Most Popular Cocktail of Every Year For The Past 2 Decades
From Y2K to Today: 20 years of cocktails, but which was every years most popular?
Key Takeaways
Over the past 20 years it’s been the same 5 cocktails in the number 1 spot.
Data has been taken from google searches. The most popular cocktail searched of each year is what determined the most popular cocktail of that year.
Although craft cocktails seem to be becoming more and more popular, the trend shows that nostalgia and simplicity reigns supreme.
TV and Film have a large impact on what’s popular and what’s not.
From the past 20 years, 12 of those years have had Vodka as the most popular spirit base.
Sour drinks and Martini styled drinks rule the entire list.
How Accurate Is This List?
The list is based of how many times people have googled a specific cocktail for each year.
The list will never be nor will any list be 100% accurate due to the amount of impossible to track factors involved. Let me explain; I could ask 500 bars from across the world what there most popular classic cocktail is, what people have ordered the most. I could use that data to say “well okay, the Old Fashioned is the most mentioned, that means the Old Fashioned must be the most popular” then I could ask 500 different bars the same question and get an entirely different answer.
The only way to be certain would be to ask every bar in the world. And even then, it wouldn’t account for what people are making at home.
Drinks International do this every year. They ask 100 of the worlds most popular bars what they’re most popular drink is, and compile that data into a list of the most popular cocktails. But that doesn’t mean people are making those cocktails at home. Sometimes people don’t feel confident ordering certain cocktails, either because they think they’ll be judged, or the bars simply don’t know how to make them.
That’s why I used google to come up with my list.
But this has flaws as well. For example, just because someone is googling a cocktail, doesn’t mean they are going to drink it. So this might be a list of the most popular cocktails, but it doesn’t mean these are the most drank cocktails of each year.
More Problematic Factors
We also can’t say for certain what peoples individual intentions are when searching for a cocktail. For example, the term Martini Recipe props up as the most popular term in multiple years but we can’t say for certain whether that’s people wanting to know how to make a martini, or something similar such as a Pornstar Martini or Espresso Martini.
However, with all that said and done. This is the most accurate list you will find. We use tools such as Google Trends and Keywords in order to find which cocktail from every year is the most searched for on google. Even if people are not drinking those cocktails or ordering them in bars, it’s safe to say that they are indeed, the most popular cocktails worldwide.
Global top cocktails
It’s also worth me mentioning that these are the top cocktail searches worldwide. Not from one specific country. In certain places like the UK, the most popular cocktail was vastly different then say, America. So the one that makes the list is the overall most searched for cocktail.
What We Can Learn From This
As well as just being interesting to see what cocktails we’re popular in each year over the past 20 years, this list offers us insight into the trends of each year. It also provides us with a better insight into future trend predictions.
Every year I do a drinks and cocktail trend prediction for the year ahead. Check out previous years like my 2023 list, 2022 list and 2021 list.
Being able to see what’s came before gives us a much clearer understanding of what will come next.
How to create the next most popular cocktail?
So just for a bit of fun, if a cocktail you created were to make this list or you were actively trying to create a modern classic cocktail. The key data to keep in mind is to follow these trends;
Create something easy, with ingredients easily accessible from anywhere in the world - No fancy pancy stuff
Make it sour
Give it a Vodka base
Give it an easy to say name
Take this course to understand the process and formulas to steal
The List and Recipes
2004
Cosmopolitan
We start the list with the Cosmopolitan. Interestingly enough the cosmo we know today started it’s life in 1987 at The Odeon in Manhattan. A retro haven that welcomed the likes of Madonna and Andy Warhol. But it wasn’t until 1999 that the Cosmopolitan really kicked of with the release of Sex and the City.
The show ran until 2004 which is why 2004 was the most popular year for this cocktail. It also gives us an insight into how much of an impact T.V and movies can have on the popularity of a cocktail. If this list was longer you would of seen cocktails like the White Russian randomly become the worlds most popular cocktail in 1998, then you realize that’s when the Big Lebowski was released.
Check out this article on Movie themed cocktails for more drinks from the screens.
Honourable mention - The Daiquiri was close to becoming number 1 for this year, if it wasn’t for them pesky girls.
Get the proper Cosmopolitan recipe here
2005
Cosmopolitan
Sex and the City might be over but still, 2005 seen the Cosmo as the worlds most popular cocktail. It’s an easy cocktail to make and I imagine lot’s of people were trying to make them for there home parties or movie nights. Or they had one in a bar and wanted to recreate it at home.
Honourable mention - The Caipiroska was surprisingly high up on the list. That’s a Vodka twist on the Brazilian Caipirinha. A strange cocktail to rank so high given that it never did again.
2006
Vesper Martini
Once again the impact of movies has created a new popular cocktail. The Vesper Martini, invented by author Ian Fleming who you might better know for being the guy who created James Bond. The big wow moment here for me isn’t that it’s popular but is that Ian Fleming actually created the cocktail himself. It wasn’t a classic.
Either way, 2006 was the release of Casino Royale and our first introduction to Daniel Craig. His shaken martini sipping ways must of had an impact on drinkers because the Vesper was a clear winner for this year.
It’s also another cocktail listed on this movie themed cocktails list.
Honourable mention - The white lady made it quite high on the list.
Get the full recipe and Vesper Martini guide here.
2007
Cosmopolitan
Clearly people weren’t as much of a fan of the Vesper as they were the cosmo. It makes sense, cosmopolitans are easy drinking. You’ve got to really like a Vesper to enjoy it. Either way we seen the return of the cosmo, and not just for one year…
Honourable mention - The Appletini was quite high on this list for 2007. That’s a 90s throwback right there.
2008
Cosmopolitan
But for 2 years!
2009
Mojito
Now things start to change, we get a whole new classic. The Mojito. Now the Mojito has been around for years and years, you can get the history here. So I’m not sure why nor can I find anything that tells me why this cocktail suddenly became massive. Maybe it was clubbing culture and bars across the world pushing Mojitos due to the ease of the drink, Maybe it was it’s association with tropical holidays, I don’t know. I have a comment box at the bottom of this article, please do let me know if you have any insight on this.
Honourable mention - The flaming lamborghini made it high up on the list for this year. Which isn’t even a drink, it’s just health and safety gone mad. You basically just light some cocktail glasses on fire for no reason what so ever.
Get the proper Mojito recipe here.
2010
Mojito
Seriously, I don’t know what happened but people were searching this like crazy…
2011
Mojito
And yes, it continued. 3 years straight number 1 spot for search.
Honourable mention - The Hugo made it quite high for this year, which is a delicious gin, elderflower and soda spritz.
2012
Martini
This is an interesting one. I would assume this is a gin martini. But it could very well be an Espresso Martini. Interesting to note, James Bonds Skyfall came out this year. Which as well as having a banging soundtrack, may explain the Martini being popular. I’ve done some research, and although there are scenes of a Martini being ordered and poured in this movie, I can’t find one scene of anyone actually mentioning a “Vesper” which could explain the search term.
So my assumption is that people were looking for Vodka Martini’s from James Bond as oppose to Vesper Martini’s. Which really made sense with the following years search term…
2013
Vodka Martini
See, told you it made sense. However once again the assumption is classic vodka martini, but it very well could of been a cosmo, or espresso martini. Both vodka based Martini styled drinks people would often search for. So take these last 2 years with a pinch of salt.
Honourable mention - A cocktail named the Sourtoe made it high on this list for 2013. Now let me explain because this is disgusting. In a place called Yukon is a bar, in which they serve whisky with a mummified human toe. Yes, an actual dead mans toe. The orginal toe belonged to a rum runner in the 1920s, his toe was amputated and he preserved it in whisky. 50 years later someone found it and started putting it in drinks in the Sourdough Saloon. Since then, people have donated there toes to the bar to continue the “tradition”. You can read more about it here.
2014
Mojito
Once again we see the return of the Mojito. I don’t know what it is but every time a James Bond film is released, it’s followed by a long stint of Mojitos.
2015
Mojito
And again…
Honourable mention - The Tiki classic “Zombie” made it high on the list for 2015
2016
Mojito
And again…
2017
Mojito
And we finish on a 4 year streak. People in cold countries wanting to live that tropical lifestyle by drinking Mojitos, people in hot countries trying to cool down. It makes sense. Nothing could budge this cocktail of it’s throne. That is until…
2018
Pornstar Martini
The start of the Pornstar Martini global craze. For years prior to this date, the Pornstar Martini was the most popular cocktail in the UK, but it didn’t gain global success until 2018. It’s also first modern classic on this list, being invented sometime in the late 90s by London bartender Douglas Ankrah. You can read all about the original Pornstar Martini, how it became what it became and the tragic passing of it’s creator in 2021 here.
2019
Pornstar Martini
Testament to the power of this cocktail and despite how UK bartenders were well over making them, the Pornstar Martini became the number 1 most popular cocktail worldwide for 5 years.
2020
Pornstar Martini
2021
Pornstar Martini
2022
Pornstar Martini
What surprised me the most about this is that over the past few years. Bars were closed due to the pandemic, so I’d of imagined the worlds most popular cocktail would be something people could easily make at home, since that’s what they were doing. The Pornstar Martini isn’t the most home bartender friendly cocktail especially when compared with the likes of a Cosmopolitan. And yet there it stayed, number 1 spot.
Perhaps if the Mojito didn’t have crushed ice that would be the number 1 cocktail.
Honourable mention - The Paper Plane also came quite high in the rankings for 2022, which is basically an Amaro Sour.
2023
Margarita
That brings us to the current year. 2023. Where a surprising cocktail has made the list, the Margarita. Surprising because a lot of people really don’t like Tequila. And yet here it is at number one.
Now of course, this could change. I’m writing this in November and December is a huge month when it comes to googling cocktails. So all this could very well change by the new year. But for now, the Margarita is number 1. I shall update this list in the new year to see what changes if anything.
Personally, I’m going to say that the Espresso Martini will take the number 1 spot.
Honourable mention - The Revolver cocktail is also ranking quite high currently.
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