In the first instalment of The CLASS Report 2025, Hamish Smith looks at the spirits that sell best in the UK's Best Bars.

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We’re polling cocktail bars, so while shots, sippers and spirit-mixers drinks are all relevant, spirits most associated with mixing tend to sell best. And when it comes to cocktails, costs can easily spiral, so bar brands are normally found where the Venn diagram intersects between quality and affordability.

And so it is through this prism that we can really understand gin, which is once again the bestselling category in the UK’s best bars (and probably has been for more than a decade).

You’ll be familiar with the narrative around gin’s explosion in the UK, but what is less remarked upon is gin’s affordability compared to other categories. The trade price for the likes of Tanqueray, Beefeater and Bombay can be under £20. Gin has the most cocktails on menus because it is the GP hero.

And if most bars stock one of the biggies for the rail, there’s a backing choir of craft brands in support, adding consumer interest. All this added up means that gin is the number one spirit in 30% of our polled bars. More than half said it was among the two bestselling spirits and over two thirds of respondents claimed it was among their bestselling three.

Gin, though, is in the autumn – probably winter – of its reign. In our poll, tequila’s numbers are a hair behind and it feels that if it’s not next year, gin will soon be caught. Classic cocktails have a little to do with that. The Margarita is so popular that it accounts for approximately one in eight classics sold in our sample of bars.

Then throw in the Paloma, itself having a moment, and the Picante behind – and don’t forget the best bars still do shots, just with better tequila. So let’s measure it all up: 28% of bars said tequila was their bestseller, just under a half claimed it was among their top two and nearly two thirds said it was in their bestselling three.

So, with gin and tequila being the top choice in 58% of cases, we might be talking about a duopoly, but the picture is more nuanced.

Vodka, in third, was the go-to spirit in 13% of cases but was more likely to be named as a second, third, fourth or fifth bestselling spirit. Essentially, it’s rarely the star of our polled bars, but it has made a fine career as supporting actor.

More than three quarters of bars polled said vodka was among their top five bestsellers – the Espresso and Pornstar Martinis are just two big reasons why. But also, in a world where bars are starting to make drinks that are ingredient, not spirit, driven, vodka’s subordinate taste profile suddenly becomes a selling point.

In fourth is American whiskey, which is no longer a bestseller in most bars (only 4% said it was their go-to spirit) but is nonetheless a must have, with two thirds of bars saying it was one of their top-five sellers.

The stirred-down-and-brown trend has slowed in recent years, with longer, lighter styles proliferating, but American whiskey is still a feature of most menus. The Old Fashioned, twisted or classic, is the third bestselling classic – and while the likes of the Whiskey Sour and Manhattan aren’t quite as popular as they were a decade ago, they’ve stepped back, not away completely.

A few years ago, it felt like a straight race between tequila and rum to be the next big thing after gin. Well, it looks from our data like there was only one winner there. Rum – a top seller in only 4% of bars – has very much fallen back into the pack. Regardless of its direction of growth, rum is a non-negotiable member of any bar’s arsenal.

In sixth is scotch which, for many reasons – some cultural, some economic – has historically failed to find traction here in cocktail bars. But there are signs that scotch is starting to punch its weight. Almost 10% said it was their top seller – hotel bars and those north of the border contributed most here – while half of bars said it was among their top five spirits.

It’s an encouraging sign for a category that was in danger of being outperformed in cocktail bars by relative newcomer mezcal. Speaking of which, the agave spirit is in seventh in this year’s Class Report, with a little less than a third of respondents suggesting it was among their top five spirits.

From here, the data thins out, with world whisky among the top five choices in less then 20% of bars and Japanese whisky and the mostly-mute brandy category among the top-five roster in around 10%.