Don’t shake or stir: drinks firms push bottled cocktails for the holidays

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) Major distillers want American drinkers to sip their Old Fashioneds, Negronis and Espresso Martinis this holiday season. But no bartender is required: these cocktails come bottled.

Diageo (DGE.L) and Pernod Ricard (PERP.PA) have both launched bottled cocktails in the United States in recent months, hoping to tap into a trend that has flourished since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike individual canned cocktails, the new bottled drinks can contain as much as 750 millilitres of booze. The companies hope that hosts will be pouring them at festive parties this year, and guests will bring them instead of wine.

Nylaya Corbin, a 22-year-old living in New York, bought a bottle of Diageo’s Espresso Martini, based on its Ketel One vodka, when she was shopping for wine in November - and loved it. Corbin said it was “extremely strong” and better than versions she had tried in bars and restaurants.

“I actually haven’t even ordered an Espresso Martini out since. I will just have it at home,” said Corbin, who comes from Maryland. She said she also bought a bottle of Ketel One’s Cosmopolitan cocktail for her birthday this month.

For some price conscious consumers, the bottled cocktails are a good moneysaving option, amid a rise in the cost of living.

When Caroline Zatina, a 37-year-old mom from Charleston, South Carolina, saw them on sale for $20, she immediately started doing the math on how much she could save versus a bar.

“It’s perfect for someone like me,” Zatina said. “I love my cocktails, I have a sweet tooth and I’m on a budget.”

Drinkers today are looking for quality, but also want their drinking experiences to be easy and cheap, said Ann Mukherjee, outgoing CEO of Pernod Ricard North America. She steps down at the end of the year.

“They want to feel like they are a mixologist, but they want to do it as easily as taking out a beer from the fridge,” she continued, adding the pandemic - which struck in early 2020 - taught people how much they could save by drinking at home.

The drinks companies say their products can match the quality of cocktails poured by professional bartenders for a fraction of the price.

But not everyone is convinced, especially those working in the hospitality sector. Bottled cocktails can be good quality, but can’t replicate the bespoke experience