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The 12 Best Canned Cocktails
Some taste just like the real thing. Others are even tastier and more fun than traditional mixed drinks. Here’s why it’s time to pop the top on the delicious new world of canned cocktails.
Blasphemy, I thought. There it was, a prepackaged mojito in a grocery store. This was about a decade ago. Still, I was curious to try it, because a canned cocktail that was actually good? That could be a gateway to converting pedestrian drinkers into cocktail nerds. Sadly, there was no craft in that canned mojito. No love. It confirmed my conviction that quality drinks must be mixed, not mass-produced.
Recently, however, I popped open a daiquiri from Tip Top, an Atlanta-based company specializing in classic cocktails served in Lilliputian cans. It was, shockingly, sublime. The simple yet difficult-to-balance daiquiri is often considered a litmus test to separate ordinary bartenders from great ones. The fact that a version that stellar came from a can was revelatory. Ready-to-drink cocktails—or RTDs, as the industry calls them—are no longer what they used to be. As demand surged during the pandemic, more serious bartenders and distilleries began producing them using real spirits instead of industrial malt alcohol or vodka. Now we’re living in a golden age of the canned cocktail.
Nothing will ever quite replace the experience of being served a perfectly made cocktail to order—whether at a serious bar or at your friend’s dinner party. And there are still plenty of prepackaged drinks to avoid. But we discovered a profusion of flavorful options worth adding to your drinking—and hosting—repertoire. Behold, the twelve best canned cocktails money can buy.
Our Testing Methods
We scoured every inch of the beverage and tracked down all of our sources to come up with a comprehensive list of premium RTDs. From there, we sampled each flavor from every brand to nail down our favorites. We measured them based on quality of the base liquor used, authenticity of flavor profiles, and how well they held up to portable drinks. Here are the absolute best results of this thorough testing.
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