London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Mixing it up: record number of Britons drink cocktails in Covid pandemic

Mixing it up: record number of Britons drink cocktails in Covid pandemic

Drinks firm AG Barr says pornstar martinis and mojitos are among UK’s most popular cocktails

Britons are drinking cocktails in record numbers at home and in bars according to drinks group AG Barr, as consumers opt for a pornstar martini or mojito in a trend accelerated during the pandemic.

The Scottish company, which makes Irn-Bru, Rubicon and cocktail brand Funkin, said 7.4 million people drink cocktails when they go to a bar, club or restaurant, a 13% increase compared with pre-pandemic levels. About 43% of those cocktail drinkers indulge at least once a week.

AG Barr, which reported that its overall business had bounced back above pre-pandemic levels in the year to 30 January, first noticed the cocktail boom last spring as Covid restrictions that kept the hospitality industry shut were lifted. Sales of its mixers jumped more than 60% in the 10 weeks after restrictions were lifted, compared with pre-pandemic.

“The cocktail category has performed extremely well, benefiting from increased numbers of consumers returning to venues and increasing levels of participation in the category,” the company said. “Cocktails outperformed other categories.”

The company said that the popularity of cocktails had endured, accounting for 9.9% of total venue drink sales between April and 23 October last year, compared with 6% in the same period pre-pandemic.

“While the emergence of the Omicron variant towards the end of 2021 led to both the reintroduction of some social restrictions and increased consumer caution over the festive period, the cocktail category remains a significant growth opportunity for the hospitality sector in general,” the company said.

The surge in the popularity of drinking cocktails while locked down at home has continued despite the reopening of pubs, bars and clubs. The company said the sale of cocktails for home consumption had risen 44% year-on-year to be worth £92m, of a total ready-to-drink market of £509m. Bestsellers include pornstar martini, mojito, sex on the beach, Long Island iced tea and daiquiri.

In February, AG Barr said it was increasing its prices after packaging, ingredients and energy-linked commodity costs jumped, as it raised its sales and profit estimates.

On Tuesday, the company reported a 62% increase in pretax profits to £42.2m for the year to 30 January. Revenues rose 18% to £268.8m with the financial performance leading the company to reintroduce its dividend during the year.

More than 7.4 million people drink cocktails when they go to a bar, club or restaurant, AG Barr said.


“Our business and brands have once again proven their resilience in uncertain and often challenging circumstances,” said the AG Barr chief executive, Roger White. “Trading in the early weeks of the new financial year has been well ahead of the prior year and in line with our expectations.”

However, with inflation at a 40-year high and home energy bills soaring, the cost-of-living crisis is likely to force consumers to cut spending.

Russ Mould, the investment director at AJ Bell, said: “There are considerable uncertainties about the strength of consumer spending once we move into April and energy prices shoot up. Inflationary pressures in general are intensifying and consumers will have to make some serious decisions about where they spend money, and where they cut back. AG Barr will no doubt be banking on the consumer continuing to find some cash for small treats like its range of fizzy drinks, including Irn-Bru, as well as people refusing to give up small luxuries such as a night out with friends – which is relevant to its Funkin cocktail brand.”

White acknowledged that he expected to see a change in consumer demand compared with the past several years, but said the company’s relatively low-cost products meant it was not at the top of the budget-cutting list.

“We have been through a couple of recessionary periods and we haven’t suffered as a category and business as much as many have,” he said. “This is largely because what we offer is an affordable treat. A lot of our products are under £1 per serving, and remain under £1 even with this inflationary impact. We are not immune but we are at the right end of things.”

He said AG Barr had looked at everything to control costs, from packaging and recipes to reducing transportation miles. In the past two years the company had cut its portfolio of about 600 variations of its products – from bottle sizes to multi-packs – to 400 and in September 2020 cut headcount by about 10%.

“It has been about value optimisation, trying to make more with less,” he said. “We are confident in our growth momentum.”

The drinks company made global headlines last November when the US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted an Instagram video praising Irn-Bru, after being handed a can by the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on her arrival in Glasgow for the Cop26 conference.

The UK’s most popular cocktails


1. Pornstar martini

Vanilla-flavoured vodka, Passoã, passion fruit, lime juice (original: chilled shot of prosecco on side)

The pornstar martini ‘has a bite to it and is fairly alcoholic’, says Shaun Churchyard at the AKA restaurant and bar.


2. Mojito

White rum, sugar, lime juice, soda water, mint

The rum-based mojito originated in Cuba.


3. Sex on the beach

Vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, cranberry juice

The sex on the beach cocktail is a summer classic.


4. Long Island iced tea

Vodka, tequila, white rum, triple sec, gin, lemon juice, splash of cola

The Long Island iced tea is more alcoholic than its name implies.


5. Daiquiri

White rum, lime juice, sugar syrup
Source: AG Barr, AKA

Strawberries are a popular addition to the classic daiquiri.


View from the bar


“After lockdown people just wanted to go out and enjoy themselves and that has fuelled the boom in cocktails,” said Shaun Churchyard, bar manager at AKA, a fusion restaurant and bar in Witham, Essex. “We’ve found there are new groups of people who are now up for testing new drinks, taking a punt, and are now trading that post-dinner wine, or even traditional beer, for a cocktail.”

Churchyard said the rise of the pornstar martini as the nation’s favourite cocktail was partly because of its popularisation on reality TV shows such as The Only Way is Essex. However, he also says that, name notwithstanding, it is a “nice tasting cocktail, well-rounded, sweet, has a bite to it and is fairly alcoholic”.

The pornstar martini was apparently made popular via reality TV shows such as The Only Way is Essex.


Alongside the traditional top five, people are now up for trying a wider range of cocktails with negroni, Manhattan and old fashioned staples on many cocktail menus. Expect a boost for longer drinks over summer, such as a gin fizz, but look no further than a mojito for the cocktail that holds its appeal no matter the weather, he said.

“Drinkers are much more open to trying different drinks than they were,” said Churchyard, who does not think the cost of living crisis will kill the rise of the cocktail.

“I think cocktails have now become people’s little luxury, that little vice.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×