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 favourite 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.
“A decade ago, hardseltzers, 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 flavour, however, and, as with any trend, a countertrend soon emerged,” he said.
Companies responded with a “much wider range of ABVs, flavours, sweetness levels and even carbonation”.
BuzzBallz, founded by a teacher and inspired by a snow globe, is among the newer arrivals tapping into that shift.
The instantly recognisable 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 £530m a decade ago to an estimated £970m in 2024,” she said, with many people buying them as “a money-saving alternative to cocktails in pubs and bars”.
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 socialising”, 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 00s alcopop has a new look and comes in a can, but according to the marketers it still has the “citrus flavour 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% of white spirits drinkers think that using visually appealing glassware makes drinking white spirits more enjoyable – which no doubt works in favour of BuzzBallz.”
