Whether you’re at the beach, on a boat, at a picnic or in your backyard, one of the best parts of summer is cracking open a cold drink. The world of ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages available in cans has come a long way.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Volley
Volley co-founders Camila Soriano and Chris Wirth created a line of three-ingredient tequila-spiked sodas after seeking out a cleaner drink without all those mystery chemicals. Inside each slim 355-milliliter can (5.25% alcohol by volume) is a mixture of 100% blue agave tequila from Jalisco, Mexico, sparkling water and organic juice. They come in four flavors: zesty lime, sharp grapefruit, tropical mango and spicy ginger. Sip from the can or have one on the rocks.
$14.99 for a four-pack at drinkvolley.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Fishers Island lemonade
Introduced in 2014, this was one of the first ready-to-drink cocktails in a can. Now, the company has three new flavors joining its vodka and whiskey-spiked lemonade: spiked tea, pink flamingo and Fishers’ Fizz, a lighter, more effervescent version of the original. The dual-spirit drinks in pastel-striped cans are packed with citrus and balance. The spiked tea is a 7% ABV version of an Arnold Palmer that would fit well in a golf bag, while Fizz is refreshing and light, with lemony bubbles.
$15.99 for a four-pack at filemonade.com.
Old Westminster piquette
This drink sports a hazy peach color and sips like liquid Starburst candies, with a lingering jolt of grapefruit. VinoTeca sommelier Janeen Jason likens it to watermelon kombucha. It’s slightly fizzy, refreshingly wine-like and lower in alcohol. Old Westminster, a Maryland vineyard run by five siblings, makes piquette from a second wine pressing and refermenting.
355-milliliter cans ($5.99) are widely available locally, and at oldwestminster.orderport.net.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Ghia Le Spritz
Crimson-hued nonalcoholic spirit Ghia is reminiscent of classic Italian aperitifs, with a combination of bitter botanicals, including gentian root, elderflower and rosemary. It’s now available with soda water in 8-ounce cans as Le Spritz. The result is a spritzed-up version of the herbaceous and aromatic elixir. Rosemary and yuzu jump out of the earthy mix. Sip it from a cool can, or pour it over a big cube with a citrus wheel or a sprig of thyme for an easy, yet invigorating, cocktail that’s only 40 calories.
$4.50 per can locally at Elemental Spirits; $18 for four cans at drinkghia.com.
Lali alcohol-removed wine
Alcohol-removed wine is fermented with yeast and has undergone the same vinification process as standard wine, only with the alcohol removed. Lali is the first to put a noncarbonated (still) version in a can, and the result is quite good, retaining the flavors and subtleties of wine, without any of the alcohol. (It contains less than .5%, considered nonalcoholic by the Food and Drug Administration.) As a bonus, each can is 25 calories or less. Serve them cold from the can, or elegantly in a wine glass. The 250-milliliter cans come in three varietals: red, white and rosé.
$24 for a four-pack at zoie.com.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Cathead sparkling vodka soda
Mississippi’s first and oldest legal distillery began distributing ready-to-drink canned vodka sodas in its home state in April. Now available in Georgia, the 12-ounce slim cans are made with corn-based Cathead vodka, sparkling water and all-natural ingredients in four flavors: cranberry, limeade, satsuma mandarin and strawberry lemonade. Each can of the slightly effervescent drink contains 5% alcohol by volume and 100 calories.
$17.99 for eight-packs of two of each flavor; widely available in the metro area, or at catheaddistillery.com.
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