European spirits and liqueurs: export growth and the value of ritual
In the first seven months of 2026, EU agri-food trade monitoring data showed a 10% increase in exports of spirits and liqueurs compared with the same period in 2025. At the same time, wine remained in negative territory and overall European agri-food exports were weaker. The picture does not point to a dramatic market shift, but it does suggest that this category is moving with a slightly different rhythm — one often tied to clearer drinking occasions and more deliberately shaped brand identities.
That is where the more interesting reading begins: rather than proving a universal change in how people drink, these recent cases show how some brands are trying to turn spirits and liqueurs into products that belong to a specific time of day, a social setting or a recognisable shared ritual. Two very different examples make the point.
The after-dinner moment as brand language
In Spain, El Afilador, a historic Galician liqueur brand owned by Zamora Company, has built its refresh around a very clear idea: sobremesa. The brand closed 2025 as the after-dinner liqueur label that gained the most market share in Spain, according to Nielsen, and has chosen to frame that growth through an image of calm, conversation and unhurried time after a meal.
The point is not purely visual. The new identity is rooted in a recognisable cultural behaviour, but it turns that behaviour into a broader product story: not just a bottle served at the end of dinner, but an invitation to stay at the table a little longer. It is a positioning that speaks to consumption in which the moment matters almost as much as what is in the glass.
The production story stays aligned with that idea, though it does not need to lean on excessive detail. Ingredients associated with the brand’s tradition support the sense of a process built over time, while the Horeca channel accounts for the majority of sales. In this case, shared consumption is not just a narrative flourish: it is the setting in which the product appears to fit best.
A spritz looking for space in the US
On the other side of the Atlantic, the story takes on a different tone but remains centred on ritual. Campari Group, the Milan-based international spirits group, has announced the official US launch of Sarti, describing it as the largest investment it has ever made behind an aperitivo launch. The drink joins the spritz portfolio alongside names such as Campari and Aperol, with a profile built around tropical fruit and citrus that aims for a sweeter, more vivid reading of the pre-dinner moment.
Here again, the interesting part is not only the product, but the kind of space it is trying to occupy. The American market seems to leave room for formats that combine colour, visual clarity and a light sense of sociability. It is still a space in formation rather than a fully mature landscape, and that is exactly why a launch like Sarti reads as a commercial bet as much as a brand statement.
Spritz has already shown that it can travel beyond Europe without losing its recognisable shape. In this case, though, the point is not to export an icon mechanically, but to see how a drinking language can be adapted to another cultural setting without losing its main function: offering a moment that is easy to recognise and easy to repeat.
The two stories should not be read as proof of a single global shift. They suggest something narrower, but still meaningful: spirits and liqueurs can gain ground when they attach themselves to a legible ritual — the slow after-dinner moment on one side, the colourful aperitivo on the other. Different formulas, same underlying intuition: in a crowded market, the drink itself is not always enough. The moment around it matters too.
