You can tell a lot about a generation from the contents of their cool box: nowadays the barbecue ice bucket is likely to be filled with hard seltzers, non-alcoholic beers and fluorescent BuzzBallz — a particular favorite among Gen Z.
Two decades ago, it was WKD, Bacardi Breezers and the odd Smirnoff Ice bobbing in a puddle of melted ice. And while nostalgia may have brought back some alcopops, the new wave of ready-to-drink (RTD) options look and taste noticeably different.
It is not just the drinks that have changed, but drinking habits too, driven in part by more health-conscious consumers and demand for variety, according to Marten Lodewijks, the president of the drinks market analysts IWSR US.
Photo: AP
“A decade ago, hard seltzers, with less sugar and a lower ABV [alcohol by volume], appealed to a new, more health-conscious consumer that didn’t want quite as much sweetness. Lower calories also meant less flavor, however, and, as with any trend, a countertrend soon emerged,” he said.
Companies responded with a “much wider range of ABVs, flavors, sweetness levels and even carbonation.”
BACARDI BREEZERS TO BUZZBALLZ
Photo: Reuters
BuzzBallz, founded by a teacher and inspired by a snow globe, is among the newer arrivals tapping into that shift.
The instantly recognizable palm-sized spheres “climbed to become the number 18 RTD brand by volume in the UK,” Jess Scheerhorn, the vice-president at BuzzBallz, told the Drinks Business magazine, citing data from Circana, the US market research group.
The growing popularity of RTD products reflects a shift towards more casual, convenient drinking, often outside traditional settings such as pubs, Alice Baker, a senior research analyst at Mintel, said.
“Sales of RTDs have shot up from around ￡530 million [US$721,000] a decade ago to an estimated ￡970 million in 2024,” she said, with many people buying them as “a money-saving alternative to cocktails in pubs and bars.”
SOCIAL DRINKERS
The drinks company Diageo is aiming to make its classic brands such as Smirnoff, Guinness and Captain Morgan relevant to Gen Z drinkers, whom it suggests are wrongly perceived to be less interested in alcohol.
Giles Hedger, its global consumer planning director, said: “A lot of people talk about Gen Z being a cohort that is moving away from alcohol. Our data tells us otherwise. While they drink socially a little less frequently than other cohorts, they do so very enthusiastically.”
In fact, “Gen Z is super-committed to socializing,” he says, with alcohol a “very significant and enthusiastic part of that.”
According to Diageo, whose data draws on 150 consumer experts around the world and reams of market research, Gen Z do half their drinking in pubs and clubs and are fans of “three-hour-plus” occasions. They also “love spirits” and have a soft spot for cocktails.
Diageo has revamped Smirnoff Ice amid runaway demand for pre-mixed drinks. The 2000s alcopop has a new look and comes in a can, but according to the marketers, it still has the “citrus flavor notes that people know and love.”
Looks matter too — especially for a social media-savvy generation, Kiti Soininen, Mintel category director of UK food and drink research, said. “Our research shows that 73 percent of white spirits drinkers think that using visually appealing glassware makes drinking white spirits more enjoyable — which no doubt works in favor of BuzzBallz.”
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