Gen Z Aren’t Anti-Drink, They’re Just Bored of Your Brand
There’s a line doing the rounds, “Gen Z aren’t anti-drink, they’re anti-boring brands”, and like most sticky insights, it manages to be both blunt and annoyingly correct. Case in point: the meme-fuelled rise of BuzzBallz and the glitzy, footballer-approved success of Au Vodka. These brands haven’t just found their way into Gen Z’s hands; they’ve earned their place in group chats, TikToks, and questionable Saturday nights. But what exactly makes a booze brand not boring in 2026?
Let’s start with the basics: Gen Z are drinking less, but they’re drinking better. Not “better” in the whisky-connoisseur sense, but in the “this needs to hit, fast” sense. A BuzzBallz isn't trying to be elegant, it’s trying to be memorable. It’s cheap, chaotic, neon-bright, and strong enough to derail your evening. In short, it offers clear value in a format that doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not.
This is what so many traditional spirits brands have missed in their PowerPoint pyramids. They’ve obsessed over “purpose” and “premiumisation,” while forgetting their audience is bored to death of being told how to drink, how to feel, and how to behave. Gen Z don’t want a brand that lectures them on heritage, they want one that shows up, speaks their language, and then shuts up and lets them run with it.
So, what makes a spirits brand not boring?
Let’s break it down:
Format over manifesto: The drinks that win aren't the ones with overwrought brand lines, they’re the ones that show up in the right can, bottle, colour, or meme format. Once dismissed as a convenience play, canned cocktails have had a full-blown renaissance. Case in point: MOTH, now selling a margarita every five seconds. Format isn’t just function, it’s fluency.
Experience over identity: Instead of pushing some grandiose “brand truth,” the smartest players let the audience define the experience. That’s not passivity, it’s swagger. Letting consumers remix your brand, post it, mock it, or ironically stan it? That’s confidence. Not needing to control the narrative is the new narrative.
Culture as a channel: These drinks aren’t waiting around for eyeballs, they’re showing up in the thick of things. Think collabs, influencer chaos, and messy nights caught on camera. Badwater Tequila is a standout here: thanks to co-founder Cora Delaney, it feels genuinely embedded in fashion and music culture, not awkwardly grafted onto it. That’s the power of being in the room, not just buying your way into the front row.
Tapping into Gen Z values: Forget the performative values play of five years ago. Today’s values are stealthier: frugality as a flex, chaotic realness, and a DIY sense of taste. Gen Z don’t want polish, they want brands that feel alive. Messy, fun, flawed. And ideally, under a fiver a hit.
The New Rules of Engagement
Younger drinkers aren’t looking for brands that pretend to be their parents’ idea of premium. They want agency. That means experiences they can share, remix, mock, stan, or ironically love. It means drinks that feel culturally fluent, not in a “we’re on TikTok too!” way, but in a “we get the tone, the humour, the weirdness” way.
In that cultural swirl, boring isn’t just a creative sin, it’s a strategic failure. And right now, a wildly strong drink in a plastic ball is giving more cultural capital than half the luxury gin brands still spending millions on brand equity and bar carts.
So no, Gen Z aren't anti-drink. They’re just over brands that don’t get the assignment.
