Skip to main content

This Year’s Cocktail Trends Coming Your Way in 2022

In the land of drinks, things can come and go in a flash. One minute, the world is enjoying a Negroni; the next they’ve moved on to Virginia wine. It can be tough to keep up, we know, but we’re fairly up to speed with the industry. And we’re that way thanks to chatting up those in the know, early and often.

So, with 2022 still unfolding, what should we expect to see from the perspective of the barstool? Blue drinks? More non-alcoholic beer options? The continued rise of spirits like cognac and sherry? Well, there’s no fun in giving away the entire ending but we have looked at the crystal ball and come away with some key takeaways you can bet on bar-wise this year.

Once in a Blue Moon Cocktail.
Carley Gaskin

Let’s begin with flavored whiskies, something we saw surge of in 2021, with no signs of slowing this year. Expect to see more house infusions at your favorite watering holes and new releases, well beyond the buzzed-about ones like peanut butter. With a long list of complementary flavors, fruit-driven to nutty, we’re set to see some interesting releases.

Recommended Videos

We also foresee agave spirits like mezcal and tequila continuing to gain steam, likely less so in the celebrity-run realm and more so in the down-to-earth realm. Consumers are drinking brands they believe in more and will likely be decreasingly swayed by whatever an NBA star is hocking or some canned wine an actor is filling his Instagram feed with. Watch out for a true awakening with mezcal, especially, and for pop culture to treat it with more nuance and reverence than we do now (you know, above and beyond the stereotypical “oh, the smoky kind of tequila”).

Christopher Amirault is the head mixologist at luxury hotel The Maybourne in Beverly Hills. There, an impressive drinks program includes lovely resort cocktails like the Tikki Tea, a mix of green-tea-infused mezcal, citrus, coconut, and yuzu. He believes the near future is all about looking out for the environment and being portable. “Most bars are exploring ways in which they can continue to make their methods of operation more sustainable while simultaneously capitalizing on-to-go methods like ready-to-drink,” Amirault says.

A rusty nail cocktail.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Over in Hawaii, Jim Lunchick is a mixologist at Merriman’s. He sees the tiki trend going strong, with the corresponding ingredients to keep it moving. “Get aboard the falernum train,” he advises. “In 2022, mixologists will continue to expand on the homemade mixers and syrups that reinvigorate the classics. Specifically, I anticipate syrup heads to start making their own version of falernum.”

Ice is an oft-overlooked component of the cocktail kingdom, but Lunchick believes that’s about to change, with ice potentially even soon stealing the show. “Get ready to be offered four different ice options with your cocktail,” he says. “Just be sure you don’t forget your cocktail mitten.” He also believes in blue this year, from blue sustainable paper straws to gin and even blue ice. “Blue is the new clear when it comes to cocktail trends,” he adds.

At the Surfjack Hotel and Swim Club in Honolulu, Christian Taibi is the bar manager at resident watering hole Mahina & Sun’s. He believes we’ll all be craving togetherness again, especially as the pandemic subsides. “How you connect with your guests will be just as important as what’s in their glass,” he says. “The desire to be around people and to mix and mingle will take priority. The art of conversation will take precedent over the art of mixology.”

Of course, there will be drinks. Taibi thinks what’s old will be new again. “We’ll see a continued resurgence, and even improvement, on retro classics like the cosmopolitan and the crowd-pleasing rusty nails,” he says. “People want nostalgia and yearn for ‘the ways things were,’ but want a light twist on them. Retro cocktails will definitely become even more incredibly relevant.”

Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
For great cocktails, you need to squeeze your citrus
When you're at the store, give the citrus fruit a gentle squeeze to see if it's good
benefits of limes health cropped

We all know that for great cocktails, you need great ingredients. That's especially true for relatively simple cocktails of just a few ingredients, as these leave nowhere to hide. Usually we think of that rule in terms of not using bottom-shelf spirits, and making sure that our vermouth is kept in the fridge and hasn't gone bad. But it applies to fresh ingredients too, especially citrus.

Citrus fruits, especially lemon and lime, are some of the most common cocktail ingredients, used in everything from Mojitos to Gin Gimlets to Whiskey Sours. So it's important to get these fruits right when you want to use them for mixing.
How to pick great citrus at the store
You'll often see cocktail recipes call for freshly squeezed juices specifically, and that's because there's no way that preserved juices from a carton can compare to something fresh out of a fruit. Starting with fresh lemons or limes is good, but not all citrus fruit is created equal, and here's where you want to be careful when shopping.

Read more
This cocktail brings the flavors of pumpkin pie to your glass
Love it or hate it, pumpkin pie season is upon us
pumpkin pie cocktail bushwacker png

Golden leaves, crisp mornings, and days which suddenly seem so much shorter than they were a month ago: Fall is here in full. And that means the yearly arrival of pumpkin spice everything as everyone shifts into cozy fall moods and gets out their warm sweaters from storage.

Though pumpkin pie flavors tend to lean very sweet, that doesn't mean they can't be used in cocktails. You'll find a range of pumpkin spice cocktails which embrace the dessert drink vibe, and below we have another option to add to the roster. From rum cream brand Bushwacker comes this pumpkin pie cocktail recipe, bringing together flavors of pumpkin, vanilla, and maple syrup to create a sweet treat of a drink that will keep you warm as the cold evenings arrive.

Read more
The best spiced rum cocktails to spice up your palate this fall
It's time to rethink spiced rum: The complex spirit is great in a number of fall-ready cocktails
Lava Roasted Manhattan cocktail.

It happens every year. As summer transitions into fall, it's time to say farewell to favorites such as pilsners, lighter wines, such as sauvignon blanc, and margaritas, and say what's up to Scotch whisky, cabernet sauvignon, and spiced rum cocktails.

That's right, it's time to transition to darker, heftier sippers to get us through the fall and winter. For rum drinkers, that means something aged longer and often hit with a complimentary batch of spices. You see, spiced rum can be a beautiful, complex, soothing drink when it is paired with just the right ratio of additives. Like a great gin, it can take on (or be infused with) a number of great aroma and flavor-building ingredients.

Read more