Finding that people often turn to flavoured vodka as a substitute for decadent desserts, The Real English Drinks Distillery is launching a line of vodka liqueurs inspired by popular pub puddings. With people increasingly health-conscious, fresh offerings can help to redefine meal times.

Even before lockdowns and social distancing began impacting our consumption habits, people were taking drinking rituals into the home. Tapping into the desire to enhance at-home drinking, Bacardi is launching Twistails pods designed for convenience, novelty, and taste.

Established players in the spirits segment are being challenged by newcomers that are defying the rules of the game by reevaluating terroir, developing new processes, and even forging their own category-disruptive descriptors. But can these innovators go from niche to mainstream?

COVID-19 has fostered an environment that has not only raised the desire to drink, but the desire to do so creatively. As lockdown measures cause Britons’ booze behaviours to shift, how can spirits brands reach them at home? And how can bars adapt to changed expectations in the ‘new normal’?