May 13 is World Cocktail Day, and Me&u is Australia's leading at-table ordering service, putting them in the ideal position to know what Australians are, and aren't ordering.
Data from 1,400 venues nationally reveals we're ordering more cocktails than ever with a four per cent increase on average over the past six months.
The most significant increases were seen in Victoria and South Australia, as punters in those states increasingly ditched beer and wine in favour of cocktails, increasing 18 and 12 per cent, respectively, over the same period.
The peak in demand came in November 2022, just as the promise of summer was in the air and people started to think about warmer weather and time off work.
No surprises for the nation's most popular cocktail, with the number one spot going to the perennially popular Espresso Martini, followed closely by another classic, a Tommy's Margarita, in second place.
The cocktail with the fastest rise on the list was the Vodka-based Fruit Tingle, which enjoyed a 23 per cent increase in popularity over the past six months.
IWSR data shows that a preference for cocktails is growing at home, not just at the bar, with their research predicting premium RTD cocktails will rise at a compound annual growth rate of seven per cent between 2022 and 2026.
"Premium-priced RTDs have grown faster than any other segment over the past two years, albeit on a smaller volume base, with new products increasingly launching at higher prices.
"RTDs are a clear trade-up from beer, with consumers paying roughly double for the same size serve of an RTD in some markets," said the report.
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