Your Guide To Cocktail Trends In 2024
Want to know what’s next in the world of cocktails? Get an insider's look into the top trends for 2024 with our cocktail expert, August Svensson. He’ll walk us through the latest creations and innovations coming out of the chicest bars and most exclusive restaurants in the world. Find out how to recreate these bold flavours at home and impress your guests with the trendiest drinks in town.
August Svensson’s top cocktail trends for 2024.
1. Grown in the wild
With growing concerns about climate change, sustainability is top of mind. This is why professional mixologists and home enthusiasts alike are creating cocktails made with seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, with some bars and restaurants going hyperlocal by growing their own fruits, vegetables, and herbs on-site. Foraging is also seeing a boost, as mixologists are using more wild ingredients to give their cocktails a special twist. From wild berries to native herbs and flowers, foraging adds an extra layer of authenticity to cocktails, ensuring that your drinks are not only tasty, but also tied to their provenance.
2. Pure plant power
Vegans don’t need to compromise on flavour or sophistication. Today, it’s easier than ever to make cocktails that might usually contain animal-based ingredients (such as egg whites, milk, cream, and honey) with vegan-friendly alternatives.
“These days there are so many great vegan substitutes for ‘traditional’ ingredients, not just for cooking but for drinks making too. You can find a range of plant-based milks and creams, made from oats, almonds, soy and coconut. And if you’re looking for a natural sweetener that’s not honey or sugar, agave syrup is an incredible alternative. It has a similar texture and colour to honey, made from the South American agave plant and it’s essential when I make Margaritas. Making a Whisky Sour, but prefer a vegan option? Not a problem - aquafaba is a chickpea-based alternative that works just as well, and has a longer shelf life than an egg! There are also a good number of "miracle foamers" that work just as well.”
Vegan Gin Fizz
Turn this classic cocktail into a vegan delight by using aquafaba instead of traditional egg whites.
Ingredients:
50 ml gin
1 tablespoon aquafaba
15 ml simple syrup
25 ml lemon juice
Ice
25 ml club soda
Rosemary for garnish (optional)
Method:
Pour the club soda into a glass. Add gin, aquafaba, syrup, lemon juice, lime juice, and a handful of ice into a shaker and shake for one minute. (Shaking for a full minute creates a foamy texture.) Strain into the glass. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary. Don't like gin? Try swapping it out for vodka, whisky or even rum – they all work really well with this simple recipe. The results are delicious, whatever you prefer.”
3. Take a trip to Asia
From K-Pop to Bollywood, Asian cultural trends have been influencing Western tastes for a while now, and it’s no different when it comes to cocktails. Tickle your tastebuds with some exotic flavours and try some trendy ingredients, like yuzu, ginger, mango and lychee. August predicts that 2024 will see even more interest in Asian flavours, especially the more uncommon ingredients, like lemongrass or special spice blends like garam masala.
Lemongrass Mojito
The fragrant citrus and floral, herbal notes of lemongrass add a delightful Asian twist to elevate your classic Mojito.
Ingredients:
4 sprigs mint
15 ml sugar syrup
45 ml Captain Morgan White Rum
1/2 cup ice cubes
1 stick lemongrass
150 ml soda water
Method:
Halve the lemongrass stick widthways. Finely chop the bottom half and muddle with mint and sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add rum and ice, shake vigorously, then pour into a tall glass and top with soda water. Using the back of a knife, crush the cut end of the remaining half of the lemongrass and garnish the drink with the crushed end inside the glass.
A great alternative is to make a lemongrass sugar syrup. Combine equal parts water and white caster sugar in a saucepan on medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Add in a handful of lemongrass, remove from the heat and let it cool down before bottling. Store in the fridge and it will keep for at least two weeks. If more lemongrass flavour is desired, simply leave a few stalks in the bottle for a few hours.
“Pan-Asian flavours are getting increasingly more popular, and from such a big continent comes a great variety of herbs, spices and flavour combinations. Lychee and mango are great alternatives to sweet European fruits and berries such as strawberries or pears, and they work really well in cocktails such as a Mojito, Daiquiri or Margarita. Different sugar syrups can easily be made at home. With the above lemongrass sugar syrup as a base, simply swap lemongrass for the preferred herb, spice or fruit. Jasmine, ginger, kaffir lime and hibiscus are some of the many exciting variations that can be made.”
Masala Chai Sour
The warm and aromatic spices of garam masala add complexity to this cocktail, while complementing its sour and bitter aspects.
Ingredients:
50 ml Johnnie Walker Black Label
25 ml fresh lemon juice
15 ml masala simple syrup*
1 egg white
1-2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Method:
Shake all the ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker until the egg white emulsifies. Garnish with a dried lemon disk, maraschino cherry and some grated nutmeg.
“For the masala simple syrup, toast your chosen spice mix on medium heat for a few minutes to loosen the spices up and add more flavour at the same time. Ginger, green cardamom pods, black pepper, cloves, star anise, nutmeg and cinnamon sticks are all great ingredients for a basic chai recipe, however depending on which region in South East Asia you are inspired by, ingredients may vary. Once toasted, add equal parts water and caster sugar, keep on medium-low heat and stir occasionally. When the sugar has dissolved, the base of your syrup is ready and you can add your tea bags, anywhere between 2-10 bags depending on how strong you like your brew. A dark tea is preferred, with Breakfast Tea being my go-to when making chai. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from the heat, leave to infuse for 10 minutes before removing the tea bags and leaving to cool down for at least half an hour. Once cool, strain out the spices and bottle your chai syrup, store in a fridge for at least two weeks.”
4. A noughties throwback
We all know that trends come in cycles, and as fashion revisits the turn of the millennium, cocktails are following suit with a rise in nostalgic recipes from the era that brought us both The Sopranos and Sex and the City. Go back in time with a classic Cosmopolitan with a modern twist.
“The Cosmopolitan is now considered a ‘modern classic’, a drink that can be found in almost every bar, and does not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. That being said, there are always ways the cocktail can be elevated. The orange-flavoured liqueur can be swapped for any other citrus, such as mandarin or grapefruit. Go one step further and try making your own cranberry juice, or even cranberry syrup to use in your drink. After all, anything homemade is hard to beat.”
CÎROC Champagne Cosmo
The CÎROC Champagne Cosmo is a great alternative to the classic recipe.
Ingredients:
40 ml CÎROC Red Berry
25 ml cranberry juice
10 ml lime juice
25 ml Champagne
Orange zest
Method:
Combine 40 ml CÎROC Red Berry, Lime juice and cranberry juice in a shaker, shake and fine strain into a martini glass, add 35 ml Champagne and garnish with orange zest - incredibly delightful.
5. Opt for alcohol free
For those looking for cocktails with less or no alcohol, the future looks great. Many brands now offer non-alcoholic spirits, and bartenders have embraced them to create cocktails without compromising on flavour or complexity. Whether you want a zero-proof Piña Colada with Captain Morgan Spiced Gold 0.0%, or a Lemon Sour with Tanqueray 0.0%, it’s easy to make non-alcoholic mocktails of your favourite classics. Mixologists and home bartenders alike are also using the Seedlip collection of alcohol-free spirits to create an entirely new category of cocktails with sophisticated flavour profiles.
Seedlip Eastside
Seedlip Garden 108 slides so seamlessly into a classic Eastside, with its fresh, herbal blend of peas, rosemary, thyme and spearmint – refreshing pick-me-up. Spearmint, rosemary and thyme are some of the botanicals that are individually distilled and blended to create Seedlip Garden 108 - the perfect alcohol-free alternative to any herbaceous cocktail.
Ingredients:
50 ml Seedlip Garden 108
15 ml simple syrup
25 ml fresh lime juice
3 cucumber slices
4-8 mint leaves
Ice cubes for shaking
Cucumber ribbon for garnish
Method:
Muddle cucumber slices and mint leaves in a cocktail shaker. Add Seedlip Garden 108, simple syrup and lime juice to the shaker with ice. Shake and double strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a cucumber ribbon.
“Cucumber ribbons might seem difficult, but with a bit of practice they’re not that tricky to master. With a vegetable peeler, peel a cucumber lengthways into long, even strips. When you’ve peeled to the core where the seeds are, peel from the other side by turning it around. Once done, take one cocktail stick and one of the peels and start threading it in a wave pattern. Sit the stick on the rim of the glass when done.”
6. It's time for tea
If you’ve been anywhere near a hipster neighbourhood, you’ve probably tried kombucha, or at least been in the vicinity of someone who has. Kombucha is a fermented tea, and so it’s no surprise that mixologists are experimenting with it given the rise of tea in the cocktail world. Exploring these innovative ingredients creates drinks with truly unique flavours and aligns with growing tastes at the modern bar.
Easy Kombucha Cocktail
Kombucha is a fermented tea rich in probiotics, B vitamins, and antioxidants, in contrast to high-sugar bar staples like soda and fruit juice. Its fizz is an all-natural by-product of fermentation.
Ingredients:
150 ml chilled kombucha (milder flavours work better)
50 ml gin or vodka (your choice)
15 ml citrus juice
Slices of citrus, for garnish
Method:
Stir liquor and citrus juice in a pint glass or measuring cup. Add kombucha last to preserve the carbonation. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into an ice-filled Collins glass. Garnish with citrus slices.
Gin & Ginseng Gimlet
Ginseng is another ingredient that’s seeing growing popularity in the cocktail world, with its unique properties heralded across Asia. This spin on a classic Gin Gimlet uses a Ginseng tea to create a cocktail that tastes like sipping on spring.
Ingredients:
50ml Gordon’s gin
25ml ginseng simple syrup*
10ml lime juice
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into your prettiest cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime twist.
*Make ginseng simple syrup by steeping 2 tbsp ginseng oolong for five minutes in 4 oz of water. Then strain the steeped tea into a measuring cup and add 2 tbsp of light agave. Stir until dissolved.
7. Dial up the drama
Seen any showstoppers on social recently? Platforms like TikTok can launch cocktail trends around the world within minutes, and the key to going viral comes with vibrant colours, creative garnishes and theatrical presentations. From drinks featuring blue curaçao, like the Blue Lagoon, to the candy garnish in the Pink Starburst cocktail craze, TikTok drink trends will no doubt keep home bartenders on their toes throughout 2024.
Dragon’s Breath Smoked Manhattan
Not for novices, this TikTok-worthy cocktail requires a handheld smoker to create its ethereal look.
Ingredients:
4 to 6 ice cubes
40 ml Bulleit Rye
25 ml Belsazar Red Vermouth
2 dashes aromatic bitters
Flamed orange zest
Method:
Put your brandy snifter in your fridge 10 minutes before serving, or in the freezer, 5 minutes before. In a shaker, stir the Rye whiskey, vermouth, and bitters with ice for 45-60 seconds, then strain into a brandy snifter glass. Flame an orange zest, then load and fire up your handheld smoker, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Insert the smoker tube into the glass and fill it with smoke until you can’t see through the glass. Tightly cover the glass with a coaster to hold in the smoke for at least 20 seconds. Uncover the snifter and immediately serve, with the smoke still spilling from the glass.
“Another great way to create a wow factor with your drink is to serve them in vessels no one else is using. Ceramic mugs are great for this, and these days there are so many different sets you can buy! Playing around with your garnishes will also help elevate your serves. Soak your lemon zest in red aromatic bitters mixed with water for a few minutes to dye them red. Turn your peels into different shapes such as hearts, lips, or simply cut them with pinking shears.”
8. AI infusion
Can ChatGPT create a perfect cocktail? Artificial intelligence has made waves across every aspect of our lives, prompting bartenders and cocktail aficionados to ask generative AI models for drinks recipes. It can already create recipes with whatever ingredients you have at hand, coming up with completely new cocktails. Experimenters have reported that most results are surprisingly drinkable, most likely because AI draws from millions of existing cocktail recipes. Worth a try, perhaps?
“Being a big fan of the Terminator franchise, and very passionate about drinks creations and flavour combinations, my opinion on AI is quite biased. That being said, AI technology is absolutely a great tool and something that will be even more helpful in the future. AI can create recipes in a matter of seconds. AI cannot, however, taste the final drink, which is the most important thing once the drink has been created. I personally believe that AI can be a great inspirational tool to use when brainstorming new drinks and menu concepts, but its lack of a palate will mean that we cannot solely rely on it when creating new beverages.”
At the end of it all
Predicting the future is never an exact science, but we hope the trends we’ve collected here inspire you to try new flavours, approaches, and techniques in 2024. But most of all, we encourage you to keep experimenting and exploring – you never know what you might discover.
