Beer, wine and spirits gross sales are nonetheless struggling, and proceed to expertise quantity declines ever because the onslaught of Covid. Nevertheless, the speedy rise in recognition of the ready-to-drink (RTD) class is a key consider serving to the trade stay afloat.
Based on the Beverage Data Group’s Business Overview for 2024, RTDs have a projected development of 20% final yr, representing a slight slowdown from 2023, however nonetheless marking probably the most important development in whole distilled spirits.
The class reached 63.0 million 9-liter instances, reaching a 20.5 class share, up 3.0 share factors vs 2023, in line with the overview, simply barely under whole whiskey. This development highlights the class’s attraction, providing comfort and selection with out requiring a number of spirits, mixers or cocktail-making information.
With the market now saturated with firms releasing their very own variations of ready-to-drink cocktails, our 2025 RTD Development Manufacturers winners have managed to face out, receiving the favored vote amongst customers.
We spoke with every of our winners to see how they’re in a position to obtain such development in an unsure financial system.
Getting Up Shut and Private
With RTDs taking on total aisles at liquor shops, it’s not sufficient to launch a canned cocktail and wait and see what occurs. You want a top-notch advertising and marketing plan, and for a lot of of our winners that includes assembly the purchasers themselves.
Canned cocktail model and Rising Star winner Carbliss is discovering main success within the conventional “liquid to lips” technique. It’s even serving to Carbliss launch in new markets.
“In 2024 we continued our boots on the bottom, liquid to lips technique, and we launched in two new states: Ohio and Kansas,” says Carbliss public relations and communications coordinator Casey Suttner. “As well as, we accomplished distribution in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Nebraska.”
Preserving a pulse on shopper developments and understanding what they’re in search of in a canned cocktail is one other profitable advertising and marketing technique for Carbliss.
“At the moment’s shopper desires premium, handy objects that may additionally match into their wellness targets,” Suttner provides. “Additionally, high quality and vary of taste is vital to our customers, and Carbliss continues to innovate. We launched 5 new flavors in 2025: Mango, Watermelon, Raspberry, Blood Orange and Grapefruit.”
Rising Star winner Excessive Midday additionally made fairly a splash in 2024 for its artistic advertising and marketing.
“In 2024, we doubled down on creativity, cultural moments and strategic partnerships to maintain Excessive Midday high of thoughts all yr lengthy,” says Brandon Lieb, vice chairman of Spirit of Gallo. “We additionally tapped into experiential activations to drive cultural relevance and deepen shopper engagement.”
Final spring, Excessive Midday made a historic splash with the Excessive Midday Boston Vodka Iced Tea Celebration, taking up an 18th-century-style ship in Boston Harbor and presenting town with 342 instances of Excessive Midday Vodka Iced Tea — the precise quantity of tea dumped within the harbor in 1773.
“And thru soccer tailgating activations, we introduced the Excessive Midday spirit on to sport days,” Lieb provides. “By mixing cultural relevance, strategic media and experiential moments, we continued to gasoline Excessive Midday’s momentum in 2024 — cementing our place as a premium chief within the class.”
Equally to Excessive Midday, Rising Star winner The Finnish Lengthy Drink additionally experiences success by in-person activations.
“Fortunately, the style of our drink has saved us with a loyal fan base, however we’ve additionally run some nice campaigns over the past yr that saved our clients engaged and helped unfold the phrase,” Kle Bradshaw, CMO, The Finnis Lengthy Drink, mentions.
“One standout was the ‘Style of Finland’ pop-up in New York Metropolis, the place we showcased our Finnish roots,” Bradshaw continues. “We arrange a storefront window the place folks loved Lengthy Drink whereas taking an ice tub and sauna, with onlookers watching the enjoyable.”
In July of 2024, Rising Star winner FRESCA Blended Cocktails bought up shut and private with customers by encouraging them to enter a sweepstakes for a restricted time to earn an opportunity to win one in all 100 limited-edition Fancy Ice kits, which additionally included cocktail glasses and a 12-pack of FRESCA Blended.
Mixing Cocktails with Hashish
The cannabis-infused beverage house can also be skyrocketing in recognition as of late, with hashish RTDs making their method onto retail cabinets throughout the nation.
“Individuals proceed to search for nice tasting alcohol options that have an impact folks can get pleasure from,” explains David Mukpo, CEO and founding father of Rising Star winner Pamos Beverage Co., a hemp-derived cannabis-infused spirits’ line. “We launched two new flavors of RTDs in 2024 — our Pamos Strawberry Margarita Spritz and Pamos Lime Ranch Water — which have been quick successes.”
Because the model’s inception, Pamos has quickly risen by the ranks and is now on the cabinets in all Spec’s Wines, Spirits, and Meals places in Texas, all ABC Tremendous Wine & Spirits in Florida and in all Complete Wine & Extra places within the states the place they carry such merchandise.
“We now have lots in retailer for 2025, with some thrilling programming throughout retail companions,” Mukpo says. “As an rising class, our promotions are predominantly centered round shopper training. Nevertheless, there are additionally calendar-thematic promotions, as properly.”
Rising Star winner Buddi THC-infused seltzers is one other hashish RTD that’s fairly well-liked within the various drinks house.
Buddi launched in 2024 as a consumer-friendly seltzer and shortly made strides in Texas, in line with Kevin Carr with Buddi, constructing a stable shopper base. The seltzer is now increasing into Florida and a number of other different states.
Echoing the “liquid to lips” advertising and marketing tactic is Carr, explaining that 2025 will probably be centered on most of these applications in choose states, “in addition to increasing our wholesaler community by state degree distribution.”
“As we increase, it will enable us to work with our retail companions on pricing promotions to encourage trial of all our totally different flavors, together with a particular summer time theme variety-pack,” provides Carr.
Educating Customers
Lots of our Development Manufacturers winners’ advertising and marketing campaigns give attention to elevating shopper experiences. For our Quick Monitor winner, Cutwater Spirits, they accomplish this by training.
In 2024, the model sharpened its focus and put emphasis on educating customers to indicate them how “in simply seconds, they will create a high-quality and scrumptious cocktail,” says a Cutwater spokesperson.
“For instance, all year long, we tapped right into a community of cocktail specialists, like Julianna McIntosh (aka @Join_Jules), to create premium content material that demonstrated how customers can elevate their cocktail consuming expertise with easy, but efficient entertaining hacks,” they proceed. “In any case, a lime wedge garnish or tajin rim can simply elevate your Cutwater Lime Margarita to the following degree whereas impressing your visitors.”
RTD Cocktail Improvements
With new RTD manufacturers continuously making their method onto cabinets, there’s all the time one thing new for consumers to attempt. For Rising Star winner On The Rocks cocktails, they discover it essential to usually innovate their choices.
Innovation is working for On The Rocks to this point, and Carol Robert, managing director, US RTD, Suntory World Spirits, says the model will proceed to lean on this advertising and marketing technique in 2025.
“You can say that we’re obsessive about actually understanding ship in opposition to the developments and flavors that buyers are in search of,” she says. “This obsession round insights has been key to profitable improvements previously — we noticed it with the rise of the Espresso Martini and once more with Blue Hawaiian.”
New taste innovation is a tactic that additionally works for Rising Star winner NÜTRL seltzers.
With a give attention to development within the class and as a model, a NÜTRL spokesperson says the model is doubling down on innovation in 2025 with the nationwide launch of its latest taste, NÜTRL Lime. This taste was introduced again for nationwide distribution after an overwhelmingly well-liked response from customers in its 2024 restricted launch.
“NÜTRL may also proceed to determine its presence within the music scene and will probably be activating at festivals all year long, comparable to Extremely Music Pageant, Lollapalooza, The Governors Ball and Nation Music Affiliation (CMA) Pageant,” the spokesperson says.
Except for new product launches, model redesigns are one other noteworthy modern advertising and marketing tactic that may assist increase gross sales. Quick Monitor winner Monaco Cocktails debuted a model refresh in 2023 with new monochrome cans, every that includes an emblem stating “established in 2012” inside a refreshed brand.
Innovation can also be proving to achieve success for canned cocktail model and Rising Star winner Surfside Iced Tea + Vodka. After introducing new flavors in 2024 — Black Cherry Lemonade, Raspberry Lemonade and Strawberry Lemonade, in addition to their Lemonade + Vodka Selection 8-pack — the patron response was super.
“In 2024, Surfside was the #1 quickest rising model throughout all alcohol beverage (beer, wine and spirits) with retail greenback gross sales up +360% versus a yr in the past throughout the US,” says CEO Clement Pappas. “Surfside has grow to be the #2 gross sales quantity spirits-RTD model within the US, rising to 4.925 million case depletions, up +278% versus 2023. We averaged promoting over 9 instances per minute this previous yr and achieved best-in-class greenback gross sales velocity inside the class.”
Constructing on the model’s momentum from 2024, Pappas notes that Surfside is releasing a collection of line extensions all through Q1 of 2025, together with a Inexperienced Tea + Vodka Selection 8-pack, new single taste Inexperienced Tea + Vodka 4-packs and new 700-ml. “The Longboard” single cans aimed toward stadium venues and comfort shops. In 2024, Rising Star winner Absolut showcased innovation by debuting a brand new ready-to-serve cocktail line known as Absolut Cocktails. Releasing flavors comparable to Vodka Mojito and Raspberry Lemonade in early February in addition to Espresso Martini and Basic Cosmopolitan in early 2025, customers are slurping up these improvements
Krystina Skibo is the Commerce Managing Editor at Beverage Dynamics. Attain her at kskibo@epgacceleration.com. Learn her current piece, Liquor Shops Make Room for Hashish and CBD Drinks.
