Chocolate and other confectionery flavours are struggling as consumers shy away from overly sweet flavours.
Whether flavouring strong spirits, wines or low-alcohol drinks, consumers are favouring fresh and light fruit flavours, says the new IWSR Insight Report 2013.
In Argentina, younger consumers are choosing light-flavoured liqueurs (eg lemon, kiwi and melon) over chocolate and other sweet flavours. In the US, traditional fruit flavours such as red berries or dark cherry are gaining momentum.
There has been an increased interest in strawberry flavoured drinks across the globe and across categories, with growth seen for strawberry flavoured rum in Puerto Rico, strawberry mixed with rakija (a local bitter) in Bosnia & Herzegovina, strawberry (and lime-) flavoured cider in Australia and New Zealand and strawberry and blackcurrant-flavoured sparkling wine in Hungary.
According to the report, citrus is another key flavour group and has become a key flavour in the sizeable flavoured sparkling wine market in Germany, while there has been a boom in grapefruit-flavoured wine in France. The trend towards grapefruit-flavoured drinks has also extended to beer, gaining popularity in countries such as Germany, Serbia and Slovenia.
In China, lime and orange Bacardi Breezers have seen exceptional success, and citrus-flavoured liqueurs are seeing good growth in Argentina. The trend towards citrus-flavoured drinks is strong in Europe: lemon and lime flavours are popular in Latvia, and limoncello is growing strongly as a category in the Netherlands.
Other findings in the IWSR Insight Report show that apple-flavoured spirits including vodka and rum are growing strongly in Brazil, where Bacardi Big Apple has stormed the market, leading to the creation of a large number of copycat apple-flavoured vodka and rum brands.
Apple vodka is also becoming popular in Korea and Thailand, where it is the main ingredient for ‘The Thailand cocktail’ and has been driving the flavoured segment upwards. The launch of Smirnoff Ice Green Apple has turned around the ready-to-drink (RTD) category in Jamaica.
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