Choosing an alcoholic beverage can mean different things on different occasions. A lager or stout may fit a pub visit or match day; a cider may be an easy summer choice, while a gin, vodka, whiskey, liqueur, or aperitif may be more closely tied to a cocktail, celebration, or home occasion.
YouGov’s UK alcoholic beverage rankings 2026 look at the brands UK adults aged 18+ would consider the next time they are in the market to purchase alcoholic beverages. The ranking combines brands from YouGov BrandIndex’s beer/cider and alcoholic beverages sectors, giving a broad view of the names that make it onto consumers’ consideration lists.
The results show a beer and cider-heavy top tier, led by Guinness, Peroni, and Birra Moretti, while spirits and liqueurs such as Baileys, Gordon’s, Smirnoff, Bombay Sapphire, and Jack Daniel’s also feature prominently across the ranking and category breakouts.
In this article, we cover:
- Top 25 alcoholic beverage brands by consideration among UK adults aged 18+
- Top 10 biggest improvers in alcoholic beverage brand consideration year-on-year
- How the top 25 brands compare on value and quality
- Top 10 beer and cider brands based on consideration
- Top 10 spirits and liqueurs based on consideration
- Methodology behind the rankings
Which alcoholic beverage brands are the UK’s most considered?
Guinness, Diageo’s stout brand, ranks first in YouGov’s UK alcoholic beverage rankings 2026, with 28.0% of UK adults aged 18+ saying they would consider the brand the next time they are in the market to purchase alcoholic beverages.
Peroni ranks second at 23.0%, followed by Birra Moretti at 20.9%. Kopparberg ranks fourth at 18.0%, while Baileys, the Diageo-owned cream liqueur, rounds out the top five at 17.9%.
The top 10 also includes San Miguel at 17.1%, Thatchers at 16.2%, Corona at 15.5%, Stella Artois at 14.8%, and Gordon’s at 13.7%. Smirnoff, Heineken, Rekorderlig, Madri, Old Mout, Asahi Super Dry, Bombay Sapphire, Inch’s Cider, Jack Daniel’s, and Estrella Damm also appear in the top 20.
The lead ranking is dominated by beer and cider brands, but not exclusively. Baileys, Gordon’s, Smirnoff, Bombay Sapphire, and Jack Daniel’s show that spirits and liqueurs remain part of the broader alcoholic beverage consideration set.
Which alcoholic beverage brands improved most year-on-year?
Hawkstone records the largest valid year-on-year gain in Consideration score, rising 4.5 percentage points to 9.3% among UK adults aged 18+. Hawkstone also made top of the list for YouGov’s Most Recommended Brands 2026 for the food and beverage sector.
Spanish brand Cruzcampo, brought to the UK market by Heineken in early 2023, follows with a 3.5-point gain, while Thatchers rises 3.3 points. Asahi Super Dry gains 3.2 points, and Birra Moretti increases by 3.1 points.
The rest of the top 10 includes Inch’s Cider, up 3.0 points, Guinness, up 2.9 points, Corona, up 2.6 points, Kopparberg, up 2.6 points, and Peroni, up 2.5 points.
The improvers list is dominated by beer and cider brands. That does not mean the wider spirits and liqueurs category is static, but the strongest positive movement is concentrated among beer and cider names.
How do the top considered brands compare on value and quality?
Consideration shows which alcoholic beverage brands consumers would put on their shortlist. Value and quality offer a different view of how those brands are positioned in consumers’ minds.
Among the top 25 most considered brands, Guinness leads on both measures, with a net Value score of 14.5 and a net Quality score of 45.1. The result means Guinness combines the highest overall Consideration, Value and Quality scores among all brands. Baileys also performs strongly on both measures, with a net Value score of 13.4 and a net Quality score of 32.5. Bombay Sapphire has a net Quality score of 29.6, ahead of several brands that rank higher for consideration.
Peroni and Birra Moretti, which rank second and third on the consideration ranking, also sit in the upper part of the quality perception range, with net Quality scores of 27.3 and 23.9 respectively.
The UK's top beer and cider brands 2026
Within beer and cider, Guinness ranks first at 28.0%, followed by Peroni at 23.0% and Birra Moretti at 20.9%.
Kopparberg ranks fourth at 18.0%, while San Miguel takes fifth place at 17.1%. Thatchers follows at 16.2%, ahead of Corona at 15.5%, Stella Artois at 14.8%, Heineken at 13.4%, and Rekorderlig at 12.5%.
The UK's top spirits and liqueurs brands 2026
Seasonal favourite Baileys leads the spirits and liqueurs rankings, with 17.9% of UK adults saying they would consider the brand the next time they are in the market to purchase alcoholic beverages.
Gordon’s ranks second at 13.7%, narrowly ahead of Smirnoff at 13.5%. Bombay Sapphire follows at 11.8%, while Jack Daniel’s ranks fifth at 11.6%.
The rest of the top 10 includes Pimm’s at 8.7%, Absolut at 8.2%, Aperol at 8.1%, Disaronno Amaretto at 7.7%, and Jameson at 7.2%.
Request an alcoholic beverage brand briefing to compare Consideration, Value, Quality, Purchase Intent, Awareness, year-on-year movement, and audience differences across the brands that matter to your market.
Methodology
This article draws on YouGov BrandIndex data collected from September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2026 among UK adults aged 18+ (n>19,840). Where year-on-year movement is shown, the comparison period is September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025 (n>26,381).
Consideration measures the percentage of respondents who would consider a brand the next time they are in the market to purchase alcoholic beverages. Figures are shown as percentages and rounded to one decimal place.
Value and Quality are reported as net scores. A net score is calculated from positive responses minus negative responses for the relevant metric.
The ranking combines brands from YouGov BrandIndex’s beer/cider and alcoholic beverages sectors. Pravha, Carabao Lager, and Jameson Ginger and Lime remain eligible for current-period rankings but were excluded from the biggest-improvers table because they did not meet the previous-period threshold.
Disclosure: The data analysis in this article was conducted by YouGov with the assistance of AI tools.
About YouGov BrandIndex
YouGov BrandIndex is an always-on, daily brand tracking tool that measures consumer perceptions of thousands of brands across sectors and markets. For alcoholic beverage brands, BrandIndex helps marketers understand how brands perform across awareness, consideration, purchase intent, value, quality, and other brand-health measures.
BrandIndex can be used to monitor brand health over time, benchmark competitors, identify audience-specific strengths and weaknesses, and understand how consumer perceptions differ across markets and consumer groups.
Explore more alcoholic beverage brand data
This ranking is one view of the broader alcoholic beverage data available in YouGov BrandIndex. Additional analysis can include competitor benchmarks, year-on-year movement, audience cuts, and comparisons across metrics such as Awareness, Purchase Intent, Value, Quality, Recommendation, and Reputation.
Request an alcoholic beverage brand briefing to explore the full rankings and the audiences, competitors, and brand-health measures most relevant to your business.
