When I first started drinking, the cocktails I imbibed were sweet.
So sweet, in fact, that they were almost headache-inducing. So sweet, they left a layer of unpleasant sugar coating on your teeth.
In recent years, we’ve seen cocktail trends swing in the opposite direction and there is a definite shift towards savoury flavours. I think, in no small part, thanks to online food culture.
Over the past few years, online food culture has become obsessed with all things briny and umami. This trend has now spread to drinks.
Take Internet personality and chef, Molly Baz, known by her fans for putting pickles in (almost) everything. Last year, she dipped her toe into drinks by publishing a recipe for what she dubbed Martini Thrice – a drink featuring olive brine, pickled onion brine and olives or pickles on top.
At the same time, trendy food and drink website Delli began selling not only food but also umami-themed merch, spotted in the form of both olive and tinned fish jigsaw puzzles. This year, the launch of brands such as Good Girl Snacks evidenced the trend further, with its tongue in cheek tagline, ‘making pickles sexy’.
Even singer Dua Lipa weighed in on the umami craze this October with an online video explaining, in her words, her ‘dirty soda’ – a mixture of Diet Coke, pickle juice and pickled jalapenos. A divisive combination.
At the end of November, Waitrose remarked on the trend in its 2024-25 Food and Drinks report. The retailer explains that “umami flavours are on the rise”, nodding to the likes of the Gilda Martini, which the report says became massively popular over the past year. The drink is “topped with a stick bearing an anchovy, an olive and a slice of pickled chilli pepper”.
In cocktails, cheese has also been popular, the report says, pointing to the feta brine Martini as an example.
Jacob Briars, Bacardi global trade advocacy director, likewise comments in the Bacardi Cocktails Trend Report 2025. He says: “We increasingly see a convergence between food and drink, with shared techniques and ingredients inspiring savoury cocktails.”
The report revealed a 23% increased interest in brine and 30% increased interest in oils in 2024, coming from bartenders in the Bacardi Global Brand Ambassador survey.
But how can this be applied to the off trade? Some producers, like Whitebox, appear to have hit the sweet spot already. Packaged in stylish cans, the bar strength RTD producer has mastered the savoury flavour profile with the likes of Tiny Tee’s Dirty Martini and Spicy Marg.
Co-founder of the brand, Ben Iravani, tells Drinks Retailing that food and drinks trends go hand in hand. “We saw drinks like the Negroni rise in popularity at a time when artisan coffee and craft beer had more consumers enjoying bitter flavours,” he explains.
“As the UK aims to move away from high sugar, there will be other flavour carriers that will be required to step in to provide full-flavoured products to consumers such as fats and salts,” Iravani says.
Iravani predicts drinks such as the Dirty Martini will continue growing in popularity over the coming years.
For other producers, like TV presenter turned gin maker James May, it’s all about creating umami flavours within the spirits themselves. Recognising the trend, his team wanted to create “new and unusual flavours – such as the combination of parsnips and Asian spices”, says Gus Colquhoun, co-founder of James Gin.
A similar approach is noted by Lauren Priestley, head of category development at Diaego GB, who points to the new release of Smirnoff Spicy Tamarind as an example of a savoury spirit.
Producers can also capitalise on the trend by promoting their existing products through at-home cocktail recipes. Umami-based suggestions can help steer consumers towards a particular product.
Whichever technique you opt for, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the savoury drinks trend is here to make an impact. So, it’s well worth considering.
And, in the meantime, do yourself a favour: enjoy a super briny umami martini. Extra points for pickles or cheese on top.
