The Margarita has emerged as the most popular cocktail in the world, according to research conducted for World Cocktail Day. The classic tequila and lime mix is followed by the rum-based Mojito and Piña Colada in second and third places respectively, with the Old Fashioned in fourth place.
The research, commissioned by UK-based Funkin Cocktails, is based on Google search data for 115 countries, using the name of the cocktail, plus the search term ‘recipe’ to filter out any unrelated searches.
Margaritas topped the search list in 30 countries, including the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, as well as France, Spain and Germany, Japan and Vietnam. There are around 546,280 online searches for Margarita recipes worldwide per month.
The Mojito is a firm favourite in Nordic countries, being the most-searched-for cocktail recipe in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland; as well as in Eastern European countries Slovenia, Serbia, Poland, Latvia, Georgia and Estonia. It was the number one search in a total of 26 countries, accounting for 302,840 searches globally every month.
Meanwhile the tropical Piña Colada, invented by bartender Ramón Marrero in Puerto Rico in 1954, was only a favourite in six countries (Belize, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mauritius, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) despite appearing in 199,640 searches each month.
Full results by country are shown below or can be viewed in this interactive map.
The research also produced some surprise results. The Sidecar, a blend of Cognac, lemon juice and triple sec, racked up the most searches in just one country: Angola. While the Pornstar Martini – a mix of vanilla vodka and passion fruit syrup invented by Douglas Ankrah in London in 1999 – was a favourite in 18 countries, including India, Nepal and Afghanistan, as well as in South Africa and neighbouring Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
While more classic cocktails featured in the top 10 by worldwide search volume – including the Old Fashioned (168,460 monthly searches), the Bloody Mary (120,460) and the Martini (135,510) – none of these were named as an outright favourite in any country.
Nicolas Gomez-Gonzalez of Funkin Cocktails commented: ‘It’s fascinating to see the differences across the globe for which cocktails are the favourite around each country. There definitely seems to be a theme in the most popular cocktails: refreshing with a hint of something tropical, to feel like you’re being whisked away to warmer climates with every sip.’
