THE TIMES OF CANADA MAY 2021
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE TRENDS IN 2021 M any consumers discovered just how important alcoholic beverages were in 2020. After all, there was a reason so many cities deemed liquor stores to be essential businesses when stay-at-home orders were first enacted in the spring. And while we may not – and probably shouldn’t – consume quite as many alcoholic beverages in 2021 (at least at home), many of the habits developed
this year will continue into the year ahead, while new trends will pop up as consumers get back to normal.
HARD SELTZER CONTINUES TO GROW – AND EVOLVE: Hard seltzer was the fastest-growing option on menus last year. I don’t mean it was the fastest-growing option on menus last year. I don’t mean it was the fastest-
growing alcoholic beverage on menus, I mean it was the fastest-growing menu item overall, topping any other food, ingredient, flavor, or beverage. So will this phenomenal growth continue in 2021? Absolutely – Haiku, our machine learning engine, predicts it will hit 7% of drink menus next year, which is amazing for a category that was on less than 1% of menus only 3 years ago. If you don’t have hard seltzer on the
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