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THE GROWTH IN POPULARITY of premium spirits, coupled with an increasing appetite for cocktails, means there’s much more of a spotlight on the drinks we mix with them. The bog-standard tonic on offer at the cash and carry will no longer do as punters demand brands with a bit more panache.

One such brand is, of course, Fever-Tree, which just keeps on innovating and, as a result, growing its sales.

Earlier this year, it joined forces with Patrón tequila to launch Fever-Tree Citrus tonic water, a mixer specifically designed to pair with the spirit.

The success of the Fever-Tree brand is, in part, due to the lengths the company goes to to get the right ingredients for its drinks. Co-founder Tim Warrillow says the team travelled across Mexico to discover the “passionate producers growing the finest citrus fruits” to couple with the tequila. So the limes they used came from Colima and Michoacán, the tangerines from Vera Cruz and the bitter oranges from Yucatán.

Fever-Tree international marketing director Richard Cuthbert says: “Simple mixability for the on-trade is increasingly important and is at the forefront of every innovation at Fever-Tree. Our full range of products has been developed to appeal to a wide range of taste profiles as well as to complement premium spirits. Due to the range of premium mixers we offer, bartenders can make a simple, yet delicious, long mixed drinks with four simple ingredients. By elevating a serve in a Copa or Highball glass using plenty of high-quality ice, a premium spirit, a Fever-Tree mixer and a fresh garnish, venues can charge a premium and provide a better drinking experience.”

Another spirit and mixer tie-up comes from Raisthorpe, which marked its 10th anniversary by launching a range of six Yorkshire tonics to go with its botanical gins and vodkas as well as its traditional dry gin.

The tonics are made at Raisthorpe’s farm on the UK’s Yorkshire Wolds by blending local water with a range of citrus and fruity botanicals. The botanicals are all natural ingredients so the company has already had a lot of interest from spas and health clubs, as well as bars.

“A premium mixer is the secret weapon in the bartender’s cocktail armoury,” says Raisthorpe sales and operations director Oliver Medforth. “To make a delicious cocktail you need the best quality spirits, freshest ingredients and beautiful glasses, but all of this can be undermined by the use of a less-than-spectacular premium mixer.”

He says the new tonics elevate the natural qualities of the gin without overpowering them: “The aromatic tonics have been carefully developed to enhance the flavours of spirits. For example, the Strawberry & Pomegranate is an ideal top-up to our Rhubarb gin, while the premium tonic is a perfect accompaniment to our full range of gins and vodkas, as well as other premium Yorkshire gins and vodkas.”

Raisthorpe has produced tasting notes for each of the tonics and will be recommending how they can be paired with traditional as well as flavoured gins. It will be following this up with recommended serves and cocktail recipes.

Pairing is definitely ‘in’ when it comes to premium mixers, as illustrated by the fact that Fentimans has developed its first Spirit Pairing Guide. This covers light and dark spirits including gin, vodka, agave, rum, whisk(e)y, fruit brandy and wine. Fentimans worked with world-class mixologists to create the pairings. Claire Tyson, Fentimans senior customer marketing manager, says: “When users are mixing our drinks, we need to ensure they’re having the ultimate flavour experience. Our Spirits Pairing Guide can be used as an inspiration to try new and exciting flavour combinations.”

Fever-Tree offers a bespoke menu service to its customers, which has proven to uplift premium gin sales by 45% and G&T sales by 61%, as it allows customers to explore different G&T pairings and discover the choice available in the category.

PAIRING WHEEL

Fever-Tree’s G&T pairing wheel also enables customers to navigate through the different styles of gin and discover G&T pairings with its range of flavoured tonic waters.

“It makes no sense to be serving a premium craft spirit with a low-quality mixer,” is the opinion of Mark Davidson, country manager for Australia and New Zealand at Artisan Drinks. “The use of post-mix or low-quality mixers reduces the quality of the mixed drink, whereas premium mixers improve the quality.”

He says there’s definitely a trend towards “authentic innovation” in soft drinks now in Australia and New Zealand. “While spirits, beer and wine have experienced a surge of innovation in the past decade, mixers have been slow to respond. That is changing – mixers now matter, to bartenders and to consumers. Everyone buys into the need to have a range of spirits offerings behind the bar. It won’t be long before it’s equally appreciated that having a range of premium mixer offerings to complement that variety of spirits also makes sense.”

Davidson says Artisan Drinks can straddle the world of spirits, with all its colour and innovation, bringing complementary flavours to consumers’ favourite cocktails, and the world of non-alcoholic cocktails or standalone adult soft drinks. “By way of example, our own Artisan Violet Blossom tonic perfectly complements a dry gin, can serve as the base for a colourful mocktail, or be presented as a refreshing long drink, served on its own over ice with a slice of orange.”

One flavour that is showing significant growth in the on-trade is malt and malt-based drinks. Developed in the 1960s, Supermalt is a non-alcoholic, caffeine-free, malt-based beverage with added B vitamins. Made using a unique blend of vegetable extracts and malt, brewed in the same way as beer, but without the added yeast to maintain its alcohol-free properties, Supermalt can be used for a range of spirit-based and cocktail drinks.

While gin remains all the rage, there is a growing focus on darker spirits and the mixers you can drink with them.

Cuthbert at Fever-Tree says: “It is evident that growth in cocktail culture is introducing to the dark spirit category a younger audience hungry for new serving suggestions, with 60% of 18 to 34-year-old whisky and rum drinkers using premium mixers (Source: CGA).

He points to Fever-Tree’s ginger range, which he says pairs perfectly with the complex flavour notes of the world’s finest whiskies.

“The de-stigmatisation of how to drink whisky is also exciting. Mixing whisky, particularly with ginger ale, is a trend we expect to see grow as customers are learning that they are ‘allowed’ to drink whisky however they like.”

ENHANCING TASTE

This ‘permission’ to mix whisky is communicated in Haig Club’s Make Your Own Rules advertising starring brand partner David Beckham. One of the ads shows Beckham creating a Haig Club cocktail to challenge the myth that whisky can’t be enjoyed with a mixer.

And Schweppes 1783’s latest addition – Muscovado – was crafted by mixologists to enhance the taste of dark spirits such as whisk(e)y and rum.

“Schweppes 1783 Muscovado is naturally flavoured to deliver hints of vanilla, caramel and butterscotch and will help licensees tap into the growing popularity of dark spirits,” says Amy Burgess, trade communications manager at Coca-Cola European Partners.

According to a study by Franklin & Sons, good-quality premium mixers are also breathing new life into spirits from yesteryear. Jen Draper, head of marketing at Franklin & Sons, says that more than half of trendy, 18 to 34-year-old millennial drinkers are considering mixing an old favourite with a premium tonic (53.2%) – with 70.6% of these saying they would consider re-mixing brandy or sherry.

“Our findings show that the rise and rise of premium quality tonics and mixers is continuing, with Brits using their rekindled love of a G&T to rediscover old favourites such as sherry, port and brandy with tonic,” she says.

The new Franklin & Sons flavoured tonic water range has been specially created to mix well with a variety of spirits – not just gin. There are four flavours designed to enhance lower-abv serves: Rosemary tonic water with Black Olive, Rhubarb tonic water with Hibiscus, Elderflower tonic water with Cucumber, and Pink Grapefruit

And it’s not just Brits who are enjoying the Franklin & Sons range, as brand owner Global Brands has increased its international footprint to more than 55 countries and grown export volumes of its premium range of soft drinks, tonics and mixers by 100% in the 12 months to the end of June 2018.

MARKET DRIVERS

Meanwhile, the Thomas Henry brand is enjoying continuous double-digit growth, primarily driven by the western European market. The company’s CEO, Sigrid Bachert, says: “Every country has its own success story. In Italy, for instance, our spicy Ginger Beer enjoys great popularity, the Netherlands, however, are more focused on tonic water varieties. And, with great expectations, Thomas Henry has now made it across the pond, entering the US market in June just in time for Bar Convent Brooklyn.”

June also saw the launch of Thomas Henry Coffee tonic, which Bachert says brought a big barista trend into the world of bartenders: cold-brew coffee, with a high quinine content, to be consumed pure or mixed with spirits such as rum, whiskey or amaro.

Yet another trend in premium mixers’ favour is that younger people are drinking less alcohol. A study of 10,000 young people in the UK, published in medical journal BMC Public Health, found that the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds who say they never drink alcohol rose from 18% in 2005 to 29% in 2015. The study also found that young people who did drink alcohol were drinking less and that binge drinking rates were falling.

And it’s not just in the UK that people are shunning alcohol. The proportion of teetotallers in Australia increased from 11% in 2007 to 20% in 2017 (Drinkwise Australia).

Gunna, a new range of craft soft drinks, is positioned to take advantage of this trend. Melvin Jay, CEO of Gunna, says: “People who aren’t drinking want to know that bars are putting as much effort into their soft drinks range – including the products they stock, how they’re served and the aesthetics of the final drink – as they are with their alcoholic serves.

“If they feel they’re being short changed and the only drinks on offer are the usual colas, lemonade and orange options from a tap, they’ll either choose another venue, or stay at home.”

He adds that this extends to soft drinks being used as mixers as well. “There’s been a big movement around drinkers trading up to drink less spirits, but better quality ones, and with this comes the need for a wider variety, and higher quality, of mixer.

“Customers are now so aware of what they are drinking, it is important to showcase the ingredients in a product well. However expensive the spirit, if it’s served with a cheap mixer the flavour of the drink will be instantly ruined.”

And, although created as mixers, Raisthorpe’s Medford says its new Yorkshire tonics are also good on their own, over ice.

Draper at Franklin & Sons says the company’s research found that almost half of under-35s said that they were likely to order a non-alcoholic drink on a night out.

She says the Franklin & Sons range of premium drinks has been created with ‘multi-use’ in mind – as a soft drink or mixed into mocktails.

“There’s no reason why a non-alcoholic mocktail or beautiful soft drink can’t offer the same level of taste satisfaction and stylish serve. Our soft drinks range contains a tertiary ingredient so allows for more complex and interesting mocktails to be made, while ensuring those who don’t drink alcohol often or at all can feel included in the move towards craft drinks.”

COMMUNICATION

This belief fuelled the launch of the new Franklin & Sons’ range of non-alcoholic Infused Sodas. “We based the depth of flavours on the same complex taste of a high-end cocktail and created the drinks to be served in a tall wine glass, over ice with a fruit garnish. As well as a great-tasting non-alcoholic drink, the serving experience, either in a bar or at home, is enhanced. Furthermore, the drinks are only made using all-natural ingredients, which appeals to those paying more attention to what they are drinking.”

In terms of communicating with the on-trade, for Thomas Henry it’s all about bar education, with exclusive masterclasses (such as ice-carving workshops and herbal workshops), exchange events (such as The House Of Thomas Henry) and its livestream academy (thomas-henry.com/bar-academy).

Bachert says its approach is all about giving back to all of its clients – experienced and unexperienced.

Thomas Henry is also the exclusive premium mixer partner of The World’s 50 Best Bars, which makes Bachert a part of the global bartender elite. “Of course, this would barely be possible without our global brand ambassador, Phum Sila-Trakoon and his talented team,” he says.

For brands such as Artisan, where each label is described as a work of art, Davidson believes the perfect serve – where the bottle containing the remainder of the mixer is served to the consumer together with the mixed drink – in the on-trade environment is very powerful. “This helps build both brand awareness and brand affinity,” he says.

“Social media allows us to target the bartender community with key category and brand messages that are seen in context of our consumers’ lifestyles. By connecting with and following other premium spirits brands in the social media space, we build quality and craft associations for our own Artisan brand.

“A striking feature of the Australian craft spirits market is the strong sense of encouragement and support that you feel is shared among all of the competing local distillers.

“We think premium mixers can benefit from a similar approach, where we each look to bring our own unique offering and perspective to this very vibrant beverage landscape and by doing so help grow the category.”

As for communicating to the end consumer, Bachert says that, with different drink activations such as Mules Around The World or Gin & Thomas, it can show that there is so much more to explore than just a regular G&T or Moscow Mule.

“But predominantly we do not

communicate to consumers directly. The on-trade, and in particular the bar community, is our primary target group.”