If it seems like your bar tab is higher than normal, you’re not imagining things.
Cocktails are becoming increasingly expensive, even surpassing $20 in some cities. A price like that might be more acceptable for a handcrafted cocktail with artisanal ingredients, but even classic drinks are seeing significant price increases. The top trending cocktails of the year—the espresso martini, paper plane, sidecar, and Aperol spritz—have experienced 4% to 6% price increases since 2023, according to data from F&B Insights. And that well-surpasses the general 3% inflation rate between 2023 and 2024.
In most large metropolitan areas, cocktail prices range from $15 to $18, and $22 to $25 at high-end restaurants, according to Noah Tracht, VP of Strategic Partnerships at F&B Insights. That was largely not the case three years ago.
“Since the end of the pandemic, [cocktail prices] really kind of lost their minds,” said Brett Thorn, senior food editor at Nation’s Restaurant News.
But why do they have to cost so much?
Why Are Cocktails So Expensive?
One of the reasons why your Aperol spritz is so expensive is because it’s trendy.
“Most cocktails across the spectrum are seeing price increases,” said Tracht. “Changes in consumer preferences and market conditions can influence pricing trends.”
But still, other than the espresso martini, the cost of which increased by a whopping 10% in the last year, he said that the jumps in cocktail prices are in line with other menu items.
And then there’s the price of alcohol. Between the end of 2020 and the end of 2022, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for alcohol experienced the largest increase in 40 years, according to The Washington Post. And if the cost of the bottles goes up, cocktail prices will naturally follow.
Thorn said rising prices are more about the increasing costs of doing business, such as overhead, labor, and rent.
“It can be a vicious cycle, because in order to pay your bills, you raise your menu prices, then your traffic, the number of people coming into your restaurant, is going to decrease,” he said. “And so you might harm yourself even more by raising prices more than your guests are willing to accept.”
It can be a domino effect: if one restaurant is charging $20 for a cocktail, another restaurant might do the same.
Similar to the way chain restaurants offer specials and bundles, Thorn said that he could see more spots offering deals on cocktails. This could include specials for customers ordering food, or discounted food for those who order a drink.
Price Hikes Are Related To Our Drinking Habits
With more people drinking less and exploring a sober lifestyle, you have to wonder if the price of going out has something to do with these societal changes. Still, even mocktails aren’t always safe from price gouging, with some being the same price as their boozy counterparts.
Affordable cocktails still exist, but they’re hard to come by in most cities. When I travel outside New York to more affordable cities, the drink menu no longer brings the unexpected joy of low prices.
I’ve become somewhat immune to the high cost of living in New York City, and subsequently, the damage a martini or two will do to my wallet. But when a drink costs nearly the same as an entree, I start to question the enjoyment of going out in general.
With drinks costing so much, I now limit my drinks and outings with friends. I still splurge, but it’s well-calculated. And the data shows that I’m not the only one who’s changed their behavior.
“Consumer spending habits are trending slightly more conservative, dining out less frequently, less lunches and dinners,” said Tracht. “However, when they do dine out, they spend more per occasion.”
So should we be concerned about $30 cocktails coming to menus? Not quite.
“I think cocktail prices and other drink prices are probably going to stay where they are for a while,” said Thorn. We can cheers to that, at least.
