In response to Australia’s burgeoning cocktail culture, Diageo is launching on-tap innovation Draught Cocktails, making it faster and easier for bartenders to serve popular cocktails.
After years of research and development and close collaboration with industry experts, Draught Cocktails provides an innovative solution that delivers the perfect serve in seconds.
Bartenders can pour, garnish and serve up to six cocktails per minute, without compromising taste, quality or presentation.
“Draught Cocktails is unlike anything we’ve seen in this space before,” said Hayden Abercrombie, Marketing & Innovation Director at Diageo.
“After years of research and development, we have perfected the consistency and quality of a hand-shaken cocktail on tap. This means venues can now guarantee consistently high-quality cocktails to their customers at pace, without compromising on that hand-shaken quality.”
Abercrombie added, “By taking the complexity out of cocktail-making, we are helping bartenders pour, garnish and serve one cocktail every ten seconds – that’s six times faster than traditional cocktails, which take on average one minute to make.”
The innovation behind this technology includes Diageo’s patented nitro-infused liquid technology, a flooded fount and a chiller for ice-cold serves. It also includes bag-in-box technology to eliminate waste.
The cocktails on tap include Gordon’s Pink Martini, Smirnoff Passionfruit Martini, Captain Morgan Strawberry Daquiri and Smirnoff with Mr. Black Espresso.
According to Abercrombie, “Research shows that over half of 18-34-year-old consumers drink cocktails on-premise, with 55% of them drinking on every or almost every visit. The two biggest barriers they encounter when buying cocktails are affordability and quality. Our Cocktails on Tap directly addresses this issue, providing consumers with improved accessibility without compromising quality.”*
“It’s been great to see strong early endorsement from trade partners, citing the Draught Cocktails system has exceeded their expectations and led to high levels of trial, repeat purchase and positive feedback from customers. They’ve also called out Draught Cocktails as easy to use and maintain while delivering strong commercial opportunities.**
“We look forward to seeing how we can help venues level up their cocktail game, support increasing consumer appetite and optimise their cocktail strategy.”
* Source: CGS by NIQ OPUS Australia March 2023, sample size: 1203, 1221
** Source: Barfly 2023, Draught Cocktails Trial Australia
