RTD

Crystal Light Vodka Refreshers are rolling out to 10 states this month. A collaboration between Kraft Heinz and Harpoon maker Barrel One Collective, the 3.8% ABV vodka-based seltzer has 77 calories per 12 oz. serving, making it “the lowest-calorie ready-to-drink [RTD] cocktail on the market,” according to a press release.

Sisterhood is powerful, especially for Kelly Gasnik and Jill Burns, founders of Austin Cocktails. The sisters started the spirits-based ready-to-drink cocktail brand in 2012, helping to spearhead the current wave of canned cocktails.

Ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails may be one way through the bourbon glut, according to Bardstown Bourbon president Pete Marino.

Another major spirits group has blamed geopolitical instability for cutting its sales outlook.

Absolut is expanding both its ready-to-drink (RTD) and ready-to-serve (RTS) cocktail lines, announcing several new flavor additions, including an expansion of its co-branded partnership with cranberry giant Ocean Spray.

Mark Anthony Brands is narrowing its focus in 2025, with a “dramatically” simplified portfolio, Mark Anthony Brands president David Barnett shared Monday during Day 2 of Beer Business Daily’s Beer, Wine and Spirits Summit in Palm Beach, Florida.

With the RTD category at peak saturation, retailers and distributors want to know brands can bring incremental consumers.

Spirits-based ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails are projected to grow at a +6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the U.S. through 2028, according to market research firm IWSR.

Patco Brands, the manufacturer of one of the leading wine-based ready-to-drink products and other private label brands, has made a strategic investment in Farfield, California-based Frank-Lin Distillers Products, the companies announced Monday.

In Japan, some of the country’s oldest sake brewers are eagerly awaiting a decision next month on their bid for the rice wine to win recognition as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, a commendation reflecting the depth to which the beverage is tied to national pride and tradition. Other ambitious brewers, meanwhile, are just as eager to buck tradition altogether.

Brown-Forman, the leading exporter of U.S. spirits to the world, beat analysts’ expectations in its latest quarterly earnings report, thanks to a jump in demand from its more premium whiskies. But the president and CEO of the Jack Daniels Whiskey maker cautioned that with potential tariffs looming it was facing “so many potential scenarios and unknowns.”

Spirits giant Sazerac manages approximately 500 brands across beer, wine and spirits, yet president and CEO Jake Wenz insists the company is still “focused.”

After 18 months of learning about the U.S. bev-alc market, California-based hard kombucha brand Mate Maker is ready to expand its portfolio and its distribution, and wants consumers to come along for the ride.

Ready-to-drink cocktails are now allowed at more retailers and restaurants in Pennsylvania, but that doesn’t mean drinkers in the Keystone State are cracking open an array of canned cocktails.