Ready-To-Serve Cocktails - All the Rage?
- Sailor Guevara
- Mar 4
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 12
Are ready-to-serve (RTS) cocktails all the rage? The answer is yes. What a time to be alive with so many bottled and canned cocktails on the market that are actually good!! I've reviewed a slew of RTS cocktails this past year, and I am thrilled to say that from a Mixologist's perspective, many brands are getting it right. Here are two recent reviews.
Tanqueray Ready-To-Serve Negroni
James Bond ordered Negronis when he wanted a break from the Martini.
The Negroni cocktail, a cousin to the Americano and Boulevardier, is one of the most ordered cocktails in the world. Cocktail historians credit the Casoni Bar in Florence, Italy, with inventing the Negroni in 1919. The Count ordered an Americano cocktail, bitter liqueur, sweet vermouth, and soda water, but wanted it strong. It must have been a tough day. So Fosco Scaerselli, who owned the bar, made the cocktail with gin instead of soda water. The cocktail became a hit, and they named it the Negroni. Many dispute the history of nearly every pre-Prohibition cocktail I detail. We will never know and that’s okay. We have the cocktail, and it’s delicious.
A Negroni consists of equal parts gin, a bitter liqueur like Campari, and sweet vermouth. Sounds like a cocktail that’s easy to make, right? Well, to master this drink, it takes careful precision and the best ingredients. If you’ve found crafting Negronis at home a challenge or just want to come home, kick off your shoes and pour a Negroni in your glass without all the work. Diageo's ready-to-serve (RTS) Negroni cocktail is answering the call.
Made with Tanqueray London Dry Gin, vermouth and bitter liqueur. Available in 375ml bottles which will make 4 cocktails and 49.8 proof. The label suggests chilling the bottle, pouring over ice and garnishing with an orange peel. And that’s what I did. The cocktail does not need to be stirred, which is great for a quick cocktail. The is spot on, a deep ruby as you would expect the color of a Negroni to be and the aroma is as expected. Bold herbal with orange zest and tart fruit. The flavors in this cocktail are well-balanced. The only drawback is the distinct Campari flavor is missing. This may be a bonus for many who feel Campari is too viscous or bitter. Campari isn’t the only game in town for red bitter liqueurs. There are many others on the market that are just as good. Gran Classico makes an excellent bitter liqueur that I readily substitute for Campari when I can get my hands on a bottle.
After a few more sips, I have forgotten about the Campari and am enjoying a quality Negroni that I didn’t have to make. For entertaining this bottle is a great option to offer guests. All they have to do is pour it over ice. That’s a win for me.
Grab one for $13!
Ketel One Ready-To-Serve Cosmopolitan
Throw on some grunge rock, we are time traveling.
Many cocktail lovers associate the Cosmopolitan cocktail (aka the Cosmo) with the 1990s when the Cosmo was the ‘it girl’ of cocktails. Made with citrus vodka, triple sec liqueur, lime juice, and enough cranberry juice to make it pink. Photographers captured Madonna sipping a Cosmo at the world-famous Rainbow Room in the 90s. The Cosmo was Carrie Bradshaw and Sex and the City gal pals’ favorite cocktail. If you were in bars in the 90s, the Cosmo was hard to miss. And if you were a bartender in the 90s like me, you’ll always remember the Cosmo.
And although we think of the Cosmo as a cocktail invented in that time period, its roots go back much further. Late 1920s cocktail books and articles feature the cocktails called Cosmopolitan. They don’t resemble the modern Cosmo cocktail, just bear the same name. However, evidence from the 1960s reveals a cocktail of cranberry juice, vodka or light rum, sometimes with citrus, topped with soda. It’s not a Cosmo, but it’s close.
You’d think this would get easier in modern times. But tracking cocktail creations can still be a dizzying task. Often the answer is simple: a bartender takes a forgotten cocktail or even a popular cocktail and makes a few updates to it without changing the name. Often this coincides with new products being released like citrus vodkas, which is the hallmark of a classic Cosmo. And if you turn up your nose to the Cosmo because it seems outdated or genderized. You’re missing out, the Cosmo is now a classic cocktail that deserves its spot on the classics rotation. So much so that the powerhouse Diageo has gambled on its fame with a bottled RTS Cosmo.
This cocktail comes in 375ml, makes 4 cocktails and is 36.6 proof. It’s made with Ketel One vodka (I am assuming their Citroen vodka), triple sec and real cranberry juice. This product also suggests chilling the bottle and, once chilled, it’s ready to serve in a cocktail glass with a lemon twist. I’m wary about serving this cocktail right out of the bottle. The Cosmos is a shaken cocktail. Let’s see how it tastes right out of the bottle.
First thing I noticed is the color, it’s lighter than I expected. It’s a nice cocktail chilled right out of the bottle, but I feel as though I am missing some of the citrus of the juices. I think more cranberry juice is called for in this blend. I still want to know what it would taste like shaken as I feel as though the texture could be lighter, but after shaking it, the dilution took away too much flavor, so right out of the bottle is the way to go. Despite missing citrus notes, the ingredients’ quality and balanced blend shine through in the taste. It’s still a good tasting cocktail and ready-to-serve which makes the convenience aspect the winner.
Grab one for $13!
Both of these RTS cocktails are well priced to keep your fridge stocked. Depending on how you measure, if you get four cocktails out of each bottle the value is hard to miss for cocktails with mid-shelf spirits.
Here are some other reviews you might find interesting:
Drink well!
Sailor
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