The Premium End of RTD Has Arrived. Last Week’s Launches Confirm It.

Last week, Bruichladdich distillery – the Islay producer known for heavily peated single malts and The Botanist gin, owned by Rémy Cointreau – launched its first-ever ready-to-drink range. Four full-strength canned cocktails, built on three of the distillery’s spirits: a Dry Martini and White Negroni using The Botanist, a Whisky Sour using Classic Laddie, and a Penicillin using Port Charlotte. The Dry Martini is bottled at 33.9% ABV and designed to be stored in the freezer. The Penicillin sits at 22.5%. These are not low-ABV fruit seltzer formats. They are full-strength bar serves in a can, designed to replicate what a skilled bartender would make.

In the same week, Loch Lomond Brewery’s West Highland Spirits brand entered RTD with two gin serves. Waitrose published data showing whisky-based RTDs grew 73% year on year across its stores, and vodka-based RTDs grew 28%. The overall RTD category at Waitrose grew 11%.

Three separate developments, in the same week, pointing in the same direction. The premium end of the RTD category has arrived – and the brands most associated with quality, provenance, and craft are now the ones leading it there.

Why last week matters