National Restaurant Association Announces New Trends in Restaurant Beverages

Over recent years one of the trends in the restaurant industry has been the increasing popularity of alcholic drinks. These range from new designer mixed drinks being created with specialty alcohols from around the world, to the beer and food pairings for special dinners as a twist on the food-wine pairing tradition. These are not the only trends in the beverage industry for restaurants, but they are some of the more popular ones. This information was provided in a recent press release from the National Restaurant Association.

The popularity of signature cocktails have results in drink menus becoming much longer at many popular restaurants. Most restaurants now have a considerable sized drink menu including drinks themed on the tropics, and featuring high quality alcohols from around the world. Alcohol is also being found much more often in sauces and glazes at restaurants for their entrees according to the survey from the National Restaurant Association.

Many restaurants are trying a new twist on an old favorite. With the increased popularity of craft, international and microbeers, many restaurants are now having special dinners with food and beer pairings. These meals are made for each course to match with a specific type of beer. This is similar to the well known food and wine pairings which have been popular for many years and continues to be popular this year. The popularity of the food and wine pairings continues to emphasize the value of the wine sommeliers. Wine sommeliers remain a popular position in restaurants in general as the popularity of wine remains high. Some items that dropped in popularity in the beverage industry from last year's survey include fruit flavored wines along with rose/blush wines, vermouth, and mescal.