After launching in Mexico last fall, Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails have rolled out in the U.S.
The 7% ABV spirits-based RTD, the result of a partnership between Coca-Cola and Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman, is inspired by the ubiquitous “Jack & Coke” bar call and combines two of the world’s most recognizable beverage brands in one package.
“We are excited to introduce the quintessential Jack & Coke cocktail to consumers in a consistent, convenient and portable format,” Jack Daniel’s RTD brand director Dallas Cheatham said in a press release. “While Jack & Coke is a cocktail consumers have known and enjoyed across the world, with origins dating back more than a century, we are proud to officially launch Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola RTD and bring these two iconic brands together in a RTD format for the first time in the U.S.”
“This launch is a milestone moment for both Coca-Cola and Jack Daniel’s – it is following what people have been doing with these two iconic brands for generations and demonstrates our commitment to innovation from the simple to the complex,” Coca-Cola chief of new revenue streams Dan White said in the release. “We are really excited about this classic cocktail being offered in a new and exciting way through our relationship with Jack Daniel’s and their distributor system.”
The RTD is available nationwide in 4-packs of 12 oz. cans with a suggested retail price of $12.99. It will flow through Brown-Forman’s distribution network. A zero-sugar variety using Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is slated to launch in May.
This marks the first time Coca-Cola has lent its iconic brand name to an alcoholic beverage, but is far from the first time the soft drink giant’s other brands have waded into beverage-alcohol.
In 2020, Molson Coors announced it would license the Topo Chico brand from Coca-Cola to produce Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, which is now the No. 4 malt-based hard seltzer at off-premise retailers, according to NielsenIQ data shared by financial services firm Jefferies. Molson Coors and Coca-Cola expanded their relationship in June 2021 to Simply Spiked, a line of hard lemonades and juices using Coca-Cola’s Simply brand.
Coca-Cola has also partnered with Constellation Brands, which licensed the Fresca brand for the Fresca Mixed spirits-based RTD family.
Off-premise dollar sales of small-format, spirits-based RTDs reached $696.4 million in the 52 weeks ending March 19, a +51.8% increase over the same period the previous year, according to market research firm Circana (formerly IRI). In that period, the sub-segment included 1,322 active UPCs, according to Circana.
Small-format spirits-based RTDs are the second-largest growth driver in the overall RTD segment, in which Circana includes hard seltzers and flavored malt beverages (FMB).