In a world full of options, the quest for the most popular drink has taken an intriguing turn. The beverage landscape is always evolving, from the traditional to the avant-garde.
So, what is the most popular drink at the moment? Let’s go into the enticing realm of beverages to find out!
1. Margarita
The traditional Margarita is the beverage you’re fantasizing about this holiday season. Trends come and go, but the country is seeking this familiar combination of tequila, sour mix, orange liquor, and lime juice–with or without salt.
Add some strawberries or raspberries to the basic Margarita. There are numerous ways to decorate this cocktail’s blank canvas. Enjoy your beverages responsibly, whatever you enjoy them this season!
2. Mojito
The Mojito came in second, slightly behind the most popular cocktail. Bartenders dread crafting this legendary mint-muddled drink topped with rum and club soda.
If you make it at home, use the best-looking mint because it adds great flavor to the drink.
3. Cosmopolitan
The classic Cosmo, which swept the country with the release of Sex and the City, is a festive-looking drink for the holidays.
Again, restrict yourself to one because this is a lot of booze wrapped up in a nice wrapper. It has vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, and fresh lime juice in it.
4. Pornstar Martini
This intriguingly titled cocktail originated in Britain, where it is the number one cocktail. It’s made with vodka, vanilla syrup, lime juice, passion fruit, prosecco, and passoa, a liqueur flavored with passion fruit.
It sounds great and looks festive, and it’s sure to spark conversation.
5. Long Island Iced Tea
For good reason, a Long Island Iced Tea has a poor reputation as a college drink. This extremely strong drink is made up of four different liquors plus some flavoring. This one should be avoided.
6. Mai Tai
The Mai Tai naturally conjures up images of being whisked away to Hawaii, which many of us wish we could do this time of year. This is a difficult cocktail with several unusual ingredients.
It’s made with rum, lime juice, orange curacao, and orgeat syrup, an almond-flavored syrup. Instead of a Mai Tai, try a basic rum punch.
7. Aperol Spritz
This drink, made of bitter-sweet Aperol, prosecco, and club soda, is appropriate for the holidays. It’s a wonderful red color that’s light enough to pair with hors d’oeuvres and white conversing around the Christmas tree.
Some Other Popular Drinks
Vodka-Based Cocktails
Cape Cod
Yes, younger people are ordering these in large numbers. This well-known combination of vodka and cranberry juice arose from a 1940s advertising campaign.
Originally known as a “Red Devil,” this Ocean Spray creation was renamed in the 1960s to reflect its cranberry bog Northeast roots.
Kyiv Mule
This classic has weathered decades of prominence, rising in popularity in recent years, but it’s taking on a new form after 500+ days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last year, a movement arose to rename the Mule in solidarity with and support for Ukrainian independence. It is political, but it is also justified.
Espresso Martini
The espresso martini is the reigning champion of culturally significant cocktails, and it may be found on cocktail menus all around the world.
It’s no longer simply “the drink for the fashion and art crowd”; it’s pretty much everywhere you look. If this Overheard NY account is accurate, you have your proof.
Rum-Based Cocktails
Rum Punch
It is the height of summer. What about a rum punch? After all, few drinks are as refreshing. Despite being seasonal, this cocktail remains popular because of its simplicity and deliciousness.
As our collective need for all things frozen rises, it’s one that genuinely turns attention in barrooms, especially when garnished with a bouquet of fruit.
Jungle Bird
As customers develop a sophisticated taste for bitter aperitivos, they look for new and creative ways to combine them. While the Jungle Bird drink dates back to the 1970s, it is now a standard on bar menus across the country.
It’s a delightful cooler with blackstrap rum, pineapple, and lime juice, and bitter Campari adds complexity and intrigue. It’s a tiki drink that doesn’t want to be a tiki drink.
Gin-Based Cocktails
Martini
The Martini, ah, the Martini. The most refined cocktail. Depending on your preferences, you can make it in various ways. Many debates have raged over the best spirit to vermouth ratio: gin or vodka, twist or olive.
All of that can be put to rest. The Martini is a representation of your personality and tastes. That is most likely why they are so popular these days. That, and to quench our insatiable appetite for intoxicating beverages.
Negroni
This one has been popular for a few years, but with everyone appearing to be vacationing on the Amalfi coast this summer, those of us who have remained in the United States have been looking for the next best thing to pretend we haven’t been left behind.
The Negroni accomplishes this. A straightforward and energizing combination of gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. It’s an excellent pre-dinner, mid-dinner, and post-dinner drink. With so many new aperitivos on the market, it’s also spawning new lifeforms. As a result, it’s one of the year’s most popular cocktails.
Cocktails Made with Tequila
Tequila Sunrise
This one is intriguing. This cocktail of tequila, orange juice, and grenadine is cocktail 101, and it’s probably one of the top search results for tequila-based beverages.
Whiskey-Based Cocktails
Manhattan
This iconic cocktail, no longer your grandfather’s cherry-adorned Manhattan, has withstood centuries due to its simple ingredients: bitters, whiskey, and sweet vermouth.
Today, though, it’s been given the spa treatment, with each barroom getting a makeover. And, because many of us work from home, a traditional, easy-to-make cocktail like the Manhattan is ideal for settling down after a long day, which is probably why it’s a popular search for U.S. customers.
Old Fashioned
The drink that started it all. The origins of the Old Fashioned can be traced back to 1806, when a reader of the upstate New York newspaper, The Balance and Columbian Repository, voiced perplexity about a reference to “cock-tail” in the previous week’s publication.
The term “cocktail” evolved into “old-fashioned cocktail” before becoming what it is today. Its revival and reign at the top of the cocktail canon, once a Mad Men staple, continues to this day.
Paper Plane
Among today’s cocktail connoisseurs, this cocktail is regarded as a modern classic. Inspired by M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” famed Milk & Honey bartender Sam Ross was asked to create a signature drink for the debut of Chicago’s The Violet Hour.
In the same company as the Last Word and the Naked & Famous, it’s an equal parts sour. The cocktail, which is refreshing, sour, bitter, and balanced, debuted on The Violet Hour’s menu in 2008 and hasn’t disappeared since.
Thanks for reading. I hope you find it helpful.