SPECIAL SECTION
CANNED CRAFT COCKTAILS
Canned Quality
SAGAMORE SPIRIT TURNS TO BARTENDERS TO CREATE ITS CANNED WHISKEY CREATIONS. The ready-to-drink category took flight when people couldn’t go to their local bartender for a drink during the pandemic. But now, even as things are returning to normalcy, RTDs remain in the spotlight, and an even brighter one at that. Imbibers continue to love the portability of cocktails in cans, while growing legions of bars and bartenders come to appreciate the efficiency that pre-made cocktails inherently promote. But quality is always the biggest question mark when it comes to ready-to-drink cocktails. The earliest ready-to-drink brands
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were sugar-loaded and revolved around convenience. However, as the category evolves, canned cocktail creators are sharpening their game. Nowadays, the quality of an RTD can be indistinguishable from that of a freshly prepared cocktail thanks in large part to new recipes made with higher quality ingredients and spirits as the base. Whiskey-based RTDs, in particular, are booming, and brands that put whiskey bona fides, quality ingredients and meticulouslycrafted recipes first are earning more real estate behind the bar.
Sagamore Spirit recently announced the national launch of its premium canned craft cocktails in three vibrant flavors: Pineapple Ryegarita, Honey Paloma, and Lemon Tea Fizz. Made with its award-winning straight rye whiskey and co-created with the innovative mixology minds behind Baltimore-based CAnE Collective, Aaron Joseph and Ezra Allen, each recipe was painstakingly built from the ground up. In fact, the brand’s first three recipes took more than a year to perfect. “The bartending community and our fans have shared that they love the innovative flavor pairings in each recipe and appreciate that we use straight rye whiskey as the base,” says Sagamore Spirit cofounder and president of distillery operations, Brian Treacy. “That was a conscious decision from the start. We wanted to give whiskey drinkers, new and experienced alike, a premium canned beverage with our straight rye whiskey that can be enjoyed wherever the day takes them. Our canned cocktails were developed to showcase the best of Maryland rye by being approachable and versatile while letting natural ingredients in classic cocktail combinations shine through, and the marketplace’s strong and sustained embrace of our products has validated that approach.” Sagamore Spirit pairs its straight rye whiskey with organic juices to get its canned craft cocktails as close to the taste of a freshly mixed cocktail as possible. That attention to quality translates to a better tasting canned cocktail for consumers and one bartenders can feel good about cracking open.
