It's festival season! Camping trips, lazy long evenings and family summer hols are on the horizon.
These days, it’s a minefield trying to select which ready-made tipples to pack, with so many new brands arriving on shelves.
If you’re wanting to stock up your cool box with choice sips, here’s our guide to the best ready-made drinks on the market for summer 2023.
Miami Cocktail Co.
Even if you are in a muddy festival field, these babies will channel sunny USA vibes. Miami Cocktail Co. offers a premium range of low-calorie spritzes in cans using well-sourced ingredients only. Try their Bellini Spritz –Rosé wine, lightly paired with peach and mango juice; Margarita Spritz – featuring 100% Blue Weber Agave, wine, lime and orange juice with a touch of elderflower and ginger; and our favourite for the morning after, the Mimosa Spritz – rosé wine with fresh Florida orange and tangerine juice. Add these to your picnic spread or make them your festival back pocket pal.
Pimentae Pocket of Paradise – EDITOR’S PICK
One for the tequila lovers, this female-founded brand is a sell-out in Selfridges and has scooped up many spirits awards. This summer Pimentae tequila has launched two debut cocktails in a can: Tommy’s Spicy Margarita and The Cucumber & Elderflower Eclipse. These are both full of flavour and aromas with the Tommy’s winning us over the most with its fiery aftertaste. 1% of the company’s monthly revenue is donated to S.A.C.R.E.D, a not-for-profit that helps improve the lives and environment in the rural Mexican communities where heritage agave spirits are made.
Cipriani Bellini
We all love a Bellini, originally invented in Harry’s Bar Venice in 1948, but if squeezing fresh peach juice isn’t an option on the campsite, you can bring along some of these ready-made Cipriani Bellini’s instead. This top-notch mix of Italian prosecco and fresh white peach had been blended to perfection. It's just 5.5% ABV and looks totally elegant in the sky-blue bottle. We found these absolutely delicious during our taste test. The ultimate in chic ready-made drinking. Try their Virgin Bellini too!
Nohrlund
Here’s a new 100% organic ready-mixed cocktail range from Denmark. Nohrlund has been created by two bartenders who have reinvented some of the most iconic classic cocktails think Bramble, Mojito and Espresso Martini. The classy little bottles of booze already picked up a number of awards including wins at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and ‘Organic RTD Producer of The Year’ at the International Spirits Competition in Hong Kong.
You'll be a hit with your festival friends if you slip a couple of Nohrlunds in your back pocket.
NIO
These ready-made beauties have been on the market for a while. The ingenious flat-pack and simple twist-and-pour range packaging make them ideal for taking with you on your travels. There’s a massive selection so every cocktail lover can find something to suit and even a number of non-alcoholic options these days. If you’re buying for a group you can choose their mix-and-match option and select the spirits to suit, or try their travel series for a themed night at home with boxes including ‘Postcards from Venice’ and ‘Postcards from Japan’.
INTUNE
This little range of irresistible CBD sparkling soft drinks will be sure to give you an added buzz (!) at any summer event. Made from all-natural ingredients and real fruit, each can has 10MG of CBD. The whole range is refreshing, moreish and quite frankly hard to put down. We tried the taster pack of Grapefruit & Mint; Elderflower & Hops; and Pomegranate and Ginger and they were all delightful!
The Cocktail Co.
If you want to bring the bar to the campsite, The Cocktail Co’s have launched a fab and colourful new Summer Selection Box featuring summer-inspired ready-made cocktails: Apple of My Eye, Cosmopolitan, Mojito, Passionfruit Martini, Solero Colada, and Zombie. All of the cocktails are gluten-free and vegan. Fun, fresh and we love the retro look packaging. Just shake them up and pour over ice.
Rude Boy Tonic Wine
This potent 15% abv Caribbean fortified wine has added caffeine, maca, ginseng ginkgo biloba and guarana - known for their aphrodisiac and energising qualities. This drink was too potently sweet and strong for my palette but if you’re into tonic wines this certainly packs a punch. You can drink it straight up so if this is your thing, it will certainly power you on through festival season. Available in Original, Watermelon and Passion Fruit flavours.
Passoã ReadyMade Cocktails
Photo: Nic Crilly-Hargrave
For more tropical vibes try the new collection of Passoã ready-made cocktails.
Made from real passionfruit sourced from Brazil, these colourful concoctions are best poured over ice. The spirits selected are all high-end choices including Ketel One Vodka in the Pornstar Martini, Mount Gay rum in the Passionfruit Punch and my personal fave El Sueno Tequila in the Passionfruit Margarita.
Niche Cocktails
One more canned cocktail range to through into the mix is Niche. The all-natural range is made in Suffolk and features Gin Fizz, Margarita, Raspberry Cosmo, Matcha Mojito and our favourite for powering on during the festival, their Mocha Martini. You can mix and match your own boxes on their website.
Most Wanted
There’s nothing more genius than wine in a can when frolicking in the fields. Most Wanted wines have a far too easy-to-quaff range. Try their Pinot Grigio Fizz and Pinot Grigio Pink Fizz plus they have sauvignon and Malbec on offer. They’re available in most supermarkets if you need to grab and go.