The rise of RTDs
Innovation and quality are driving the UK boom in RTDs, says Sarah Miller...
If there’s one category that's impossible to ignore in the UK right now, it's Ready-to-Drink (RTD). The pre-mix drinks are far from new – Marks & Spencer launched their first tinned G&T in 1986 and by the mid-1990s shops and bars were overflowing with bottles of sweet, sticky alcopops – but the once relatively low-brow product has evolved into a serious category in its own right. IWSR declared it “a beacon of hope” for the industry amid declining alcoholic drinks consumption last year.
As with so many recent societal trends, COVID played a key role as consumers sought bar-quality experiences at home and portable options for outdoor socialising. More recently, younger adult drinkers – who particularly value novelty, variety and affordability – have driven RTD sales, which grew by 13% in volume and 20% in value, while generating £738m in the off-trade last year (1).
The stats are impressive, but it's the way the category is developing that is really interesting.
“The Kocktail Glass is a 100ml RTD in a drinking glass with a peel-back lid and space for ice and a garnish.”
Relatively low ABV US-style hard seltzers failed to take off in the UK, where the more classic 5-8% ABV spirit-and-mixer combination continues to take the biggest share of the market. But the fastest growth is within higher ABV products, as RTDs with 9%+ ABV saw value sales increase 179% over the last year (2).
That growth was largely driven by the 13.5% ABV alcopop heirs, BuzzBallz, whose social media marketing and distribution through owner Sazerac's channels saw them achieve a remarkable 952% growth in 12 months – but many new brands are trying to follow in their footsteps.
And RTDs aren't just getting stronger. They're getting more sophisticated too. UK RTD company MOTH's exceptionally popular premium products focus on more familiar flavours made with high-quality ingredients – such as their trio of Margaritas, which all list Tequila Enemigo on the side.
The range from Whitebox is more diverse in appearance and style. In addition to their core range, which includes a 34.6% ABV Dirty Martini, Whitebox collaborates with other brands on complex bar-quality canned cocktails such as Bruichladdich's Penicillin, which was created with the distillery's heavily peated Port Charlotte whisky and achieved an incredible 97 points at IWSC 2026.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the rapid growth of no-alcohol, a counter-trend to high ABV RTDs is emerging with both M&S and Waitrose releasing an alcohol-free Margarita earlier this year. The Curious Drinker, meanwhile, is hedging its bets on a dual-format approach with three flavours each available as either an 8% ABV cocktail or 0% ABV functional drink infused with L-theanine, magnesium and Lion's Mane (mushroom).
And while the can has long been king in this category, brands are getting more experimental. Kocktail wanted to introduce a single-serve format of their 500ml bottled cocktails when they launched in 2020, but couldn't find the right vessel – until now. The Kocktail Glass is a 100ml RTD in a drinking glass with a peel-back lid and space for ice and a garnish. Branding is minimal in the hope the glasses will be kept, stacked and reused to reduce their environmental impact.
RTDs are not just about off-trade and on-the-go consumption any more either. While NIQ believes they are still under-leveraged in Britain's hospitality sector, the category has generated £200m in on-trade sales. And that is set to soar as venues begin to view premium RTDs as a strategic complement to their offering and brands like MOTH diversify into draught formats too, offering venues a consistent bar-quality serve they can pour to order, while making the cocktail a visible part of the pub's “core drinks architecture”.
It might be 40 years since those first RTDs emerged in the UK, but this fast-paced, innovative category is showing it still has much more to offer.
1 & 2: 2026 WSTA Market Report
Sarah Miller is a UK-based spirits writer, judge and consultant.
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