RTD

The margarita’s grip on cocktail menus is loosening as drinkers, particularly younger ones, have begun to diversify their cocktail choices. After a long reign at the top, challenges to the margarita have emerged: value velocity fell 16% year-over-year (YoY) in Q4 2025 according to a new report from NIQ.

Joel Gott Wines, a powerhouse producer of entry-level supermarket staples, is tapping ready-to-drink (RTD) and functional trends with a new release launched today.

Two years after appointing dual CEOs, Cleveland, Ohio-based Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC) is down to one, following the May departure of Steven Pauwels, who returned to his native Belgium to be closer to family, Crain’s Cleveland Business reported.

Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) plans to lay off 160 workers in Alaska by September 4, the company wrote in a July 6 WARN Act notice.

Philadelphia-based Top Dog Cocktails is putting $1.3 million behind a new joint venture with St. Croix-based Flamboyant Water to launch a four-flavor rum ready-to-drink (RTD) line across the Caribbean and select U.S. markets this fall.

Plant-based beverage maker Elmhurst 1925 has always been ambitious in its broad approach to innovation, be it through milk alternatives, protein drinks or sour cream. Now, it’s going hard.

The time is right for founders of scaled ready-to-drink (RTD) brands to consider exits with the emergence of a “classic seller’s market,” Arlington Capital Advisors managing director Townsend Ziebold declared earlier this month at the Beer Marketer’s Insights business conference.

Most founders build to scale, but Adam Kost, founder of ready-to-drink brand Dirty Shirley, built to prove. In a saturated market, Dirty Shirley was structured from day one as a market-validation project that was lean, disciplined, design-led and deliberately positioned for an early strategic exit – which it got.

The founders who built NÜTRL into Canada’s top vodka soda are putting that playbook to use again, this time with tequila.

Brown-Forman and Sazerac are doubling down on ready-to-drink (RTD) with brand extensions and new-to-world brands launching today.

Sam Calagione is in a creative groove. The Dogfish Head co-founder is on the verge of releasing a collaboration full-proof whiskey in collaboration with Rolling Stone magazine. He recently wrote a column for the magazine on the 1976 overlap of punk, hip-hop and craft beer. And his 31-year-old craft brewery finished Q1 up, still trucking behind its Grateful Dead collaboration beers and spirits-based canned cocktails.

Ready-to-drink canned cocktail brand Carbliss is open to potential acquirers, co-founder Adam Kroener made clear Wednesday at Beer Marketer’s Insights spring meeting. “Everything’s for sale,” Kroener said during a panel conversation that included SpikedAde co-founder and CEO Jason Cohen and Happy Dad co-founder and CEO Sam Shahidi.

Entering its third summer, Right Coast Spirits’ Italian Ice is riding high. The ready-to-drink (RTD) bottled cocktail more than doubled year-over-year (YoY) during summer 2025, increasing volume 101% compared to summer 2024, Right Coast director of commercial strategy Jon Schwartz told Brewbound.

Sazerac-owned BuzzBallz is the dominant brand in the RTD segment. BuzzBallz’ dollar sales increased 65.6%, to more than $569.3 million, in Circana-tracked off-premise retailers for the 52-week period ending April 19.