Simplify New York’s twisted rules on canned cocktail sales
This holiday season, many New Yorkers will run out to buy their favorite ready-todrink cocktails or seltzers, a category of adult beverage that has exploded in recent years. Ready-to-drink cocktails are pre-mixed and sold in bottles or cans. Consumers like them because they are convenient and easy to manage — no need to measure, mix or purchase other ingredients.
The rise of ready-to-drink cocktails in the marketplace offers consumers more options, but due to New York’s archaic Alcoholic Beverage Control Laws, consumers are often puzzled as to what kind of ready-to-drink cocktails they can purchase and where. Currently, consumers may purchase malt-based varieties, like hard lemonades or teas, at convenience stores — but can buy spirit-based beverages, those mixed with whisky, vodka or tequila, only at liquor stores.
To consumers, malt-based ready-to-drink cocktails and spirit-based ready-to-drink cocktails are nearly identical in their packaging, alcohol by volume percentage and branding. The only difference in these products is the method of production of the alcohol — and the fact that convenience stores cannot sell the spiritbased versions.
Consumers should reasonably expect that all of these pre-canned beverages would be available in the same retail outlets where other similar products are available for purchase.
Legalizing the sales of all ready-to-drink canned cocktails in convenience stores would provide a real financial benefit to the state. In a year when the governor has announced a large budget deficit, the sales of these products would provide an increase in tax revenue. In other states, ready-to-drink cocktail sales in convenience stores increased from $206.1 million in the first half of 2021 to $280.5 million in the first half of 2022, a gain of 36.1%.
As the state debates the merits of other forms of consumer-friendly alcoholic beverage expansion, like selling wine in grocery stores, it should also provide consumers with the ability to purchase their ready-to-drink cocktails at their store of choice.