People Are Drinking Less. So Why Are Spirit RTDs Up 12.9%?
RTD / Data
People Are Drinking Less. So Why Are Spirit RTDs Up 12.9%?
New Circana data across six European markets shows beer, cider, wine and spirits all falling, while spirit-based ready-to-drink volume jumped 12.9%. Half of 25 to 39-year-olds say they are cutting back on alcohol. Those two facts are not a contradiction. They may be the same trend.
By Vim, Editor of 12×75
In brief
- Circana data published on 1 October 2026 covers the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. It is not a global figure.
- Every major traditional category fell: beer −0.9%, cider −1.2%, wine −1.5%, spirits −2.2%.
- Spirit-based RTD volume rose 12.9%, and low and no-alcohol sales rose 7.3%. Non-alcoholic drinks overall grew 5.4% to €109bn, within €180bn of total beverage sales.
- 43% of shoppers say they are cutting back on alcohol, rising to 50% of 25 to 39-year-olds. Only 15% are buying more.
- Promotions are not reversing it: about 41% of beer and 37% of alcoholic drinks were sold on deal, against roughly 25% of beverages overall.
Beer fell. Wine fell. Cider fell. Spirits fell.
Then there were spirit-based RTDs.
New Circana data across six of Europe’s biggest drinks markets shows every traditional alcohol category moving backwards, while spirit-based ready-to-drink volume jumped 12.9%. In the same dataset, half of shoppers aged 25 to 39 say they are actively drinking less. It is the clearest confirmation yet of the argument I made last week, that canned cocktails are eating the spirits business, and it extends that argument from America to Europe.
The tempting reading is that the can is succeeding despite moderation. The more interesting possibility, and the one that fits the growth in no-alcohol drinks too, is that it is succeeding because of it: people are drinking less often, and when they do drink, a single, measured, flavourful serve is beating a full bottle.
Almost every major alcohol category fell
Six European markets, year-on-year
Spirit-based RTD volume+12.9%
Low and no alcohol+7.3%
Non-alcoholic beverages+5.4%
Beer−0.9%
Cider−1.2%
Wine−1.5%
Spirits−2.2%
Source: Circana, published 1 October 2026. UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The RTD figure is volume growth; other categories as reported by Circana.
Read the shape of that chart rather than any single bar. The losses in traditional alcohol are modest, between about 1% and 2%, which is a slow decline rather than a collapse. The gains are concentrated in three places: spirit-based cans, low and no-alcohol drinks, and the non-alcoholic fridge as a whole. Total beverage spending grew, to €180bn. People are not spending less on drinks. They are spending it differently.
People are not spending less on drinks. They are spending it on different drinks, in different formats.
Half of 25 to 39-year-olds are cutting back
How shoppers say they are changing
All shoppers cutting back on alcohol43%
Shoppers aged 25 to 39 cutting back50%
Shoppers buying more alcoholic drinks15%
Buying more bottled water44%
Buying more juices and smoothies31%
Buying more tea and coffee29%
Source: Circana shopper research. Cutting back includes buying less, postponing purchases and stopping altogether.
Half of 25 to 39-year-olds is the figure to hold onto. That is the core of the drinking population, not students and not pensioners: people with disposable income, social lives and the habit of drinking, and half of them say they are doing less of it. Only 15% of shoppers overall say they are buying more.
The substitution numbers show where the money is going. Alcohol is no longer competing only with other alcohol. It is competing with the whole fridge: bottled water, juice, tea, coffee, functional drinks. That is the same shift that has made the no-alcohol shelf one of the few growth stories in drinks.
Drinking less does not mean drinking nothing
Here is how the two headline numbers fit together. Most people cutting back are not stopping. They are drinking less often, and when they do drink, they want the drink to justify itself.
A full bottle is a poor fit for that. It is a commitment to a quantity, it needs mixers, ice and glassware, and it sits in a cupboard afterwards. A spirit-based can is the opposite: one serve, a known strength, no preparation, no leftovers, and usually a better-made drink than most people would assemble at home. For someone who has decided to have one drink rather than four, the can is close to the perfect format.
A careful caveat. Circana reports these figures side by side, and the link between moderation and RTD growth is plausible and supported by the same dataset. It is not proof that one causes the other. Other factors, including product quality, flavour innovation and marketing spend, clearly play a part too.
The full bottle is losing occasions to the can
Think about what a spirit-based RTD replaces. Instead of buying a full bottle of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 and a bottle of cola, a shopper can now buy the serve ready mixed. Instead of Gordon’s London Dry or Tanqueray London Dry plus tonic, lemon and ice, a gin and tonic comes in a can.
That is why mainstream brands such as Smirnoff No. 21 increasingly compete not just against other vodka bottles but against single-serve vodka drinks, including their own. Most of the big spirits owners have responded by extending those very brands into cans, which keeps the customer but changes the economics: fewer serves per purchase and a lot of water in the freight.
This is the cannibalisation question that runs through my analysis of the US market, and the European data points the same way. The total is flat to falling; the can is rising; the bottle is where the growth is coming from.
Spirit RTDs and hard seltzer are not the same thing
Worth being exact, because the distinction is the story. The 12.9% figure is for spirit-based RTDs: drinks made with distilled vodka, gin, whisky, rum or tequila. Classic hard seltzers are usually made with a fermented malt or sugar base, and the original seltzer boom has cooled considerably.
The growth is increasingly concentrated in cans made with a real spirit and real flavour, which is the same reason vodka seltzers overtook malt-based ones in the US and why the best canned cocktails now hold their own against freshly made drinks. Brands such as High Noon, Tip Top and Post Meridiem show where the quality bar now sits. Circana’s release is category-level and does not name individual winners; those are illustrations of the trend, not its data.
Discounts are not fixing traditional alcohol
One of the more telling numbers in the release: about 41% of beer and 37% of alcoholic drinks were sold on promotion during the year, against roughly 25% of beverages overall. Alcohol is being discounted far more heavily than the rest of the fridge, and it is still shrinking.
That matters because promotion is the industry’s default response to falling volume, and the data suggests it is not working. You cannot discount your way out of a change in behaviour. If half of a core age group has decided to drink less, a cheaper twelve-pack does not change their mind; it just lowers the margin on the beer they were going to buy anyway.
The can may be the format built for moderation
Put the pieces together and a coherent picture emerges. A large and growing share of drinkers want to drink less often and more deliberately. Alcohol now competes with water, coffee and functional drinks for the same moment. Heavy discounting is not stopping the decline. And the one alcohol format growing strongly is the one that offers a single, measured, high-quality serve with nothing left over.
That does not mean the can is good news for everyone. It changes margins, it shifts power toward whoever owns the best canned brands, and it raises its own questions about strength: some of the most popular RTDs, like BuzzBallz, are far stronger than they look, as the Pop-Tarts BuzzBallz campaign showed. But as a format for a generation that has decided to drink less, it fits better than anything else on the shelf.
The bottle was designed for drinking more. The can, it turns out, may be the format built for drinking less.
Quick answers
Are RTD sales growing in Europe?
Yes. Circana reports spirit-based RTD volume up 12.9% across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, while beer, cider, wine and spirits all declined.
Are people drinking less alcohol?
Circana found 43% of shoppers in those six markets are cutting back on alcohol, rising to 50% of 25 to 39-year-olds. Only 15% said they were buying more.
How much did beer, wine and spirits sales fall?
Beer fell 0.9%, cider 1.2%, wine 1.5% and spirits 2.2%, according to Circana.
Is a spirit-based RTD the same as hard seltzer?
No. Spirit-based RTDs use distilled spirits such as vodka, gin or tequila. Classic hard seltzers usually use a fermented malt or sugar base.
Sources
- Circana: shoppers swap alcohol for a new generation of healthier drinks, 1 October 2026
- PR Newswire: Circana release
- 12×75: canned cocktails are eating the spirits business
- 12×75: what RTDs are
All figures are Circana’s, covering the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, and do not describe global alcohol sales. Brand examples illustrate the RTD trend and are not named in Circana’s release. The link between moderation and RTD growth is presented as a plausible connection, not a demonstrated cause. Correct as of 2 October 2026. Please drink responsibly.
