New breweries dominated headlines in Knoxville for years. Now, cocktail bars are having their moment amid a steady stream of announcements about new concepts built around inventive drinks and curated experiences.
After years of reports suggesting Gen Z drinks less than millennials (and tends to choose cocktails over beer when they do), the gap between Gen Z and other demographics has "almost completely disappeared," according to a July report by IWSR, a research firm focused on the global beverage industry.
With cocktail bars seemingly on the rise, Gen Z journalists Allie Feinberg and Joanna Hayes joined their millennial colleagues Ryan Wilusz and Tyler Whetstone for a conversation about socializing, spending and the changing culture of going
out.
While Ryan and Tyler gravitated toward breweries as community gathering spaces, Allie and Joanna offered insights on aesthetics and the social currency of sharing a night out at a cocktail bar. Their conversation wasn't scientific, but it offered a glimpse into how age, lifestyle and even the COVID-19 pandemic might be reshaping Knoxville nightlife.
This Q&A has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Ryan Wilusz: It wasn't that long ago that breweries seemed to dominate Knoxville's drinking scene, whereas cocktail bar announcements have been one after another in 2026. As someone who's watched Knoxville evolve, do you think people's preferences have changed? Have yours?
Tyler Whetstone: Cocktails are more expensive in my very limited experience, and they're usually at places that are a little less family-friendly. Whereas a brewery, I can show up and kids are running around, and people are doing whatever. But a cocktail bar is more for adult conversations and hanging out. There are no little people running around those bars.
Ryan: Reports I've seen say Gen Z drinks less in general. It makes me think: If you're drinking less and saving money overall, maybe you don't mind splurging a little bit on a cocktail.
Allie Feinberg: There's something a little more sophisticated about cocktails. Gen Z also is obsessed with things coming in and out of style. With all the combinations and possibilities, it seems easy for cocktail bars to capitalize on the latest trends in a way breweries might not.
Joanna Hayes: Coffee shop owners have told me some of their drinks are $10, yet people are still buying them. And cocktails are often more than $10, right? So, why are people still buying this when supposedly people are not wanting to spend that much money going out?
Allie: The demand is elastic.
Joanna: Right. And it's because if I'm going out, I want it to be cute in the restaurant. I want it to be cute at the cocktail bar, and I want my drink to be cute − to take a picture of it, post, tag the restaurant, tag the cocktail bar. So, it's more about the experience rather than just the drink itself.
Ryan: As a millennial, Tyler, have you ever found yourself influenced by a drink on social media? Something you just had to go get? I feel like beer struggles to create that same kind of hype, except for something like Xul's PB&J Mixtape.
Tyler: Yeah, that's never happened to me.
Allie: Well, for Schultz Brau's pickle beer I try to mobilize.
Joanna: Coffee shop owners also talk about the "intensity" of a drink. People aren't just looking for drip coffee anymore. They want all the things and all the flavors, and I think that's also the case with alcohol. Mother Bar had a drink with an Alani, so they're adding in energy drinks. They're serving cocktails in a disco ball. All these drinks nowadays need to be on that next level − the next level of like, if I'm going to pay for it, I need it to have 17 flavors.
Tyler: I'm a South Knoxville guy, and there is something to be able to say I'm going down to Sevier Avenue and having all these options in a community sense. You can go get a drink here, you can go there. And it's all walks of life, kids, everything. That is what draws me to a brewery. It's a catchall for being able to go somewhere and socialize, whereas cocktail bars, I think you really have to put in a little extra effort to do that.
Allie: You're also able to hop from brewery to brewery. I mean, you could hop between cocktail bars, but it would probably be short and go downhill pretty quick.
Joanna: And cost $700. (Laughter)
Ryan: Out of everything, Tyler, I really can see that being a generational divide. A common criticism of Gen Z is they spend too much time online and on their phones. I want to say in-person socializing was more relevant for us millennials growing up. But then again, we had a piece aboutRegal and IMAX from Keenan Thomas, and part of that was about Gen Z craving more in-person experiences. And then I think about the COVID-19 pandemic, where maybe parts of high school and college were limited when it came to being able to fully socialize, and I wonder how much that has to do with the desire to go out and spend more time with your friends in a more intimate setting like a cocktail bar as opposed to a more wide-open setting like a brewery.
Allie: We're craving it, but we're not used to it. It's maybe uncomfortable for a lot of people because we're so used to being on our phones. But subconsciously, especially coming out of the pandemic, there has to be some kind of balance in it. ... It's funny. I remember when I did my job interview and tour here, you were talking about how big the brewery culture is here and how much it had been growing. Obviously, there are a lot of breweries here, but you aren't seeing as many open.
Ryan: At least compared to cocktail bars, which seem to be where a lot of that energy has shifted.
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter, and Joanna Hayes is the restaurant and retail reporter for the Business Growth & Development team led by Ryan Wilusz as business growth and development editor. Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Gen Z, millennials walk into a Knoxville bar and unpack their drinking habits
