Favourite autumn flavours
There are few flavours as synonymous with Autumn as pumpkin. This bright, bold squash offers a sweet, earthy and sometimes nutty flavour, lending it to a range of combinations. As such, pumpkin flavour drinks are popping up across all drinks categories.
Lattes, typically made using pumpkin spiced syrup, set the scene for this wide range of drinks. So much so, it’s now a flavour favourite year-round – pumpkin spice grocery product sales grew by an impressive 24% between July 2021 to July 2022, Nielsen has reported.
Pumpkin flavour ready-to-drink cocktails, beers, sodas and milkshakes are all making this most of this market growth. The popularity of traditional autumn coffee flavours and creations has translated across to less obvious categories too, helping some to stay relevant year-round. Iced drinks have used additions like pumpkin spiced syrup and gingerbread latte syrup to create iced coffees, cold brews and milkshakes tasty enough for even the coldest days.
Flavour ideas – Perfect pumpkin flavour combinations
Pumpkin pairs well with a range of fruits and botanicals. Combinations can include pumpkin and nutmeg for a simple flavoured beer, pumpkin, orange, cranberry and star anise for a warming NoLo cocktail, or pumpkin with white chocolate and cinnamon for a fresh autumn coffee flavour.
Each of these pumpkin flavour drinks comes to life best thanks to spicy additions. Garnishes of nutmeg, star anise, clove, ginger, cinnamon and cardamom all elevate autumn drinks, giving them extra warmth and bite.
Unusual new autumn flavours
Seeing the popularity of pumpkin, creative producers have moved to another vividly-coloured veggie for an unusual drinks creation – sweet potato. The popularity of sweet potato beverages originated in Japan, evolving from being used in desserts – like sweet potato creme brulle – to lattes and frappuccinos, and, more recently, even as an accompaniment to gin cocktails.
To make a sweet potato-based drink more appealing, it can be paired with a familiar flavour like toffee. Toffee and caramel work year-round in drinks, especially with salty accents too. Salted caramel coffee syrups and creamy toffee syrups and sauces are being launched by everyone from fast food chains to luxury brands.
A similar sweet and distinctive flavour, maple, is being used across a wide range of categories. A maple ale and a maple-infused whisky have already been released this season. And maple twists on classic cocktails like a maple Old Fashioned or Whisky Sour can be easily created too, using maple flavoured syrup.
For the sweetest, sugariest autumn flavours, baked goods and desserts offer the best inspiration – such as banoffee pie for rich coffee flavours, gingerbread biscuits for an unusual flavoured beer, and s’mores for the most decadent drinks.
S’mores – made by melting marshmallow, chocolate and biscuit together – offer a range of flavours and textures to emulate. S’mores flavour drinks can be rich and sugary, perfect for hot chocolates, milkshakes or creamy liqueurs. Baileys has already launched a s’mores flavour Irish Cream this winter.
Classic autumn fruits flavours
Autumn flavours aren’t confined to just sugary or spicy treats. There’s a wealth of autumn fruits perfect for drinks, most notably apple, pear, blackberry and sloe.
While apple arguably leads the way for autumn fruits – think toffee apples on Bonfire Night or apple bobbing at Halloween – pear is hot on its heels, being used in seasonal whisky cocktails as well as in healthy kombuchas.
Flavour ideas – Favourite Autumn fruits
Autumn fruits can be used across all drink categories, for winter warmers. Apple and blackberry with molasses can create a mixer to be mulled or enjoyed with spirits, or spiced pear and vanilla will perfectly flavour vodkas, gins or bourbons.
Now, as Christmas fast approaches, festive flavours are creeping in too – gingerbread hot chocolates and coffees are gracing menus as decadent treats. Perfect for an on-the-go treat while Christmas shopping or to make at home for cosy nights in, these flavours are easy to create thanks to coffee syrups like gingerbread latte syrup.
Autumn flavours aren’t only fun for the tastes they create. They also lend themselves to the marketing of drinks and foods too, through the language, colours and events associated with this time of year. Traditional sights, sounds and feelings of autumn can be mimicked for catchy naming – think ‘crisp’, ‘crunch’, ‘warming’ and more.
To create your own Autumn and festive flavours, get in touch today. Or for more drinks development inspiration, check out our other blogs.
