Written by Tyler Zielinski (AKA @bon_vivantito)
5 Cocktail Trends to Watch in 2026
As the New Year swiftly approaches, it’s once again time to reflect on what defined cocktail culture in 2025 — and to identify the trends poised to thrive in 2026.
Much will feel familiar: savoury and nostalgic cocktails continue their steady rise; minimalist serves still dominate at higher-end bars, even as their influence begins to wane; maximalist, Instagrammable drinks persist to capture the attention of value-minded Gen Z drinkers; and tiny cocktails, Martinis especially, have taken the bar world by storm as more venues embrace this small-but-mighty way of imbibing. Yet beneath these headline movements, subtle but meaningful shifts are emerging — ones that may set the tone for the years to come.
Big cities are delving deeper into cocktail tasting menus, transforming tiny cocktails into curated, multi-sensory beverage experiences. And we’re finally seeing more originality in cocktail style and presentation after a brief period of sameness. In this feature, we examine the state of the bar industry and share five key trends to watch out for in 2026.
Classic cocktails with a twist, powered by concept
After decades of pushing technical boundaries to their virtual limits in the name of flavour and innovation, bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts alike are finally showing signs of suffering from high-concept cocktail fatigue. To counter this fatigue, there’s a new wave of cocktail bars ditching the laborious concept menus and extravagant drink presentations in favour of a more stripped-back bar experience that puts vibe and classically-structured drinks at the forefront.
The poster child of this movement, who is rewriting the bar industry’s playbook for what is considered “the best” is none other than Hong Kong’s Bar Leone, currently the World’s Best Bar, according to The World’s 50 Best Bars. Since opening in 2023, this Rome-influenced neighbourhood bar has let conceptually coherent twists on classics, such as its Olive Oil Sour, drive the beverage offering, while its transportive neighbourhood bar vibe — composed through a mix of the lighting, music, design and service — does most of the heavy lifting in terms of guest experience.
It’s a change in tune from recent eras where the liquid in the glass was expected to do most of the talking at cutting-edge cocktail bars. With Bar Leone’s meteoric rise and global success, and its newly-debuted sister bar Montana following a similar blueprint, more bars are realising that they don’t need to spend 100 hours in the lab for menu prep every week to be considered one of the best bars in the world. Instead, they can create approachable drinks inspired by classics and refine every other detail for a more holistic bar experience that allows guests to be fully immersed — a welcome feat for consumers who are increasingly craving more offline experiences.
Less homogeneity in cocktail style
The days of every high-end cocktail bar serving drinks that emulate a coloured glass of water are finally waning (those rotavaps and centrifuges have earned a little break, to be fair). Minimalist cocktails have been the name of the cocktail game for the past half decade, with maximalist serves — primarily driven by flashy, gastronomic garnishes — also gaining traction in the last couple years to appease the TikTok generation. Last year, we highlighted these popular drink styles in our 2025 trend round-up; but with noteworthy new openings like Montana, which has two powerhouse bartenders behind the project, launching with classic-inspired serves, consumers are starting to see some distinctiveness among the cocktails served in bars. As more bars “follow the leader,” so to say, expect more originality in bars due to a greater focus on sense of place and storytelling through concept than technique.
Cocktails chilled without dilution
“There is no chilling without dilution, and there is no dilution without chilling,” is a fundamental principle of cocktail making drilled into the brains of modern bartenders by the inimitable Dave Arnold, author of Liquid Intelligence. The primary vehicle for chilling and diluting cocktails, as most bartenders know, is ice. But in 2025, we’ve seen an uptick in bars exploring novel ways of controlling a cocktail’s water content and temperature — namely through the use of non-ice alternatives and encased ice for chilling drinks.
At The Coral Room at The Bloomsbury Hotel in London, their Quixote cocktail made with gin, melon cordial, orange fino sherry, padron peppers and grapefruit soda uses multi-coloured frozen melon balls to chill the highball with minimal dilution, in place of a typical ice spear. Another clever method of chilling a mixed drink without dilution appears at Argo at the Four Seasons Hong Kong where their Bergamot & Wood Gimlet is served in a wooden vessel over two frozen wood balls in place of a large ice cube.
![last days of fig leaf v2marc de bourgogne [raisin eau de vie], fig leaf vermouth & alpine bitter](https://ik.imagekit.io/cvygf2xse/jamesonwhiskey/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Last-days-of-FIG-LEAF_v2Marc-de-Bourgogne-raisin-eau-de-vie-fig-leaf-vermouth-alpine-bitter.jpg?tr=q-80,w-1024)
Meanwhile, at De Vie in Paris, ice is ditched altogether — for mixing or serving — as a way to cut down on water wastage. As a result, the team uses an array of techniques and temperature-optimised vessels to ensure their cocktails are served and remain as cold as they should be for guests. This includes pouring the drinks tableside from insulated metal cups, but more to the point is their use of thicker recycled glassware and ceramics with built-in “whiskey rock” pieces that create a larger thermal mass to retain cold temperatures for longer. Some other bars also encase balls of ice in coconut oil for a similar effect, and these are just a few applications of an emerging trend that has both functional and visual appeal.
The tiny cocktail revolution has officially taken hold
With drink-flation alive and well, GLP-1 weight loss drugs shrinking appetites, and countless other drinking dilemmas that tiny cocktails can solve, it’s safe to say small-format drinking will flourish in 2026.
Tiny Cocktails being published in February 2025, and the subsequent press coverage that came with it which ranged from Bon Appetit and Wall Street Journal, to British Vogue and beyond, added fuel to a flame that was already on its way to becoming a full-fledged blaze. And beyond the financial and wellness benefits of micro-dosing cocktails, bars have also realised they’re ideal for guest discovery and specific cocktail types (e.g. serves like the Irish Coffee are well-suited for tiny format as some drinkers prefer to consume less caffeine, but still want to enjoy the flavour of the classic cocktail).
The Clumsies in Athens offer a selection of original tiny serves such as their Athenian Spritz No.2 for curious imbibers interested in tasting a wider variety of flavour. At Press Club in Washington D.C, the bar’s In a Cadillac comes with two distinctly different tiny ‘tini variations for guests to enjoy side by side (basically a two-for-one deal). London’s Archive & Myth, who we shouted out in last year’s annual trends feature for their impressive tiny cocktail program, have upped the ante by offering every cocktail on their menu in mini format as a way to introduce guests to new ingredients they possibly haven’t tried before. And at Bar 1661 in Dublin, they’ve gone even bigger on tiny cocktails, which leads us to…
Big cities going all-in on cocktail tasting menus
While smaller markets have generally struggled getting cocktail tasting menu concepts to stick, bigger cities such as Paris, New York, Barcelona and even Dublin, by way of Bar 1661, have found success with these adventurous drinking experiences — all of which are made possible by courses of tiny cocktails.
At Bar 1661, their robust tasting experience is ticketed and limited to ten guests per seating. And during the tasting, which also includes some much-needed nibbles, imbibers are offered 28 mini cocktails from the menu, learning about the producers, techniques and overall inspiration of every serve along the way (this takes 3.5 hours for all who are curious). Similarly at Kwant Mayfair, the bar offers a curated omakase cocktail experience at their distinctive six-seat bar counter where five tiny cocktails are paired with small bites. In New York City, Studio at Clemente Bar — Eleven Madison Park’s sister bar — elevates their five-course tiny tasting menu with world class bites from the kitchen downstairs. And at SIPS ESENCIA, this coursed drinking format drives the entire bar concept as guests receive nine “sips” in three thematic sequences in what is probably the drinking experience most akin to having a two Michelin-starred meal. As consumers continue seeking more from their food and drink experiences, tiny cocktail tasting menus bring something fresh and Instagrammable to the bar landscape.
About the writer
Tyler is a multifaceted drinks professional who has worked in the bar industry for the past decade as a drinks writer, bar consultant, educator, content creator and bartender. He’s best known for his online presence via @bon_vivantito, as well as his drinks writing for Punch, Class, Eater, Food & Wine and 50 Best. He’s also the author of Tiny Cocktails, published by Clarkson Potter in 2025.
