This year’s drink trends run the gamut, from debatably unhinged (giant Martinis served with a dozen olives and straws) to extremely controversial (cocktail bars operating without ice). Will these new developments continue on into 2026, or will they remain a blip? To find out, I asked a handful of experts for their takes. Here’s what they had to say.
Some say the classic glass is out, and bartenders are opting for alternatives.
Experts Featured
Brian Evans is the director of bars for Sunday Hospitality Group.
Kenzo Han is the bar director of Firstborn.
Jesse Hedberg is the owner of Club Frills.
Ben Hopkins-Prager is the beverage director of Pitt’s and Agi’s Counter.
Courtney Iseman is a freelance drinks writer and Punch contributor.
Emma Janzen is a journalist and co-author of the upcoming book The Classic Cocktail Sessions.
Kathryn “Pepper” Stashek is the creative bartender at Kabawa and Bar Kabawa.
Ben: Nick & Noras are the essential Manhattan glass. Frankly, do not serve me a Manhattan in another glass.
Jesse: Nick & Noras are definitely a little boring at this point but are fine for a classic stirred, brown spirit cocktail. Don’t you dare put a Martini in a Nick & Nora though! Thank god the V-Glass made a comeback.
Courtney: Nick & Noras, in my opinion, combine the best elements of other glassware options.
Kenzo: I’m always more interested in new shapes and designs. I never like flashy garnishes for cocktails, but a beautiful and unexpected glass is always nice.
Brian: Certain glassware icons never go out of style, but the Instagram Hive Mind of cocktail porn could always use a refreshing face.
Emma: The Nick & Nora is the sexiest glass on earth. I’m a fan of any and all versions of the vessel.
The move where bartenders transfer your half-consumed Martini into a fresh, frosted glass is everywhere from Hillstone to cocktail bars in Chicago, New York City and beyond.
Jesse: I think this trend is a little silly honestly, but it shows commitment to hospitality and attention to the guest experience. If your bartender is being that attentive to the guests’ needs, I’m all for it!
Courtney: More of this, please. It’s the kind of personalized, above-and-beyond service that seems like a natural fit with our sophisticated, often very pricey Martinis. My husband makes a mean Martini and has started doing the “refrost” for me at home.
Brian: It’s the ultimate warm hug of hospitality, in chilled drink form.
Emma: I’m on the fence about this one because a warm Martini is a shitty Martini, so anything that can be done to prolong an icy chill is a good thing. When executed without fanfare, it can be a nice gesture of hospitality. That said, the sustainability-minded part of me gets irritated at the thought of the bar having to wash two glasses for one cocktail. I’m going to say this should stay, but bonus points for programs where the bartender asks if the refresh is something I’d like for them to do or not. I want the choice.
Ben: A Martini has never seen me long enough for this to be necessary, but a lot of my guests at Pitt’s are more patient, and this touch is always a nice one.
Pepper: I’m open to being persuaded that this is a superior method to a sidecar in a dish of crushed ice, but so far no one has been able to make a convincing case to me.
Kenzo: As someone who works at a bar that A) doesn’t have sidecars, B) has a glass freezer, and C) isn’t the most chatty and outgoing bartender, this is literally my favorite service step.
Obviously the bar takeover isn’t new, but it’s reached a fever pitch that some argue is overdone.
Pepper: I’ve done pop-ups in the past and I’ll do more in the future, but for me they’re largely about having fun and getting a chance to work alongside friends than they are about promoting myself, my bar, or my brand. That being said, they can be time-consuming, and there is a pressure to go to all kinds of different pop-ups and events to network and stay relevant.
Jesse: Bar takeovers are fun. It’s a great way to share your brand, and it mixes things up for your regular customers. Also the drinks are usually priced affordably because there is often brand support involved.
Courtney: Ninety-five percent of the time, I don’t get who’s even benefiting from this. As important as vibes are, I also like the bars I like because of their drinks, and it’s frankly just annoying to not be able to get them, especially when the drinks being served up by the visiting bartenders can come across like showy stunts caught up in the moment of a Big Event. At the end of the night, I don’t feel like I actually got to know the visiting bar, nor did I get to experience my hometown bar I usually appreciate.
Kenzo: I love doing bar pop-ups. They’re a great way to connect with old coworkers who you might never work together with again and to connect with bartenders from across the globe. However—and this may be an LA thing—people are so horny for pop-ups but will never go to a bar, restaurant or café’s normal service, which is always better than the pop-ups. I also don’t love that international bar pop-ups always have to be sponsored by one of the big corporate liquor companies.
Brian: We’ve hit peak “guest shift” mania and these programs have simply lost their luster. The bars are blurring their own hard-earned identities along the way.
Ben: These can stay, but bars that are basically show rooms for single-brand groups are bad and boring, and usually make awful cocktails.
Bartenders have been turning to the stout for frothy, chocolatey flavor in their drinks.
Brian: YES PLEASE. The flavors of stout unlock so much pairing potential with spirits and cocktail modifiers. I’m surprised this isn’t utilized even more.
Courtney: Beer is an undervalued cocktail ingredient finally being taken more seriously.
Jesse: Guinness is too good to be adulterated. I wouldn’t use grand cru Champagne in a French 75, either!
Pepper: If the end result tastes good, let’s keep it. I’m hard-pressed to think of any ingredient that I’d say shouldn’t be used just out of principle. (Well, except maybe activated charcoal.) The Split Ends at Bar Snack is a personal favorite example of this trend.
The Nick & Nora Is So 2009
The glass that helped define the cocktail renaissance is on the outs. Here’s what bartenders are using instead.
Prix fixe isn’t just for chef’s tables anymore.
Pepper: Creating a really good cocktail pairing is hard! When it’s done well, it can be an incredible experience, but it’s so rare to find a pairing where the food and the cocktails really enhance each other. I’d be much more interested in seeing somms, servers and bartenders work together to create a variety of suggestions for a la carte pairing, be it wine, cocktails or neat spirits.
Jesse: I’m the kind of drinker that wants to try everything, so I say this one should stay. But leave the food pairings to wine.
Kenzo: I love try-hard things, and what’s more try-hard than a tasting menu?
Brian: If this is your bar’s model, I’d say, “Good luck.” I don’t see a future in it, especially with rising costs of goods and the labor involved towards expediting something this precious. From my experience, there are too many imbibers out there who will absolutely not branch out further than two or three different spirit categories for their own enjoyment.
The latest beer-and-shot combo (in which one is N/A) is like microdosing, but for alcohol.
Jesse: There is no shame in a boozy shot and a N/A beer chaser. N/A beers have come a long way and are actually great. At my age I need all the help I can get to make it through a long night of drinks. But please tell me nobody’s taking shots of N/A whiskey and chasing it with an IPA.
Courtney: Look, you gotta do you when it comes to your beverage choices, especially if you’re creating the combination that personally works for you when it comes to balance and moderation. But as someone who doesn’t appreciate shots to begin with, this is a head-scratcher to me. If you want to drink but only a little, why not just have the beer sans shot, or a nice low-ABV spritz?
Pepper: Drink what you want!
Brian: Sure, why not. I’ve been known to have a pour of whisky in one hand and an N/A Guinness in the other. Make the nights last longer and your mornings hurt less.
Ben: Yes, oh my god YES. This is something I offer at Pitt’s almost daily to guests, and it is always well received. Make anything available N/A. You can catch me having this exact combo at Sunny’s in Red Hook almost every time I go.
Margaritas, Garibaldis and aperitifs were Creamsicle-inspired this year.
Ben: Orange juice is probably the most wasted juice in bars. It just isn’t very good in most cocktails—and if people are finding ways to make it work, more power to them.
Courtney: Personally, it’s a big “No, thank you” from me on this trend. The thought of anything vanilla- or marshmallow-sweet in my drink makes me gag a little, even when it’s cut by citrusy acidity. But I’m sure when done well, this profile offers a nice balance.
Pepper: It’s not a flavor that I really enjoy myself, but if other people want cocktails with this flavor, let them. And, if I’m going to be fully honest, I’m currently developing a cocktail for the Kabawa menu that is Creamsicle-adjacent, so I’m definitely part of the trend.
Brian: While there’s some cool, creative opportunity with this type of nostalgia, this flavor combo is personally my “cilantro allergy.” I’ve never been a fan of orange juice in cocktails, anyway.
This year, the “chilled red” movement gave way to cabs, Bordeaux and merlot.
Pepper: For me, these wines never really went away. An ice-cold Martini with some oysters, followed by a big, bold cab and a well-cooked steak has never done me wrong.
Courtney: When I order wine, I indeed want something that falls into a “big red” category—dense, a whole flavor-and-mouthfeel experience, able to stand up to any meal. I can’t see the downside in these being more available.
Brian: As a whisky enthusiast, my palate’s been conditioned toward bold flavors, so this is right up my alley.
Ben: Americans love big, oaky juicebox wines, and I totally get it, but I’d much rather have a properly chilled Pineau d’Aunis than a jammy fruity-tooty cab any day.
Kenzo: I grew up in Northern California and my dad loves big, boozy, obnoxious Napa wines. I love my dad but I do not love his taste in wine.
Katy Perry made an N/A aperitif, Lewis Hamilton made zero-proof tequila and Tom Holland made nonalcoholic beer. Are you even famous if you don’t have your own zero-proof line?
Courtney: I’ll sound both bitter and trite, but N/A products just seem like an easy cash grab. N/A is the new tequila for celebrities, except it’s even easier because you’re talking about a product that can be anything, from anywhere. I’m dreading seeing a relentless glut a la the flood of meaningless celebrity perfumes in the early aughts.
Jesse: This one’s got to go. Aren’t celebrities rich enough already?
Pepper: Alcoholic or nonalcoholic, I want celebrity-created beverages out of the drinks world, please!
Ben: Dude, every [brand] should be making N/A products. Every spirit production house of every kind in the world should be making N/A products. I don’t care if Lewis Hamilton or Barbra Streisand is making N/A stuff, the more the merrier.
Brian: While there are clear benefits to the rise of nonalcoholic beverages in cocktail/beer/wine culture, it seems like the pendulum has been swinging into a direction of moral superiority from the messaging of lifestyle influencers and sober-curious journalism. Celebrity co-signings are just the unnecessary icing on the cake.
De Vie made a splash by debuting as a cocktail bar without ice. Will other bars follow suit?
Kenzo: I’m all for sustainability. But compared to the amount of energy and water big corporations are using, we’re not saving the world by not using ice in a bar. I guess I’m fairly back and forth on this, but any attempt at sustainability is a yes for me.
Pepper: So much of the bar program I put together at Bar Kabawa revolves around ice, so I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise that I’m voting “no” on this one. Ice is crucial for creating texture in cocktails, and that makes the experience of drinking them so much better.
Jesse: I think this trend makes sense in Europe, where they hardly give you ice anyway! Ice is a defining characteristic of American bartending, and I can’t see it going anywhere soon. Also the deep freezers and other techniques to chill liquids these bars are using are all drawing a lot of electricity, too; I don’t think it realistically comes down to sustainability. Seems more like a gimmick to me!
Ben: I always say, if it works, it works. A 2.5- by 2-inch ice cube usually costs 65 cents, and those costs add up for bars. If you can make it work, save and make it a cool presentation that leads to a balanced drink, I am here for it.
Brian: These bartenders are rethinking the bar in an inspiring, statement-claiming direction. There are plenty of ways to hack an exciting and well-balanced cocktail these days without the use of ice, so I say keep up the great work!
Some bar operators are buying and restoring old local landmarks and dives in hopes of keeping them alive.
Emma: Dive bars are the most egalitarian institutions of our industry and important cornerstones of local communities. No matter what level of fancy cocktail bar you work in, or what lists you make or accolades you collect, we all end up in the same dive bars at the end of the night. So I am a massive proponent of folks taking on these local landmarks when the alternative is a closure. Well, as long as the new ownership doesn’t fuck up the magic of the place. There is a fine line between good respectful preservation and fucking it up.
Brian: It’s damn-near impossible to carry forth a dive bar’s original vision to the fullest, but it’s a respectable undertaking to attempt keeping any worthwhile legacy alive.
Pepper: Restored dives should absolutely, 100%, no hesitation stay! Like most bartenders, I love a good dive bar, and I love that people are saving these spots from being destroyed or turned into something more modern. There’s just something that feels so good about sitting down to have a drink in a place with a sense of history to it.
Jesse: Save the bar! Some of these places are basically a national treasure, and we’ve all been sad to see a storied dive bar close for good. Hopefully it’s a longtime regular of the bar who takes over. If you’re gonna price out (or “hipster” out) the existing clientele, that just reads kinda corny.
Courtney: This should stay, but restoration should only include restoring what absolutely needs to be restored. It’s a bummer when you can tell the original attitude and history has been glossed out of an institution.
Ben: It’s really case-by-case but so long as it doesn’t turn into, like, an Urban Outfitters version of the thing then I am here for it.
Apparently some Martinis now come with straws, a million olives and a dream.
Ben: Let me have my Martini alone in peace.
Pepper: Does anyone really want this? I’ve never encountered a shareable Martini in the wild, but all I can think is it seems like a gimmick for TikTok, not an enjoyable drinking experience. The glass is so big you have to stand up to drink from it? That doesn’t sound fun at all. And how does it stay cold for the duration of the time it takes to drink a giant Martini? Big no from me on this one.
Brian: A “shareable Martini” sounds like a really bad joke for social media visibility. The Martini is the most personalized cocktail of them all; it’s hard finding even two people at a given table to even agree on how they want one.
Emma: Listen, there are few things in this world as marvelous as drinking an ice-cold gin Martini in the company of good friends or loved ones, or hell, even complete strangers sometimes. But they are not built for fishbowls spiked with straws. The way you take one speaks volumes about your character; I love learning something new about a drinking companion this way. Selfishly, it’s one of the only drinks where I don’t want to adjust my preferences for the greater good. Also, scaling up a single serving makes no practical sense—keeping the temperature and dilution of a monster vat of Martini right for long enough to accommodate a group is a fool’s errand.
Jesse: Martinis are like soup; it’s weird if you share them.
Responses have been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
