New Canned Cocktails For When You’re Too Far From The BarMr and Mrs Romance

Perfect for boujee camping trips, chilling poolside in style or simply always having something cool and tasty to pour at home, these upscale canned cocktails take things up a notch.

Remember when alcopops first came out? The time of Bacardi Breezers, Hooch and Smirnoff Ice. The era of VK, WKD and Skyy Blue. The epoch of Coolers, Cruisers and Splice.

Love them or loath them, these premixed RTDs—‘Ready To Drink’ if you will—made a space on bottlo shelves everywhere and have held their own.

The good news is they’ve grown up a lot in the past thirty or so years.

Progenitors of early ‘canned cocktails’ are now so sophisticated, you’d be hard put to it to tell some of them apart from a drink carefully crafted in a high-end city bar.

Here are some of our favourites of these highly evolved drinks that not only save you space in the cupboard, but time and effort too.

Curatif Cocktails

Australian-owned Curatif is a highly-awarded RTD cocktail manufacturer, crafting truly impressive canned drinks you’d be happy with from a bar where beards, leather aprons and vintage-style filament light bulbs about.

We’ve tried three of their ever-growing range and were impressed with all of them. All you do is shake the 130ml cans as recommended and pour over ice.

These are full-strength cocktails, between 14.7%-18.5%ABV.

Pina Colada—brand new to the Curatif range

This cocktail comes out sweet and fruity as you’d expect from a Pina colada. But there’s also a delicious creaminess you never get from a canned cocktail, and there’s an impressive long-lasting foam top too.

A pleasant tang follows in the aftertaste from two different rums (Appleton Estate and Ron Colon Salvadorio) that build layers of flavour on the real coconut and fresh pineapple in the can.

Espresso Martini

With a cocktail that’s so widely consumed, Curatif had to really nail this one, and nail it they did.

Rich, bold and potent coffee flavours from single-origin Brazilian beans, Tia Maria and Archie Rose Original Vodka work in well-balanced harmony of sweetness, sharpness a good vodka kick. Better than many bars can make.

Spicy Margarita

These guys are not messing around when they say spicy. This drink comes with a great kick that’s comes from a special chilli blend by Melbourne Hot Sauce Co.

This is closely followed by a balanced sweetness and tequila flavour from the Tequila Tromba Bianco. This is all hinges on a bright citrus hit from fresh lime juice.

Shop the whole range of Curatif cocktails here.

NO.SH boozy seltzers

With the recent advent of seltzer-mania, the Australian Beer Co have released their range of sparking RTDs that are ideal for a lighter drink (though still 5%ABV) when you’ve had enough of beer or bubbly.

Light and bright, their two flavours we’ve tried are easy-drinking low-sugar options with no added nasties. Indeed No.Sh stands for ‘No Shit’. You get the idea.

Citrus Crush

Fine bubbles and a light touch of citrus make this a dry, easy-going seltzer that refreshes beautifully.

Pineapple and Mango

More flavour-forward and sweeter than the Citrus Crush, the Pineapple and Mango Seltzer is full of tropical aromas and flavours. It’s a compelling drink with a fruity lingering taste.

Billson’s Premix Vodka

King of the Aussie craft premixes, Billson’s from Beechworth, VIC has an astonishing range of everything, from gins and whiskies to stouts and RTDs, these guys make it all. Fair enough though, they have been going since 1865 after all.

We’ve tried quite a few of their Premix Vodka cans—each at a manageable 3.5%ABV—and although many of them are too sweet for our palate, there are some that are way too easy to drink.