Ready-to-Drink/Premixed Cocktails
Ready-to-drink or RTD cocktails got their start as so-called “alcopop” beverages, such as Smirnoff Ice, which are malt liquor-based beverages that approximated a cocktail experience through the addition of different flavorings, generally sugar- and fruit-heavy, plus a healthy amount of carbonation. As with most alcoholic beverages, RTD products have moved upscale in recent years, with numerous craft distillers producing genuine cocktails ready to drink out of the can or bottle. These are often made with the identical ingredients you’d get if you made the cocktail from scratch, though quality tends to vary considerably.
Top Ready-to-Drink Cocktail Posts:
Zima
Cutwater Spirits Whiskey Highball and Whiskey Lemon Tea
Truly Spiked & Sparkling Water
With warmer weather comes the occasion to be festive and the desire to make socializing as easy and carefree as possible. For those who wish to ditch the making of cocktails and just get to popping open a ready-made party in a can, we sample Svedka’s new ready-to-drink cocktail offering in the form of a…
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Yerba mate is a caffeinated tea that’s been around for eternity, derived from the South American plant of the same name. You’ve probably noticed it appearing more and more as an alternative caffeine source in mood/performance enhancing drinks in modern times. This brings us to Vida Mate’s version, a series of non-alcoholic releases by Schilling…
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Here’s a new concept in the RTD space: A massive box of margaritas or mojitos that you can tap into any time. Drake’s Organic Boxtails are 1.75 liters of shelf stable cocktails that have no artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. They are very convenient because they don’t need to be refrigerated. Instead, they are meant…
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In mid-December 2021 we had the opportunity to review the inaugural offerings from California’s Sovi line of ready-to-drink canned non-alcoholic wines. While the red blend was flavorful and well-rounded, the Sparkling Rose could have used some fine-tuning. I am pleased to report that, after receiving this year’s vintage, things have improved for the better. Before…
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It’s hard to resist those tiny, 4 oz cans that offer a single serving cocktail, ready to pour into glass and knock back, no mixing required. San Francisco-based Golden Rule Spirits offers two such offerings, both made with authentic ingredients (no malt liquor here) and coming in at 80 to 100 calories per serving. (Though…
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Mico is a new tequila brand, the name translating to “monkey” in Spanish — which seems to have little to do with the brand aside from the mascot, which is a suited man with a monkey’s face. The tequilas are 100% agave (source unknown), double distilled, and, in the case of the aged renditions, double-barreled with…
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Texas’s Shiner has been busy lately, offering new beers and a large line of seltzers to boot. Today we’re looking at one of each, including a seltzer with a … particular … flavor. Shiner 1909 – A “heritage lager,” Shiner 1909 is made with heritage 2-row barley, Noble hops, and Shiner’s proprietary lager yeast. Quite…
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Ready-to-drink cocktails are showing up everywhere these days, and buzzbox (with a lowercase “b” to keep it casual) is a new company devoted to providing premium cocktails made without preservatives, additives, or artificial colors or flavors and packaged in eco-friendly boxes that look somewhat like — well, actually exactly like — my children’s juice boxes.…
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It’s a bit of a double nightmare for wine drinkers of a certain pedigree: an alcohol-free wine arriving in a can. With the rumored forthcoming glass bottle shortage and supply chain issues, plus more people opting to no longer partake in traditional wine, it would be unsurprising if there was a market shift in favor…
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Hardwood Spiked has essentially created a cocktail that inverts the role of ingredients where the bitters are featured front and center and the spirit and fruit are mere accoutrements. These 100 calorie seltzers use a corn whiskey base that “extracts 8 organic botanicals prior to oak barrel aging… balanced with organic maple syrup, though dry…
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