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
Nutrl is a new line of ready-to-drink vodka seltzers flavored with real fruit juice, launched by Anheuser-Busch. There’s nothing particularly unique about the product line, but Nutrl is hoping to win over fans by offering these “unpretentious and uncomplicated,” refreshing, sessionable, low-calorie (100 calories per can), low-alcohol drinks, made with just vodka, seltzer, and real…
Read More
Has the ready-to-drink cocktail market jumped the shark? While ultra-cheap offerings are increasingly commonplace, a Chicago outfit called Sunday’s Finest is marketing a ready-to-drink Old Fashioned — called the Gold Fashioned — that is premium in every way, “the world’s first luxury ready-to-drink cocktail.” How premium? A 750ml bottle is $150. That’s how premium. It’s…
Read More
Strainge Beast is the hard kombucha spinoff of California’s Sierra Nevada, and the product is available in (at least) 6 flavored versions, at two different abvs. The standard version of the product, available in 16 oz cans, is canned at 7% abv. The newly released “light” version is just 4% abv and comes in 12…
Read More
Nine months ago there was a more optimistic tone to reuniting in public spaces. In an article published at the time, I intonated a foolish sense of optimism that folks would be congregating in large spaces safely without having to worry about catching anything that could potentially land them on a ventilator. Thankfully we are…
Read More
Natty Light, the brand you know and love, is spreading its wings with numerous new products including, of course, a malt beverage-based seltzer, which is available in four flavors. The twist? They’re all sour — the first ever sour seltzer, per the company — so fans of the mouth-puckering stuff may find them a refreshing…
Read More
Of all the brands making a big push into new markets, the last I would have thought of was Tia Maria, a coffee liqueur developed in Jamaica in the 1940s. The brand was recently sold to Saronno, and it’s currently made in Italy. Recently the brand added two new expressions, one built around matcha tea…
Read More
Brody’s Cocktails have had quite a rewarding year, having won numerous spirits awards recently. They offer five varieties of ready-to-drink / ready-to-mix cocktails in 375ml bottles that tout masterful blending and no artificial sweeteners. The backstory is simply of founder Cristy Neunson’s quest to simplify making quality cocktails at home, and filling what seemed to…
Read More
Alcohol-infused coffee is increasingly a thing these days, with Bomani the latest to hit the scene. These 325ml cans come in two varieties: regular and vanilla, both made from cold brew coffee and “alcohol from sugar” — though they do not include added sugar in the mix. Let’s give them a try. Both are canned at 5.7%…
Read More
Newcomer Ranch Rider Spirits Co. seems to be having a decent run in the rising canned cocktail market. Their Texan roots are proudly touted, with a key expression being the “ranch water,” a Texas bar favorite. Ranch Rider seeks to provide simple, classic, and familiar cocktails with real ingredients and no additives; not even added…
Read More
As a company, Artisan Craft Cocktails is perhaps misnamed: All it makes are dessert cocktails, pre-mixed, bottled, and ready-to drink when poured over ice. These are all unabashedly sweet and uniquely designed for sipping after dinner, not at cocktail hour — and their premium price telegraphs premium ingredients in the mix. Let’s give the four products…
Read More
