Cinco de Mayo On-Premise Alcohol Sales Report & Insights

by marketing

SYRACUSE, NY (March 18, 2026)  —  Because Cinco de Mayo fell on different weekdays in 2025 and 2026, comparing total volume or revenue would introduce natural day-of-week bias. To create a cleaner year-over-year comparison, BeerBoard analyzed volume share shifts—revealing how consumer preferences evolved across brands, categories, and styles.

Draft
This year’s top draft products in terms of volume share are:

1. Molson Coors, +1.23%
2. Coors Light, -0.27%
3. Modelo Especial, +0.17%
4. Miller Lite, -0.09%
5. Bud Light, -0.24%

Mexican lagers continued to be a major driver of Cinco de Mayo celebrations this year, accounting for more than 20% of all on-premise volume—up 1.5 percentage points from 2025.

1. Modelo Especial
2. Dos Equis Lager Especial
3. Pacifico
4. Corona Premier
5. Corona Extra
6. Dos Equis Ambar
7. Modelo Negra
8. Tecate Light

Draft styles seeing volume share growth were Lagers (+1.0%), European Ales (+0.8%) and Belgian Wit/White Ales (+1.4%). Geographically, Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Phoenix saw increases in volume share from last year.

Package:
The top selling packaged items were:

1. Corona Extra, -0.60%
2. Michelob Ultra, +1.10%
3. Miller Lite, -0.42%
4. Modelo Especial, -1.06%

5. Coors Light, -0.42%

Domestic and Beyond Beer packaged products increase volume share by 3.15% and 2.24%, respectively. Craft, -1.57% and Import, -3.82% decreased in volume share.

In the RTD Style the following 5 brands combined for +1.59% increase in volume share:

1. High Noon Sun Sips Pineapple
2. Sun Cruiser Iced Tea & Vodka
3. Surfside Iced Tea and Lemonade + Vodka
4. Nutrl Vodka Seltzer Watermelon
5. Surfside Strawberry Lemonade +Vodka

Had Seltzers also saw increase in volume share with solid contributions by:

1. White Claw® Hard Seltzer Black Cherry, +0.09%
2. Twisted Tea Original, +0.14%
3. Happy Dad Fruit Punch, +0.42%

Spirits:
No surprise, Agave was the #1 sold spirit even gaining 4.1% percentage points higher than 2025. Lunazul Blanco Tequila, Jose Cuervo Tradicional Tequila Blanco and Don Julio Reposado all increased volume share. This year consumers took a break from Whiskey and Vodka.

Geographically:
Cinco de Mayo was celebrated differently across the country. Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Houston and Detroit all increased in volume share.

As consumer preferences continue to evolve, BeerBoard’s on-premise data shows that Cinco de Mayo remains one of the most influential occasion-based shifts in beverage alcohol. From the continued strength of Mexican lagers to the growing role of RTDs and agave spirits, this year’s celebration reinforced how holiday-driven occasions can reshape the bar—and where suppliers have the greatest opportunity to win share.

#####

 

About BeerBoard
BeerBoard is the leading technology solutions provider for the hospitality industry, enabling retailers, distributors and suppliers to make fact-based decisions about their complete alcohol management. The company manages more than $1 billion in alcohol sales and 100,000 products through its industry-leading solutions. Its patented digital platform captures, analyzes, and reports real-time data related to alcohol ordering, inventory and payments. Versatile and easily operated from a single dashboard, it has streamlined operations, efficiency and improved revenue across the United States. Find out more about how BeerBoard is changing the alcohol industry at beerboard.com.

Leave a Reply

Top