It is getting easier to find great-tasting, fun canned cocktails.
The ones we have chosen here have a spirit base, as opposed to malt beverages or hard seltzers that might mimic the flavors of a cocktail. Even with that in mind, there was a large variety, in terms of alcohol by volume and intensity of flavor. We will start off with some lower ABV products and work our way up to a product with full cocktail intensity.
We also chose these products with summer in mind, so you will notice a theme of tropical fruit, or spritz-like fun, while one has big dessert vibes.
Sneaky Pete yacht water. Sneaky Pete is the spirits division of Atlanta’s Monday Night Brewery. Yacht water is the company’s take on trendy ranch water sparkling tequila drinks. It has no artificial ingredients and contains only reposado tequila, fresh key lime juice, sparkling water and sea salt. We tried the jalapeño version and it packs a punch. At 5.8% ABV, it has the lightest alcohol content in our roundup.
Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop. This drink’s slim can comes with a music industry parental advisory sticker and an old-school lowrider car on the label. The gin-based cocktail has real juice and is lightly sparkling, with flavors that include passion fruit, apricot, melon and citrus. We liked the subtle flavor and light effervescence, and it didn’t have the artificial taste of some hard seltzers. It’s 5.9% ABV (similar to an IPA beer), so you can have more than one at the pool.
Spritz by Bizzarro. This comes from Delinquente Wine Australia. Spritz combines the aperitivo Bizzarro, the company’s vermentino wine and sparkling water. This all-natural product has a light pink color and, when poured over ice, your friends might not know you didn’t make it from scratch. Spritz has 12.75% ABV and comes in a 250-milliliter can.
Cutwater white Russian. San Diego’s Cutwater distillery has one of the largest varieties of ready-to-drink canned cocktails on the market, with multiple flavors of margaritas and daiquiris. The one that struck our fancy was the creamy, dessert-like white Russian, an outlier in the mostly sparkling and refreshing trend. Made with Cutwater vodka and coffee cream liqueur, it is lighter than a traditional white Russian, but is 13% ABV in a 12-ounce can.
Tip Top Proper Cocktails mai tai. We have talked before about Tip Top, which has recipe development from Miles Macquarrie of Decatur’s Kimball House, but we thought this seasonal release was worthy of a mention. They nailed the tropical flavor of a mai tai, and the addition of turmeric and hibiscus gives it a fun, vibrant color. At 26% ABV it is the one, among our choices, that is most like a traditional cocktail — potent, yet well-balanced.
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