Why Gen Z is driving the high-ABV RTD boom 

High-ABV ready-to-drink cocktails are growing faster than almost anything else in the category. Spirits-based RTDs are up 23.5% in the four weeks to July 4, and the 10%+ ABV tier has grown its share of that segment from around 2% in 2022 to roughly 28% year to date, according to NIQ off-premise data. Denomination's Hamish Campbell spoke to BevNET about what's behind the shift, and what it means for brands building in the space.

A different way into alcohol

Campbell's read is generational. Where older drinkers were typically introduced to alcohol through a parent's or grandparent's spirits cabinet, Gen Z is arriving via flavour first.

"Now they want something palatable, but want to feel a buzz from it as well," Campbell told BevNET.

That entry point through fruity, flavour-forward formats, rather than straight spirits, is shaping what this generation expects a drink to deliver. IWSR data cited in the piece backs this up: more Gen Z drinkers of legal age reported drinking cocktails in the past six months than any other generation, and they were the most likely to report five or more drinks on a single occasion.

Moments over quality

The implication for brands is a reordering of priorities. Product quality, long the default axis of competition in spirits, isn't what's winning this cohort.

"It's not a high quality product, but it's flavorful, it's colorful, it creates moments, and that's what Gen Z is about," Campbell said. "They're more about occasion and moments than product."

For brand builders, that's a real shift in what has to work hardest on shelf: not craft credentials, but standing out fast enough, and looking like the right fit for the occasion, to get picked up in the first place.

Hamish Campbell, Denomination's US VP Executive Creative Director, spoke to BevNET about the rise of high-ABV RTDs and what's driving Gen Z's changing relationship with alcohol, August 2026.