If you bolt straight from work to meet your friends at a bar the moment the clock hits 6pm on a Friday, welcome to the club. We’ve got gin, but if no one posts a picture on Instagram of your assembled tipples (hashtag ‘GirlsGoneWild’), did it even happen?

Like it or not, we’re a nation who posts firsts and thinks later. And with a fifth of UK drinkers now opting for a cocktail over beer and wine, the nation’s love of mixology shows no signs of abating anytime soon. 

Now research by Google for the launch of the new Pixel 3 phone, has revealed the cocktails that rack up the most liked on Instagram – and the best time to post them for inducing the most envy among your peers.

What emerged from the analysis of the top 10,000 UK Instagram posts hashtagged with ‘cocktail’ and uploaded in the past year, was that people are going mad for sustainable, quirky drinks. #Vegan and #glutenfree came out as two of the top most shareable tags, alongside #pink (which snagged the number one spot) and #neon.

With the vegan population in the UK surging by 700% over just two years (and twice as many women turning to a plant-based lifestyle as men) it’s no surprise that we’re trying to make sure our cocktails fall in line with our new eating habits – and double-tapping our friends’ snaps when they find ones that do. Edible flowers proved a seriously popular option for drinkers too; 24% of the top flavours had a #flowers tag attached. 

The study also unveiled the nation’s favourite cocktail-base: gin. 43% of the top posts tagged gin over any other spirit. Gin sales have tripled since 2009 as we consistently opt for ‘high-end’ drinks and quality over quantity. 

And it’s not just in bars we’re enjoying the fruits of mixology – over half of Brits say they now have an at-home cocktail kit on hand to whip up a Pornstar Martini or two, especially at Christmas. Google searches for ‘cocktail recipes’ doubled during December 2017. 

Meanwhile, the booziest cities in the UK during festive season have been exposed too. If you’re living in London, Swansea or Aberdeen, clear some space for drinking (and the subsequent sore head) because you’re expected to attend at least five cocktail parties each during December, while the average British person will head to at least one every week. Meanwhile, the best time to post your millennial-pink, vegan creation for maximum impact is at 2pm on a Friday. Probably because everyone is already daydreaming about their evening exploits.  

Just remember to hashtag responsibly…

Images: Getty