Will the rise of canned cocktails permanently change the way we drink?

It all started in 2013 when SpikedSeltzer hit the market. Although co-founders Dave Holmes and Nick Shields admit retailers were confused when the brand introduced its hard seltzer, it would soon become a massive trend with hard seltzer brands White Claw and Truly hitting the market in 2016. Now under the BON V! V brand, SpikedSeltzer is widely credited for ushering us into the era of hard seltzer, paving the way for this even newer era of canned craft cocktails.

Of course, the pandemic has also been somewhat of a catalyst for the boom in canned cocktails. We all know there was a sharp increase in alcohol sales during COVID; Nielsen reported a 54% increase in sales towards the end of March 2020 compared to the same period the previous year and a huge 262% increase in online sales compared to the previous year. And with bars and clubs largely closed, there’s never been a better time to enjoy ready-to-drink cocktails from the comfort and safety of your own home.

Earlier this year, I started receiving more canned cocktails to enjoy in the mail than ever before. As it’s worth it resident wine and spirits columnist, I usually get a ton of wine, more than enough whiskey, and a fair amount of tequila and other spirits. But the past six months have been different, filling my mailbox with canned wines, gin and tonics, and specialty cocktails. I understand the hype – when it comes to entertaining guests due to the initial pandemic and now the rising Delta variant, why store a bar cart with various spirits, mixers, and toppings when you can simply open a premium, ready-to-use, quality cocktail. ?

For me it started with a canned mimosa called Modern Mimosa from Mayne & Co (pictured right). I sat down with brother and sister co-founders, Allie and Scott Griswold, in February. They noted that they valued the quality of the ingredients they used to create their drinks, a sentiment that everyone I interviewed for this story shared. Since they wanted the wine to really shine in their mimosa, Mayne & Co. decided to source their wine from a cooperative of 400 small farmers in southern Italy who use sustainable farming methods.

“What we love is that these farmers are keeping the land in their families for generations to come, and they have years and years of history and tradition that are put into this truly delicious wine that they don’t ‘not export a lot of, “Allie said.” Once we tried it it was pretty clear why they wanted to keep everything in Italy. It’s delicious, and it compliments the orange juice very well and the lively flavors of it.

As for cocktails, the mimosas are relatively simple: champagne and orange juice. Easy, right? Well, for Mayne & Co., they tested different wine and orange juice formulations to concoct an avant-garde mimosa that harnesses the brightness and freshness of orange juice. What they got was a high quality tasting cocktail that was easy to have on hand.

“It’s really exciting to see the rise of canned cocktails, especially wine spritzers, and we found a lot of them to be very sweet,” Allie said. “We kind of went back to our preferences [of] having a mimosa that you would make at home with some really good wine and fresh orange juice and wanted to recreate that in a way that in our opinion was not currently available. ”

Durability was also a big factor for Allie and Scott. Scott told me that by using the wine from the co-op, they hope put more sustainable wine in front of American consumers. Allie also mentioned that cans are a more durable material than traditional glass wine bottles. KLevel 3 sommelier Ristin Olszewski, as well as the founder and CEO of premium canned wine company Nomadica, also pointed this out when I spoke to her, although she noted that not all wines are suitable for canning.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really looked at how unsustainable the wine industry is, and I think cans are a really amazing way to reduce our carbon footprint a bit,” she said. “I will never dispute that a good wine intended to age should be in a can. I really believe young, fresh wines are great for a can.

Olszewski Nomadica says is the only sommelier-organized canned wine company on the market today. And while such a distinction naturally sets Nomadica apart from other canned cocktails and spirits available today, Olszewski said that on a recent work trip to Tennessee, she found that shoppers seemed tired of the trend.

Photo courtesy of Nomadica

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into a retail store, restaurant, or hotel, and shoppers have been like,”another can? You’re kidding me, ”she laughed. “And then I was like, ‘No, face him, listen to me. “Once I get people to taste, they understand that we operate in a different league, that of quality. But I think the White Claw effect is real.

One aspect of hard seltts that made them so popular is that they are aimed at those looking for a spirit drink that is a bit better for you, with hard seltts that have less sugar, carbs, calories, and higher content. in lower alcohol than many other alcoholic beverages available. Vodka and tequila soda brand Canteen Spirits took inspiration from the seltzer hard book when making their canned cocktails.

“Our mission was to try to create a product that is as guilt-free as possible without shirking the flavor, so we’re not going to give up on the taste, but we’re not going to load it with sugar either,” he said. explained Brandon Cason, CEO and co-founder of Canteen Spirits. “We are proud to not contain any sugar in any of our products. And we pride ourselves on using ingredients that allow us to get a panel of nutritional facts without carbs.

Competing with other canned cocktails and hard sodas, the challenge is to make buyers believe that your product is truly something special that covers an aspect of the market that may not yet have been considered. . When she started presenting and fundraising for Nomadica, Olszewski discovered that her business was quickly compared to White Claw. But Nomadica is a very different product. Unlike hard seltzer, Nomadica houses a selection of premium wines in their stunning art-covered cans, but Nomadica also caters to a different consumer base, primarily wine drinkers looking to experience wines from the region. sommelier quality anytime, anywhere. .

Of course, once the pandemic hit, e-commerce also increased, especially in the wine and spirits industry. “As someone who comes from restaurants and the food and drink world, I don’t think I expected e-commerce to be a big part of online business now, and we have a ton loyal customers. I think something exciting about this, for us as a company and also for our consumers, is that we have the opportunity to speak to them directly ”, said Olszewski.

As Allie of Mayne & Co. has said, part of the success of canned cocktails is how easy they are for home consumers. But most consumers wouldn’t prefer to skimp on quality just for convenience, and in the market now, you don’t have to. With industry veterans like Scott Griswold, Kristin Olszewski and Julie Reiner of canned cocktail company Social Hour, consumers can have bar-quality drinks without any hassle.

Photo by Shannon Sturgis

Reiner, who owns bars across New York City including Clover Club and Leyenda, notes that consumer habits have changed, allowing canned and takeout cocktails to increase ever more.

“When we were making take-out cocktails at the Clover Club, people would come and buy a big bottle of our Kula Negroni or our Manhattan that we were selling,” Reiner said. “We would send it home with instructions, and they could have Clover Club, high quality cocktails at home. So I think the canned cocktail and RTD (ready to drink) market, everything is connected, and people appreciate having the same high-quality products at home as they did when they sat at your bar.

In 2020, the global canned cocktails market was valued at $ 714.8 million by Grand View Search, with growth projections of 12% per year by 2028. By 2028, Grand View Research predicts that the RTD cocktails market will have grossed $ 1,775.1 million in revenue. It looks like what might have been a fad could actually revolutionize the way we enjoy wine and spirits.