Brigette Doby
Audio By Carbonatix
If there was one drink on every bar patron’s lips this year, it was a martini. Be it crisp and classic, dirty or espresso, martinis captivated Phoenix drinkers and kept bartenders busy behind the well.
These tipples have been trending upward over the last few years. Are we reaching peak ‘tini or have we just touched the tip of the stem? We checked in with six local bartenders and proprietors to find out what they predict we’ll drink in 2026.
Sara Crocker
‘Endlessly variable’ espresso martinis
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Maxwell Berlin, the barman behind the inventive, recently shuttered Quartz, didn’t beat around the bush when it came to summing up the drink of 2025.
“I’m sure every single bartender could tell you the exact same drink. That was definitely the espresso martini,” he says. “Martinis in general have just been so hot.”
Ruben Fernadez, III, lead bartender at the downtown hidden martini bar Filthy, calls espresso martinis a “safe space” for some drinkers.
“It’s like almost an upgraded vodka-Red Bull, if you will,” he says.
Aaron DeFeo, a local bar icon and co-owner of the award-winning hotel bar Little Rituals, calls the cocktail a global phenomenon.
“It’s literally everywhere,” he says of the drink. “I’m sure there’s a Circle K in town that has an espresso martini machine.”
That doesn’t mean every bar makes its caffeinated cocktail the same way. This second wave of the espresso martini has yet to crest because “it’s endlessly variable,” says Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour bartender Vance Haywood.
The traditional vodka base can be swapped for rum or an agave spirit, he notes, or it can be made decadent with the addition of cream or chocolate. Bitter & Twisted’s take uses reposado tequila and adds cacao liqueur and mascarpone cheese to evoke the flavors of tiramisu. At Filthy, the drink is a hybrid between a carajillo and a classic espresso martini, made with tequila and Licor 43.
Berlin has designed cocktails for two recently opened Phoenix restaurants and he put riffs on espresso martinis on both menus, aiming to tell two different stories. At Noor Mediterranean, Berlin leans into the restaurant’s Levantine cuisine, adding Turkish coffee, cardamom and black fig cream. At Tandy’s, Berlin pays homage to chef and owner Tandy Peterson’s confectionery brand, Embers Chocolate. The Tandy’s mocha ‘tini is a rich riff that uses the restaurant’s drinking chocolate. It’s served with a cocoa whip and chocolate curls.
Grace Stufkosky
More martini madness
It’s not all about coffee. Bartenders noticed that drinkers branched out beyond espresso martinis in the last year, returning to some tried and true classics.
“We’ve always done martinis and had a martini on our menu,” DeFeo says. “Our martini sales have probably doubled.”
Little Rituals’ Crisp Marini is a gin tipple “chilled to perfection,” per its menu, and served with a Castelvetrano olive, kimchi-spiced pearl onion and house-pickled grape. Luxe versions of classic and dirty martinis proliferated around town, often garnished with a cracker or chip bearing a bump of caviar.
Fernandez remembers a year ago, when drier martinis didn’t always appeal to drinkers, recalling a caprese-inspired martini made for the Arcadia rooftop restaurant, Thea, that “nobody really ordered.”
At Filthy, he’s seen the opposite, with patrons clamoring for the cocktail lounge’s signature Cleaverman Martini. This riff on a classic martini is subtle. Drinkers can choose from celery-infused vodka or gin, which is paired with a house vermouth and sherry blend, lemongrass and orange bitters.
“People order it multiple times or come back and get it,” Fernandez says.
Sweeter martinis are in, too. Berlin has seen a resurgence of the once-popular appletini. Bitter & Twisted’s pornstar martini remains its signature sip after more than a decade in business. Haywood estimates one of every four drinks he makes at the bar is this passion fruit-spiked vanilla vodka sipper, which comes with a sidecar of bubbly. His colleague Steve Pearson calls the drink “the best modern-classic cocktail.”
Fernandez has taken more and more orders for French martinis, which are made with vodka, pineapple and raspberry liqueur. He rounds the drink out with lemon juice and house vanilla syrup. It can be a go-to order for people who prefer sweeter cocktails, Fernandez says, so he’s considering adding it to Filthy’s menu.
Martinis of all stripes have staying power because “they’re kind of build-your-own cocktail(s),” Ashley Cibor says.
She’s tended bar at tiki haven UnderTow and led the cocktail team at the Scottsdale speakeasy Tell Your Friends. Cibor doesn’t see the martini going anywhere next year.
“I think the martini will always be at the forefront just because it’s so classic, but now you can make it in so many different ways, and so many bars have their own spin,” she says.
Hi Noon Hospitality
‘Indulgent, delicious and intentional’ spritzes
DeFeo admittedly laughed off the Hugo Spritz craze. The St-Germain elderflower liqueur, sparkling wine and club soda cocktail piggybacked off the Aperol spritz mania and took off on social media with a boost from an ad campaign led by star Sophie Turner.
“I definitely saw that drink come around for the first time (this year) and had to start ordering elderflower liqueur again,” DeFeo says.
Though most people visit Little Rituals for its uniquely crafted cocktails, the bar hosts a daily aperitivo hour serving $12 spritzes, negronis and martinis, along with other food and drink specials.
Pearson, the Bitter & Twisted bartender, predicts more people will thirst for spritzes than martinis. In an era where people are more interested in no- and low-alcohol sips, he sees an opening for the bubbly refreshers, which are typically lower ABV.
“The spritz, especially, bridges a gap of imbibing and elegance,” he says. “It’s indulgent, delicious and intentional without being over the top.”
Longtime favorites and culinary-driven cocktails
Berlin and Cibor note that the culinary influence on cocktailing, with bartenders borrowing ingredients and techniques from chefs and global cuisines, will continue into 2026.
“You’re going to start seeing all sorts of really fun drinks with a little international spin to them,” Berlin says.
Cibor has seen an increase in the use of complex, flavorful Asian ingredients in cocktails. Behind the bar at Glai Baan, Berlin infused Thai ingredients into the storied restaurant’s tipples.
“At the end of the day, when I write menus, I’m always trying to tell a story,” he says. “The first place I always start is on the streets of where that country is.”
Amid all that creativity, an interest in the past usually emerges, too.
A few times a week, Bitter & Twisted bartender Haywood will hear an order for a penicillin or paper plane. He credits social media and cocktail influencers for bringing these sips back to the forefront by showcasing them online.
“I’m loving it,” he says of the renewed interest in lesser-known classics.
Both DeFeo and Pearson say that the stalwart margarita, in all of its riffability, has earned its place in glasses next to the martini.
“The margarita has kind of always been the most popular cocktail in America,” DeFeo says. “I don’t see that dying out. It’s too simple, too easy to make and too universally beloved for it to go away.”
Jackie Mercandetti
A ‘return to value’
In a city where cocktails can crest $20, bartenders acknowledge that customers are feeling the squeeze. Berlin and DeFeo both noted that value is on the minds of bar operators.
How bars bring prices down will vary. Some may move away from boutique brands while others will simplify ingredients in drinks. There’s a sense that bars “have been pushing the boundaries maybe a little too far, where they’re alienating people both conceptually but also just pricewise,” Berlin says.
“I think a lot of people are talking about how to bring back value where you can still create beautiful and delicious cocktails but maybe a little simpler and a little bit cheaper,” he says.
That may also be what’s driving people to more spirit-forward sips like martinis and other classic cocktails, DeFeo says. Making good on that value, from a guest’s experience to the price on the bill, could make or break bars around the Valley in 2026, the Little Rituals co-owner adds.
“People are going to have to really focus on their service and the quality of what they’re putting out in order to succeed,” he says, “because I just don’t know that there’s room for mediocrity.”
