Why Gen Z are reviving the premix drinks trend (and the best ones to try)
Let's work it out on the premix
I REMEMBER WHEN it was Millennials who were being blamed for the end of everything. The diamond industry, because we weren’t getting married. Bar soap, because we bought shower gels instead. Breakfast cereal, because we opted for finance-crippling avocado-toast brunches. And cars, because we rode bikes.
The wheel turns and now it’s Gen Z copping similar flak, accused of being the sober generation and sending bars and pubs into a nosedive.
But stroll through any park on a Saturday afternoon and you’ll see the picture is more complicated. And far more colourful. The Esky of the modern twenty-something is an evolving ecosystem of citrus, agave, botanicals and nostalgia. If Millennials had craft beer, gin and natural wine as their shorthand cultural signifiers, Gen Z have revived the humble premix into a kind of social currency.
Revived being the operative word because they’re not new. The archive tells us as much. In 2015, The New York Times noted that bottled cocktails were “shedding their bottom-shelf reputation and finding a place in the discerning drinker’s shopping cart”, with distillers crafting barrel-aged Manhattans and bottled Palomas to be served at picnics, tailgates and outdoor concerts. More recently, to avoid waste when the pandemic hit, a lot of bars began bottling their signature drinks and set up a delivery service for an at-home cocktail hour.
Which is to say: the cycle is back, only the audience has changed.
“Gen Z are definitely still drinking,” says Kenny Graham, co-owner of Liberty Hall at Moore Park and Newtown institution Mary’s, “but they’re gravitating toward what they see as cleaner options, the best of the bad lot, like vodka, tequila or light citrus flavours with anything low sugar, and beer and dark spirits are taking a back seat because people genuinely feel better on lower-sugar options the next day.”
He sees it firsthand at Liberty Hall’s day parties, where, he says, “there’s definitely a lot of premixed cans in hands . . . They’re mobile, outdoors and ready to dance.”
Mobility is the keyword. Millennials went through a long phase of drink-as-identity, choosing craft beer the way they’d choose denim: small-batch, artisanal, hand-foraged. Gen Z simply want something refreshing, something that discreetly fits into a bag.
Mike Bennie, co-owner of P&V Merchants, puts it more poetically. Ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, he says, are “fun, portable, easily recyclable, colourful looking and deliver a kaleidoscope of drinking experiences”. Layer that with “Low/No Sugar, Low/No Carb and other value-system, ‘healthier’ options and you have a perfect storm.”
The aesthetic spectrum – hyper-colour at one end, pared-back at the other – reflects the category’s new creative playground. But both styles anchor themselves in the same logic: drinking now is also a visual act, and Gen Z know it. They just don’t post it all over social media like we did.
The other thread is more internal: health-adjacent drinking is no longer a niche, it’s the baseline.
Graham sees it in the shift towards “low-sugar, low-carb alcoholic sodas” among festival goers who want to stay light on their feet.
It’s even influencing the beer spectrum, says Stef Constantoulas, co-founder of Philter Brewing, who says this trend nudged their decision to create Phresh, a “light in flavour and alcohol” brewed range that taps into the thirst for thirst-quenchers made with citrus and tropical flavours.
And Bennie notes it as part of a broader behavioural pattern: “We tend to see Gen Z drinking better but less. Drinking more diversely. And drinking with value systems in mind – sustainability, recyclability, organic credentials, low/no additives in drinks.”
Check out our favourite pick of the premix drinks to try this weekend.
P&V Negroni
P&V’s Australian Negroni is built for ease without cutting corners. A mix of Poor Toms Gin, their bittersweet Imbroglio and Maidenii Sweet Vermouth, it’s a proper Negroni already dialled in. You just pour it over ice, hit it with a slice of orange and you’re done. No bar kit, no measuring, no drama.
Curatif’s Tommy’s Margarita
Curatif’s Tommy’s Margarita is a tight, agave-forward take on the classic, built from 100 per cent agave spirit, fresh lime and agave nectar. The 130ml can sits at 18.5 per cent ABV and pours straight over ice with no tweaking required. It’s consistent, well-calibrated and practical – the kind of ready-made margarita that holds its shape whether you’re at home, in the park or midway through a night.
Beudi Bushwater
Beudi Bushwater is a pared-back Aussie premix anchored in 100 per cent distilled Blue Weber agave, native desert lime and soda. Refreshing with “bright, zesty lime and hints of delicate earthy undertones, topped with soda”, it delivers flavour and simplicity; a drink you pour straight from the Esky without overthinking.
Maybe Sammy Lychee Martini
Maybe Sammy’s Lychee Martini is a streamlined take on the classic, built from 42 Below Vodka, lychee, lemon myrtle and supasawa. Simply chill and pour into a frozen martini glass with a strip of lemon peel – or over ice if you’re on the go. It’s designed for moments when you want a bar-level drink without the setup, the shaking or the measuring.
Lemon Ruski
Lemon Ruski comes back exactly as people remember it: bright, with that sweet-acid lemon. To meet a new audience, a new 8 per cent Lemon Black option lifts the intensity without losing the familiar flavour. This is nostalgia in a bottle and as uncomplicated as an afternoon sitting by the pool in the backyard.
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