, here in Germany, you had Mauro, who established the first rendition of his Negroni Cocktail Club here in Munich in 1998. It’s this slow kind of love and passion for a drink that really helped the Negroni on its way.
Charlotte Voisey (05:30:15)
Then you have certain influential bars. We’ll take one from New York City: Dante. They put on “Negroni Sessions,” offering a whole menu of Negronis. They weren’t the only ones to do it, but they showed other bartenders and bar owners around the world that the Negroni can be adapted.
(06:10:45)
Now, like I said, your grandmother probably drinks Mezcal Negronis, which would have been unheard of to someone like Dale DeGroff 25 years ago. Let’s go to everybody’s other favorite cocktail right now: the Espresso Martini.
(06:45:10)
It was created as the “Vodka Espresso” back in the early 1990s in London by Dick Bradsell. Right there is our first clue: it was created by a very well-respected bartender in a very important place and time in cocktail culture.
(07:10:89)
The Espresso Martini came back in the 2010s. We were entering the “Vodka Pays the Bills” era. Vodka was ousted when speakeasies and gin came in, but then people remembered that vodka pays the bills, so we needed to give it some love.
(07:45:30)
In the 2010s, coffee culture had developed significantly. If you think about the coffee you drink now compared to 15 years ago, it’s very different. Different coffee products and better coffee liqueurs were available. The whole opportunity of making an Espresso Martini started to improve from a quality standpoint.
Charlotte Voisey (08:20:15)
Next, we have agave spirits. Every bartender loves tequila and agave spirits. They love them so much they probably don’t drink tequila anymore because they feel it’s “had its day,” but not according to the data. It’s just starting to emerge around the world outside of the biggest markets.
(08:50:40)
The “100% Agave” movement started years ago by passionate individuals like Jimmy Yeager, Steve Olson, Tomas Estes, and Julio Bermejo. Tomas Estes opened the first Cafe Pacifico in Amsterdam in 1976. That’s the beginning of why tequila is so hot right now—50 years ago.
(09:29:24)
One more example: it would be remiss of me not to talk about gin. Gin was huge in the 1800s, survived Prohibition, fell out of favor to vodka, and then in this last cocktail renaissance, came right back on top. That wasn’t just the natural order of things; bartenders made sure this happened.
(10:15:30)
In the U.S., vodka first overtook gin in 1976. While gin was falling, bartenders like Javier de las Muelas were putting an homage back to the spirit. In the 1980s, Dale DeGroff brought cocktails back to the world at the Rainbow Room, and gin was positioned all over that menu.
(11:00:15)
In 2005, Audrey Saunders and Julie Reiner opened the Pegu Club, and in 2013, Julie Reiner opened the Clover Club—two bars named after gin cocktails. The message was clear: they loved gin.
(11:45:40)
Then you have the local craft distilling movement. Everyone wanted to start making whiskey, but you have to wait for whiskey to age. What do you do in the meantime? You make gin. Now, every town on this planet seems to be making a gin. But the comeback was rooted in the decisions of a few influential bartenders.
Charlotte Voisey (13:59:93)
Alongside all of this wonderful data, make sure you are listening to bartenders. When you see their eyes light up, write that thing down. What they are passionate about today will become the trend of the next 10 or 15 years.
(14:25:10)
In 2005, right before I joined William Grant & Sons, I was a bartender. My mission was to bridge the gap between brands and bartenders. If you have a brand, it’s really important to include them in your research.
Ed (Overproof CAO) (14:45:00)
I worked for Diageo for five years, so I know the industry pretty well. I’m going to talk to you about what’s going on in the on-premise business. Overproof specializes in menus; we scrape information from menus across the U.S. to see what’s trending.
(15:20:30)
The on-premise business is where you grow brands. New people come into categories through the on-premise. Looking at independent restaurants from April this year versus April last year, we see some surprising things.
(16:00:15)
The Margarita is still the most popular cocktail in America, but it’s coming down from its high. We’re seeing iced tea cocktails, mimosas, modern martinis, and spritzes start to take its place. This plays into the trend of daytime and brunch drinking.
(16:45:40)
In New York City, iced tea drinks are popping up even further, along with twists on classics like Mai Tais and Coladas.
Ed (Overproof CAO) (18:46:04)
The on-premise menus are moving away from some legacy brands; the growth is coming from smaller brands. Independent bars are more open to trying new things. While Tito’s went up, classic brands like Malibu, Absolut, and Bacardi have seen declines nationally.
(19:30:15)
Regarding tariffs, we aren’t seeing them impact menus yet. Most restaurants are taking a “wait and see” approach. The mix of Scotch, Mezcal, and Japanese Whiskey remains the same as it was six months ago.
(20:15:40)
Finally, we looked at international award-winning bars and Michelin-starred restaurants. They feature cocktails you’ve never heard of, but their menus are also disproportionately weighted toward classics like the Old Fashioned, Martini, and Negroni.
(20:45:10)
What shows up at these top-tier bars eventually trickles down to the rest of the market. Use this information to get ahead. You only get two windows a year to make a menu change nationally—make sure you win that opportunity.
Emmett Strack (21:13:19)
Hey everyone, it’s Emmett again. We really appreciate you tuning in. If you like the show, we’d love to hear your feedback—please leave us a review or a rating.
(21:35:10)
If you’re interested in getting involved, please send an email to psu@parkstreet.com. You can find more educational materials at parkstreet.com or on our YouTube channel. Thanks a lot, and cheers until next time!