RTDs Are Emerging as Latin America’s Fastest-Growing Alcohol Category

Beer remains the dominant alcoholic drink across most of Latin America in 2026, but the broader picture is more complex. New market data and industry reports show a region where beer still leads by volume, wine is losing ground in some of its traditional strongholds, local spirits keep their cultural weight, and ready-to-drink beverages, or RTDs, are posting the fastest incremental growth.

The clearest pattern is in Mexico and Brazil, the region’s two largest beer markets. Euromonitor places beer consumption at 78.5 liters per person in Mexico and 69.1 liters in Brazil, both well above the Latin American average of 57.4 liters. That confirms that Latin America remains, above all, a beer region. Even in countries with strong wine traditions, beer often dominates everyday drinking because it is cheaper, easier to distribute and more closely tied to sports, casual meals and social gatherings.

Wine still matters deeply in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, but not in the same way. The International Organisation of Vine and Wine said Argentina’s wine consumption fell to 7.5 million hectoliters in 2025, while Brazil rose to 4.4 million hectoliters, a record for that country. Argentina remains one of the region’s main wine cultures, but domestic consumption has weakened sharply. Brazil, by contrast, is becoming a more important growth market for wine even though beer still leads by a wide margin.

RTDs are emerging as the most dynamic category. Industry forecasts from IWSR project RTD volume growth of 7% a year in Brazil from 2024 through 2029 and 5% a year in Mexico from 2022 through 2027. In Colombia, Euromonitor described RTDs as the fastest-growing alcohol category in 2024, with double-digit volume gains. Their appeal is straightforward: they offer convenience, flavor and lower alcohol strength than many spirits.

That shift says as much about drinking occasions as it does about categories. Across the region, the market is becoming more polarized. On one side is mainstream beer for daily consumption and price-sensitive buyers. On the other is selective premiumization in wine, tequila, gin, rum, cachaça and premium beer. RTDs sit between those poles and benefit from consumers who want something easy to drink, portable and less formal than wine or straight spirits.

Country by country, the differences are striking. In Mexico, beer remains the clear leader. Market estimates put the country’s beer sector at about $27.83 billion in 2025, with volume at roughly 1.18 billion cases in 2024 and further growth expected after that. The market is still dominated by Grupo Modelo and Heineken México, with Corona, Modelo Especial, Victoria and Tecate among the leading brands. What stands out most is not only market share but investment: Grupo Modelo has announced $3.6 billion in spending between 2025 and 2027, while Heineken has committed more than $2.7 billion through 2028.

Brazil presents a different picture. Beer remains the largest category by volume, but growth has slowed and competition has intensified. Ambev reported a 4.5% decline in beer volume in Brazil in 2025, while Heineken said it gained share in both volume and value. That suggests Brazil is no longer mainly a story about selling more liters. It is increasingly about premium mix, distribution efficiency and channel execution. At the same time, Brazil has become one of the region’s most important test markets for RTDs and an increasingly relevant market for wine.

Argentina shows how quickly an old drinking culture can change under economic pressure and shifting tastes. Beer leads by volume, but wine still carries national identity. The problem for producers is that identity no longer guarantees consumption. OIV put Argentine wine consumption at 21.1 liters per person among those age 15 and older in 2025, while domestic industry figures showed internal market consumption at just 15.77 liters per inhabitant, a historic low. Domestic wine sales fell to 7.46 million hectoliters in 2025. Better performance came from varietal wines rather than lower-end generic products, which suggests consumers who stay in the category are trading toward quality rather than quantity.

Chile also reflects this split between volume and cultural value. Beer accounts for about 77% of alcohol volume sold there, according to a USDA report, even though Chile remains one of South America’s key wine-producing nations. Beer sales reached $2.86 billion in 2023. The same report showed a highly concentrated beer market led by CCU with 65%, followed by AB InBev with 30%. Cristal and Escudo remain the top brands. Wine still holds prestige and value in Chile, but producers are facing weaker engagement from younger consumers and are responding with tourism campaigns, sustainability messaging and lighter styles.

Colombia remains firmly a beer market, but it may be one of the most important places to watch for category change. Beer is still the largest segment, led by Bavaria’s brands including Águila, Poker and Club Colombia. Public estimates place Bavaria at around 80% of market value and Central Cervecera de Colombia near 12% of the beer market. But RTDs are growing faster than any other segment as inflation eases and consumer spending improves. That makes Colombia one of the clearest examples of how convenience-led drinking can expand without displacing beer overnight.

Peru follows a familiar regional pattern: beer dominates mass consumption while pisco carries symbolic value and export potential. Beer consumption stood at 43.7 liters per person in 2023, while market estimates valued Peru’s beer sector at $4.79 billion in 2025. Backus continues to control about 90% of the beer market. Pisco remains central to Peru’s drinks identity even if it does not compete with beer on volume.

Uruguay is smaller but still important because of its income levels and strong wine culture. Beer consumption reached 58.3 liters per person in 2023, yet Uruguay remains one of South America’s notable wine-consuming countries on a per capita basis. Imported beers captured 48.3% of consumption in 2024, a record high that points to growing openness to premium and foreign labels.

In the Dominican Republic, beer leads by volume while rum remains central to national identity and tourism appeal. Market estimates valued total alcoholic drinks sales at $2.79 billion in 2025. Presidente continues to dominate beer visibility, while Brugal and Barceló remain major names in rum.

Taken together, these markets show two broad truths about Latin America’s drinks business in 2026. First, it is overwhelmingly a beer region by volume. Second, value does not always follow liters. Argentina, Chile and Uruguay matter because of wine culture and premium potential even when volumes are under pressure. Mexico matters because it combines mass-market beer with tequila strength and modern retail scale. Brazil matters because of size and because several trends meet there at once: premiumization, digital distribution, RTD growth and rising interest in wine.

The competitive structure also varies sharply by category. Beer remains highly concentrated across much of the region. Wine is far more fragmented. Spirits often sit somewhere between those models, with one or two dominant local brands surrounded by imported premium labels and smaller domestic players.

Chile offers one of the clearest public snapshots of concentration: CCU controls about two-thirds of beer sales and AB InBev nearly all the rest outside smaller players such as Viña Concha y Toro’s brewing business. Mexico operates more like an entrenched duopoly between Modelo and Heineken México. Brazil remains concentrated but more contested than Mexico because Heineken has been gaining ground against Ambev in premium lager and pure malt segments.

Distribution channels help explain why some categories grow faster than others. In Chile, around 60% of beer sales move through liquor stores, with supermarkets accounting for roughly 30% to35%and restaurants,pubsand clubs just5%to10%. In Colombia’s RTD segment, modern retail leads but neighborhood stores are gaining importance because cold single-serve formats work well for impulse purchases. In Brazil’s spirits market, off-trade sales overtook on-trade sales in 2024 according to Euromonitor summaries.

Digital tools are also becoming more important even when online alcohol sales remain relatively small overall. Heineken said its Brazilian eB2B platform now connects more than 300,000 active customers. In Brazil’s wine trade, earlier USDA data showed e-commerce already represented11%of distribution for imported wine as far back as 2020, giving producers a base for direct discovery among urban consumers.

Taxes remain another major factor shaping what people drink. Chile applies an ad valorem tax of20.5%to beer and wine and31.5%to spirits before value-added tax is added, making lower-strength categories relatively more accessible than distilled products. Mexico uses excise tax bands tied to alcohol strength at26.5%,30%and53%. Colombia began this year with VAT on liquors,winesand aperitifs rising to19%from5%, while broader reform proposals remain under discussion. In Brazil, uncertainty over tax reform continues to hang over alcohol producers.

For companies selling into these markets, that matters because sudden tax increases tend to hit entry-level wine and spirits first while giving lower-alcohol products such as beer or some RTDs a relative advantage on price.

Demographics are changing demand too. IWSR found that alcohol participation among legal-age Gen Z consumers rose from66%to73%between 2023 and 2025 across major markets it tracks, with Brazil among the countries showing stronger re-engagement from younger adults. But that does not mean younger drinkers are returning to wine in large numbers. Wine remains under pressure among younger consumers in Chile and Argentina especially, pushing producers toward tourism experiences, social media campaigns and lighter styles meant to feel less formal.

That generational shift helps explain why innovation today is less about entirely new liquids than about new formats and occasions. In beer, producers are pushing premium lager imports,pure malt stylesand nonalcoholic options. IWSR expects nonalcoholic beer in Brazil to grow at a10%CAGR from 2024 through 2028. In RTDs,the focus is on flavor variety,cans,single-serve packaging and lower barriers to trial.

In Brazil,the best-known RTD names include spirit-based products such as Smirnoff Ice alongside local concepts such as Xeque Mate.In Colombia,newer labels have challenged older international names.In Mexico,the category still represents less than2%of total alcoholic drinks at the end of IWSR’s forecast period,but that small base leaves room for expansion.

Wine innovation looks different.It depends less on portability or novelty flavors than on repositioning.Chilean producers are trying to reconnect with younger adults through sustainability,enotourism and contemporary branding.Brazilian demand has been helped by imported wines,sparkling wines,women consumers and higher-income urban buyers.In Argentina,wineries are leaning harder on fresher styles,sparkling wines and varietal labels as they try to defend value in a shrinking home market.

Local spirits continue to hold their place because they carry meaning beyond sales volume.Tequila in Mexico,cachaça in Brazil,pisco in Peru,Aguardiente in Colombia,and rum across parts of the Caribbean remain tied to national identity,hospitality,and tourism.They also offer stronger margins when premiumized successfully.

The result is a regional drinks map that cannot be read through one category alone.Beer still wins most days,on most shelves,in most countries.But some of the strongest movement is happening elsewhere: RTDs are expanding quickly,wine is being forced to reinvent itself,and local spirits remain powerful where origin stories matter.The countries drawing the closest attention from producers and investors are Mexico,Brazil,and Colombia because they combine scale,growth,and visible shifts in consumer behavior.At the same time,the old wine markets of Argentina and Chile are becoming case studies in how traditional categories adapt when younger drinkers no longer consume them automatically.