Trends, challenges and the future of cocktail culture
The founder of Cocktail Club, a digital platform for home bartenders, explains how leveraging the influence of the on-trade and digital education can drive sales growth.
“I’m a big fan of the world ‘yes’, and that’s why I’m an entrepreneur,” said Kai Myhre, founder of Cocktail Club, during a talk at The Spirits Business Hub at ProWein 2025. Cocktail Club is a digital platform for home bartenders. It also offers a digital tool for industry professionals, designed to enhance their team’s skills.
In a conversation with Melita Kiely, editor-in-chief of The Spirits Business, Myhre discussed the importance of training and digital education tools in helping to elevate cocktail programmes and brand knowledge.
“We provide a digital solution for brands to connect with their customers,” Myhre explained.
He added: “In hospitality, we also have a training platform [that] just launched three weeks ago for hotels, for bars and restaurants. Three chains said ‘yes’ because there’s a need for teaching bartenders to keep the quality at a consistent level.
“We do consumer training and bartender training. It’s a great tool for those who don’t want to use their time [and] resources to get to the level of teaching how to use a brand.
“It’s such an important tool. The relationship between bars and brands is so important in helping brands grow – particularly when you’re new to the scene.”
Myhre also touched on advice for upselling and elevating the guest experience.
Discussing the fast-evolving nature of cocktail culture, he added: “You guys from the spirits industry know there’s a major turnover of approximately US$500 billion or US$550bn [in the US] every year in spirits consumption or sales. But let’s say 60% is consumed at home – 95% of those people consuming at home don’t even know how to make a good gin and tonic.”
He continued: “We see interest in digital learning at hotels, restaurants and bars because the level of consistency is very varying. So, if you can actually tell the bartenders how to use your menu or change your menu, and get a digital learning process on board, that’s a trend that we will see grow.”
Click the video below to watch the full conversation with Myhre regarding the future of cocktail culture.
For further videos from The Spirits Business Hub at ProWein, including talks on tariffs, the rise of Tequila and rethinking distribution strategies, visit The Spirits Business’ YouTube channel.
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