Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Viral drink

The concept of a viral drink does seem valid, even if it's not always described by such a term
E.g. from https://www.delish.com/food/a28579953/hard-seltzer-outselling-beer/ We were all obsessed with rosé back in 2016 when spiked seltzer was circulating locally (and then Aperol Spritzes in 2017—and then frosé last summer), all while other brands began taking notice of the product and making their own versions. Along with SpikedSeltzer, brands like Truly, WhiteClaw, Nauti, Polar, and even alcohol giants like Smirnoff have gotten in on the hard seltz game.

From https://www.baltimoresun.com/food-drink/bal-led-by-boozy-root-beer-hard-soda-trend-arrives-2016-story.html Hard sodas are another way for alcohol companies to appeal to customers eager to try new products and flavors, according to Ken Albala, professor and founding director of the University of the Pacific's Food Studies program. "People have gotten bored with standard mass-produced beer, and that explains the whole craft-beer revival," Albala said. "They got bored with only beer, and that's why cider just came out of nowhere." "For the same kind of crowd ... this is another niche," Albala said.

From https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/7/10/20680131/hard-seltzer-aperol-spritz-rose-drink-of-summer But if the next hot summer drink isn’t hard seltzer, waiting in the wings are canned wines like Nomadica that you crack open like soda pop. In 2018, canned wine sales skyrocketed 69 percent to make more than $69 million, according to Wine Spectator, which notes that canned wine took in just $2 million seven years ago. Then there are the mutant variations of things we know or thought we knew, like natural wine and boozy kombucha, fancy Vermouth spritzes and “distilled non-alcoholic spirits.” For each, the goal is to become as popular as the Aperol spritz or rosé, the drink that broke new ground for summertime drinking — to be inevitable and indispensable and utterly, completely interlaced with the idea of a perfect summer day.

From https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/08/why-summer-white-claw/596920/ A major factor in hard seltzer’s current popularity is what it’s not: difficult or aspirational. Being a cool young drinker has had a lot of arbitrary rules in the past decade. For much of the 2010s, booze trends have centered around limited-edition, high-alcohol craft beers and booze-heavy, professionally assembled cocktails. These trends have demanded that young people learn the ins and outs of booze culture; have a willingness to pursue the stores, bars, and breweries that meet their very particular tastes; and have the ability to spend some money to try new things. To get the full experience, those drinks also have to be aesthetically pleasing—all the better to document on Instagram, to show off your generationally and socioeconomically appropriate good taste. Зенитная Самоходная Установка (talk) 06:05, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

A lot of times it's marketing genius that makes drinks become popular
https://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/08/11/the-hard-truth-about-hard-root-beer-the-niche-beverage-of-summer-2015/ By itself, then, Not Your Father’s Root Beer may be just the tip of a national hard root beer trend. It has already spawned at least one imitator: Coney Island Hard Root Beer. Coney Island Brewing Co. makes it (obviously), and the Boston Beer Co., the biggest craft brewer in America, controls Coney Island. See where this is going? The concern that made the Samuel Adams brand ubiquitous — and that produces Twisted Tea hard ice tea and Angry Orchard hard cider — should have no problem putting a Coney Island Root Beer in front of consumers across the land.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90368380/wants-you-to-ditch-aperol-spritz A little over a month ago, the New York Times had a hot take—”The Aperol Spritz Is Not a Good Drink“—and an online firestorm ensued. For many, this was blasphemy. The Aperol Spritz—a cocktail containing prosecco, soda, and the eponymous Italian aperitif had become a holy rite of summer—mostly, as it turns out, because Campari, Aperol’s parent company, had made it so with some genius guerrilla marketing.

Зенитная Самоходная Установка (talk) 06:38, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

Response
The argument isn't that drinks can be popular or attract online coverage. It's that neither the term nor the concept of "viral drinks" appears to be notable. Literally none of the quotes from these articles use the term "viral drink". You can't just coin a term for a concept and them create an article about it, you have have to created articles on subjects that reliable sourcing has already proven to be notable. Best, GPL93 (talk) 12:50, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Well, I mean, Wikipedia will come up with its own terms for concepts all the time. It could be called popularity of drinks or something if we wanted to go in that direction. Зенитная Самоходная Установка (talk) 17:46, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Actually, we don't come up with our own terms as Wikipedia is not a publisher of original thought. We create articles based on subjects deemed notable by reliable sourcing. Like I am saying, its most likely more appropriate to mention the popularity of the individual drink in the actual drink's article because that's where the sourcing is strongest. Best, GPL93 (talk) 19:10, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Do you wanna help me come up with a new page title that's more generic and doesn't seem like a neologism? Something along the lines of drink popularity trends, idk. Fad drink maybe. Зенитная Самоходная Установка (talk) 19:20, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I think you're missing the point. An article along these lines is not going to meet notability standards of any sort without significant reliable sourcing on the concept itself (Which I haven't been able to find). A fad itself (in this case an individual drink) may meet notability standards, but the overall concept that you're trying to write an article does not. Best, GPL93 (talk) 19:33, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Is that a requirement for a list? What if this becomes list of drink popularity spikes (or list of spikes involving drink popularity, or whatever)? Зенитная Самоходная Установка (talk) 19:42, 8 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, such a list would most likely be considered WP:LISTCRUFT. A good number of these cocktails don't even meet notability standards on their own. Again, mentions in individual articles or adding them to The category for lists and trends by corresponding decade is probably the most appropriate course of action. Best, GPL93 (talk) 22:10, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

Research
“I think what we have is people saying that they’re drinking less or drinking better, but that’s really driving people into trends like Corona Premier and seltzer and Mic Ultra, and brands like that,” Klein added. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/05/constellations-brands-millennials-are-drinking-more-because-of-kids.html Зенитная Самоходная Установка (talk) 18:29, 5 September 2019 (UTC)