Colin Joliat
Hard seltzer was a $4.5 billion market in 2020, and it’s expected to continue its meteoric rise from gutter to butter. So what will be the next newcomer to step into the limelight? My money is on canned cocktails.
Much like craft distilling followed in craft beer’s footsteps, you can expect to see canned cocktails following in the footsteps of canned mixed drinks. It’s the logical choice when people grow weary of drinking vodka with carbonated water night after night. Look, we all had our go-to drink in college – Vodka & Red Bull in my case – but it eventually gets old.
Our Favorite Canned Cocktails
Hard seltzers come in an array of fruit flavors, with lemonade being the shiny new toy, but they all pretty much taste the same at the end of the day. Canned cocktails offer an actual variety of options. A Paloma tastes nothing like a Mai Tai, which is a far cry from a Slow & Low.
Here are five of the best canned cocktail brands on the market, along with a few of our favorites from each.
Crafthouse Cocktails
Crafthouse is an OG in the ready-to-drink cocktail resurgence. What started as a fancy bottled cocktail made the logical moves to cans for convenience. Pick your poison from cocktails featuring bourbon, rum, gin, tequila, or vodka with ABVs ranging from 10% – 25% depending on your choice. I’ll take their Smokey Margarita any day, and it’s tough to top the Gold Rush.
‘Merican Mule
Russian Standard doesn’t have a monopoly on the Moscow Mule, and ‘Merican Mule didn’t stop at just mixing vodka, lime, and ginger beer. They’ve put a spin on the new classic with canned cocktails built upon bourbon, rum, tequila, and of course, vodka. The latest filly on the block is the Fire Mule, which thankfully mixes bourbon with hot ginger & cinnamon rather than slumming it with Fireball.
Troop Canned Cocktails
While Troop lacks in options, they make up for in uniqueness. Their Gin Spritz features the unlikely addition of amaro, and their Bourbon Smash includes black tea. That’s a far cry from a boring vodka & soda in a can. If you’re not willing to venture off the beaten path, their Rum Mojito is literally the exact ingredients for a mojito… only it comes in a can. It’s hard to argue with that.
Cutwater Canned Cocktails
This inclusion feels like cheating to include given that they had a Super Bowl commercial, but Cutwater is too damn good to ignore. Aside from Crafthouse, Cutwater is the brand that convinced me that canned cocktails were worth drinking. They also bring unique options to the table, like Horchata Cold Brew, Mango Margarita, and the latest addition, the White Russian. I’m certainly ready to crack a can and go bowling.
Cocktail Squad
Cocktail Squad’s lineup is a masterclass in consistency. From the beautifully uniform branding to the 10% ABV throughout the Classics lineup, you know what to expect every step of the way. The options read like a listicle that could be titled “6 Cocktails Every Bartender Should Know.” Fire up Swedish House Mafia on Spotify and crack open a Greyhound or get your daily dose of fruit from the blackberry in their Bourbon Smash.
