Next week on Boothby, we’ll be unveiling the long list for the best drinks of 2026 from the fifth annual Boothby Drink of the Year Awards.
But ahead of that announcement, I wanted to take a look into the entries we’ve received over the years, from our start in 2022, to today. The Drink of the Year is for drinks that are sold in bars throughout the last 12 months — this isn’t a cocktail competition, this is more about the way Australia is drinking right now.
And the entries, over the last five years, are the drinks in their bars that bartenders are most proud of. This isn’t a full overview of all the cocktails on bars around Australia, of course, but I think these entries are a good proxy for what bartenders are really into right now.
Let’s dive in.
Yep, cocktails are getting more expensive.
When we get entries into the Drink of the Year, bartenders are asked the selling price of their drink. And based on that data, of 1,000-plus drinks across five years, both the average and the median price of cocktails has increased.
In 2022, the median price of the cocktails entered into the Drink of the Year was $22; this year (and last year) it was $25. The average cost rose from $22.38 to $25.27.
We live in inflationary times. But the price of these cocktails isn’t keeping up with the twice yearly increases in the alcohol excise.
Cocktail price increases have not kept pace with alcohol excise increases.
| Entry year | Spirits excise (per litre of alcohol) | Change | Average cocktail price | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $94.41 (from 1 Aug 2022) | — | $22.38 | — |
| 2023 | $100.05 (1 Aug 2023) | +6.0% | $23.02 | +2.9% |
| 2024 | $103.89 (5 Aug 2024) | +3.8% | $23.84 | +3.6% |
| 2025 | $105.98 (4 Aug 2025) | +2.0% | $24.66 | +3.4% |
| 2026 | $110.15 (3 Aug 2026) | +3.9% | $25.27 | +2.5% |
| 2022 → 2026 | +16.7% (≈3.9% a year) | +12.9% (≈3.1% a year) |
When you factor in increases in everything else — wages, rent, ingredients, energy — you start to feel how hard it is to maintain your profit margin right now.
We are post-peak milk punch
The year was 2024. In bar rooms around the country, clarified drinks reigned. It was the gold rush days for purveyors of block ice. Around a quarter of the drinks on the 2024 Drink of the Year Top 50 were made in a clarified, Milk Punch style, I wrote at the time.
The technique still exists, but fewer of those drinks are getting bartenders excited and entering them into the Drink of the Year.
A little salt will fix it!
One of the clearest trends of the last few years is the use of salt or saline solution. In 2022, around 14% of entries employed a little bump of salt to make their drinks pop; this year, salt or saline was present in 24% of entries, or one in four drinks.
Savoury drinks really are a thing
It’s not just anecdotal, it seems — savoury drinks are on the rise, driven by Martinis.
The use of brines, olives and pickles in drinks has risen from 5% of entries in 2022 to 11% this year. The percentage of bartenders describing their drinks as savoury has almost doubled in that time, too, from 5.7% to 10.7%.
Strongly savoury drinks — drinks with brines, olives, or pickles; a cheese element; meat, seafood and fats; or an umami-rich element like miso, koji, nori, etc. — have more than doubled over the last five years, from 8.5% of entries in 2022, to 18.2% this year.
Have we reached peak dirty Martini? I hope so, but I doubt it.
Japanese-inspired ingredients are on the rise
Perhaps not unrelated to the rise of savoury drinks, there has also been a rise in Japanese-inspired ingredients (driven by sake, umeshu, and shochu, but also including Japanese spirits and ingredients like yuzu, matcha, and dashi) in the entries, from 12.8% in 2022, to 29.4% in 2026. Sake, shochu and umeshu accounted for 13.1% of entries, up from 4% in 2022.
Which bartenders have had the most appearances on the Top 50 since 2022?
With four years of Top 50 lists in the bank, who have been the most successful bartenders over that period?
Michael Chiem of PS40 and Silver’s Motel is in first place, with seven appearances on the list, and two times as number one (with his drink, Africola). Next, Luke Whearty of Byrdi and Alex Gondzioulis (Bar Bellamy, ex-Liquid & Larder) are equal with five appearances a piece. The next six bartenders with four appearances each are Matt Whiley (Apollo Group), Jack Connor (Rosella’s), Tom Opie (Pilot), Ellery Low, Oliver Churcher (Bar Demo), and Nick Corletto (Maybe Mae).
