The Ingredients To Look For In A Great Canned Cocktail According To An Expert

"Ready-to-drink" is a trendy turn of phrase right now, and it refers to any premade or pre-mixed drinks that you'd normally have to whip up on your own. There are ready-to-drink Starbucks canned coffees, hard teas (especially kombucha), canned wines, and a whole lot of canned spirits on the market. It's fairly easy now to go buy cans of espresso martinis or "pocket negronis" and pop them open as easily as you would a beer can. But how can you tell when you're buying "the good stuff" before you take the first sip? What should you look for in a canned cocktail?

We spoke with Molly Horn, chief mixologist and spirits educator for Total Wine & More, who said that even if a canned cocktail's ingredients don't perfectly match up with a freshly mixed cocktail, you should still see the spirit clearly marked: "I like to look for canned cocktails that have the base spirit listed clearly on the can or pack. To me, if a producer is using a true distillate, they are more likely to use other quality ingredients and really think about flavor. That will give you the most character and is also an indicator of higher quality."

For all their differences, a canned cocktail should have approximately the same ratio of spirits to other ingredients as a normal cocktail. This means a high-quality canned margarita will have real tequila instead of a substitute like agave wine. Some brands might get sneaky and slightly change the name to something like "margarita cocktail" to hide that they're diluting the spirit. If it contains something with a neutral alcohol base, that's a sign that you've got a fancy hard seltzer instead.

Once you've identified the spirit, there isn't much else to look out for. According to Molly Horn, don't worry about looking for "fresh" ingredients. "While one might think of the common expression, 'If you can't pronounce it, it's best to avoid it,' that doesn't necessarily hold true for canned cocktails," she says. "Regular fresh citrus juice does not work as it shortens the shelf life and requires refrigeration from start to finish, but acid is needed to help balance a cocktail. So while you may see some ingredients you are less familiar with, they are likely there to help ensure a flavorful, balanced, and delicious cocktail."

Some common ingredients you might find inside a canned cocktail include citric acid instead of fresh citrus, alongside artificial flavorings, colorings, and sweeteners. Spirit-based canned cocktails tend to be strong, and if the alcohol-by-volume (ABV) is less than 10%, it means there are probably antimicrobial preservatives like sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate. Canned cocktails are often carbonated by adding carbon dioxide, in much the same way that beer is carbonated. If a brand claims to use fresher ingredients, check its shelf life, because it should be shorter than a canned cocktail with acids and preservatives.

Over the past few years, canned cocktails have begun to catch up with hard seltzers like White Claw in sales. Some people think they taste slightly medicinal compared to a bar-side mixed drink, but if you pour them over ice instead of drinking them from the can, you can dress up canned cocktails for parties without much effort. Sometimes, it also helps to stock up on some fresher ingredients as well to top up the drink, if you feel like the drink could use it.