Mini Canned Cocktails Are the Perfect Grown up Trick-or-Treat

These pocket-sized potables pack a punch.

Ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails are one of the fastest-growing segments in the alcohol industry, with consumption increasing 102% in the last few years. Since their initial boom just under a decade ago, the cocktails have only gotten better.

Some of these award-winning offerings include classic cocktails crafted with high-quality ingredients, nuanced flavors, and a small batch, artisanal approach. Among these, single-serving, mini canned cocktails are making their mark.

Related: We Tasted 17 Canned Cocktails — Here Are Our Favorites

At just 100 milliliters, or just under 3 1/2 ounces, the adorably sized, tiny cans are portable, single-serving sippers that can also pack a punch. With the average alcohol by volume (ABV) ranging from around 25–40%, these pocket-sized potables are legit cocktails with bite.

Here are our top picks of the best small-but-mighty canned cocktails to treat yourself.

Golden Rule Margarita

San Francisco-based Golden Rule Spirits was founded in 2017 by cousins James Mauk and Hunter Sprole, who both came from a background in restaurants specializing in agave spirits. Their Margarita Original is crafted from 100% blue agave tequila, a proprietary triple-sec recipe, and a generous amount of fresh lime juice. At 27% ABV, this bar-strength mini brings high-quality ingredients to create one of the best RTD Margaritas on the market.

Hochstadter's Slow & Low Rock and Rye

The Cooper Spirits Co. is the independent beverage producer behind St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur. Since 2013, they’ve been bottling Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye, an Old Fashioned variation inspired by “rock and rye,” a pre-Prohibition whiskey drink often made with unaged whiskey and sweetened with rock candy. In 2016, these mini cans were released, based on the same formulation.

Slow & Low combines straight rye whiskey, raw honey, Angostura bitters, orange peel, and “a small dose of rock candy.” At 84 proof, this whiskey cocktail is bold, spicy, fairly dry — the equivalent of one sugar cube per two-ounce serving — and bursting with flavor.

Post Meridiem Spirits Espresso Martini

Post Meridiem (what p.m. stands for, when writing the time) in Latin essentially means “after noon.” The Atlanta-based canned cocktail company launched in 2019, and in 2022 added the Espresso Martini to their successful lineup. It has since become the brand’s most popular expression.

Made with vodka, coffee liqueur, and 100% arabica cold brew coffee, this cocktail of the moment lands at 45 proof. Post Meridiem’s traditional variation is balanced, tastes like a genuine Espresso Martini, and is fantastic for fans of a truly coffee-forward cocktail.

Tip Top Proper Jungle Bird

Tip Top Proper Cocktails is also based in Atlanta, and is one of the fastest-growing canned cocktail companies in the U.S. Since launching in 2019, the producer has created 16 different cocktails, including a recently released Whiskey Sour.

Made with rum, lime and pineapple juices, and red bitter liqueur, Tip Top’s punchy 50-proof Jungle Bird cocktail is one of their best. Bright, tropical and with a hint of bittersweet bite, we suggest pouring this over ice for a little dilution.

Straightaway Bees Knees

Since its launch in 2018, Portland, Oregon’s Straightway Cocktails has earned a reputation for sourcing local, high-quality ingredients and partnering with like-minded Pacific Northwest brands. Their award-winning mini canned cocktail line is made up of a Margarita, a Filipino-inspired gin cocktail called Lintik, a Nitro Espresso Martini using nearby Stumptown Coffee Roasters’ cold brew, and this Bees Knees variation.

Canned at 50 proof, this zesty gin-based cocktail includes cold-pressed lemon juice, West Coast honey, and Straightaway’s Accompani Blue Dorris Liqueur. This floral liqueur addition lends light herbaceous notes of chamomile and citrus.

Whitebox Pocket Negroni

Whitebox Cocktails is the leading canned cocktail producer in the U.K. While it may be difficult to source many of their products, the Pocket Negroni is available Stateside.

This 43.6 proof rendition doesn’t stray from the classic Negroni recipe with equal proportions of gin, sweet vermouth, and bitter red liqueur. The cocktail also includes the dilution you’d likely get from ice in a craft cocktail bar, making this truly ready-to-drink. Though you could sip this single-serve cocktail directly from the can, we advise pouring into a glass over a large rock and serving with a thick cut of orange peel.

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