Think you have free will when placing your drink order? Like it or not, there are a multitude of reasons why you drink what you drink.
What may at first seem like an expression of personal preference is, in fact, the result of complex interactions between market forces, social and political movements, climate change and too many other factors to name here. Basically, what you drink is a reflection of the moment in time in which you live.
What does that tell us about the future drinks landscape? Wine Enthusiast Writer-at-Large and spirits reviewer Kara Newman may not have a crystal ball, but she’s been reading the tea leaves and recently shared her predictions for how we’ll be imbibing in 2025.
Some build on this past year’s trends—tequila’s not going anywhere, nor are zero-proof cocktails. But others caught us by surprise.
In this episode, we dig deeper into three of those predictions. Agave-based spirits—most notably tequila and mezcal—are continuing their rapid ascent to the heavens. Though tequila hasn’t yet taken vodka’s crown as the best-selling spirit category in the country, it’s getting closer each year. It’s also inspiring some interesting riffs on the nation’s most popular cocktail, the margarita. Newman even shares her prediction for what she thinks will be the cocktail du jour of 2025, the al pastor margarita. (You heard it here first, folks!)
Newman also chats about the rise of savory cocktails—drinks that call on umami-rich ingredients like miso, mushrooms and fish sauce—and the fad-ification of
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
