The history of celebrating the start of a new year dates back at least four millennia. While the traditions involved with these festivities have changed throughout the centuries, New Year’s Eve remains an important time of celebration. On this night, we gather with family and friends to welcome in a new year with joy and optimism.
Many people look forward to closing out the holiday season with one last special evening. Whether you’re hoping to throw a memorable party or are simply looking forward to a relaxing evening at home, there are lots of ways you can make the night festive. Toasting the new year with a delicious alcoholic beverage is a time-honored tradition. On this holiday, in particular, the drinks you serve set the tone for the evening.
Offering bar-quality cocktails is a great way of making your night more elegant and special. But cocktails are often complicated to make. If you don’t feel like heading to a crowded bar, mixing up a good drink requires a plethora of high-quality ingredients, professional tools, and mixing expertise to get right.
Luckily, industry-leading companies are creating bar-quality ready-to-drink canned cocktails that are perfect for events like New Year’s Eve. Read on to discover how to make your New Year’s Eve celebration more effortlessly fun and relaxing along with some delicious drink ideas you’ll love.
Planning Your Best New Year’s Eve Yet
Great-tasting drinks are an important part of any special occasion, but when it comes to a holiday like New Year’s Eve, something out of the ordinary is required. With their diverse flavor profiles, elegant appearance, and ease of customization, cocktails are a crowd favorite. But what if you don’t want to spend your evening waiting to be served at a crowded bar?
Related: Canned Cosmopolitans: The Perfect Cocktail for a Girls’ Night In
It goes without saying that not everyone has the tools, knowledge, or experience needed to create a great cocktail at home. Cocktail making is something of an art form—it takes practice to achieve perfectly balanced flavors. Even if you are a pro at mixing drinks, you might not want to miss out on the fun by getting stuck playing bartender all night.
This is where canned cocktails come in. Whether you’re planning a big party or will simply be spending quality time at home with your loved ones, they’re the perfect option to enjoy in the hours leading up to midnight.
All Flavor, No Hassle: Canned Cocktails Are the Ultimate NYE Solution
According to CNBC, the popularity of canned cocktails has been rapidly growing over the past few years, as Americans increasingly prioritize taste and convenience. A bit more special than beer or hard seltzer, these easy-to-serve beverages bring all the benefits of the bar directly to you, wherever you are.
For New Year’s Eve, they make the perfect addition to just about any kind of party atmosphere. From their great flavor to serving simplicity, there are a multitude of reasons why you’ll love ready-to-drink cocktails.
Full-Proof Recipes
Today’s canned cocktails come professionally blended, tasting as if you’d ordered them in a bar. Industry leaders are offering full-proof, ready-to-drink cocktails that follow authentic, time-tested recipes. They use the correct amount of each ingredient, to create the classic flavors you’d expect.
No Hassle, Just Quality
While appealing, setting up a home bar is a time-consuming and expensive process. For many people, it begins with reorganizing the home to create a dedicated bar space and then investing in everything from quality liquors and mixers to cocktail gadgets. When you’re all set up and ready to host your party, the real hassle begins—finding someone to play bartender all night.
Of course, sometimes mixing up drinks is fun but there will always be times when you just want to relax and enjoy yourself. After the busy holiday season, celebrating New Year’s as effortlessly as possible is well-deserved, and canned cocktails are a great way to make this possible. Just pour and enjoy, with more time for celebrating.
Find the Perfect Drink for Everyone
With the diverse menu of RTD cocktails available, you’ll be able to offer something all of your guests will enjoy, for much less than if you were to mix them yourself. You can skip the expense of stocking up on dozens of ingredients but still offer everything from mai tais to margaritas.
Create a More Special Atmosphere
Compared to other drinks like beer or hard seltzer, cocktails offer a unique elegance and sophistication. New Year’s Eve is when some of the fanciest parties of the year are held. For this special occasion, nothing sets the tone like a cocktail.
Since RTD cocktails are truly bar quality, you can create the perfect upscale experience from anywhere, effortlessly. To enjoy a canned cocktail properly, simply make sure it’s chilled, shake it to ensure the ingredients are blended, and enjoy! To make your event more special, pour them into elegant glasses over ice.
What to Look for In a Canned Cocktail
If you feel overwhelmed by the array of options at your liquor store, never fear. By considering a few simple tips, you can become a pro at identifying the best-in-class canned cocktails.
- Full-proof: You don’t want to pay for an overly sweetened or watered-down version of a cocktail. The best brands are offering full-proof canned cocktails that taste exactly like the options served at your favorite bar.
- Easy-to-find recipes: Quality companies don’t hide their ingredient lists in the fine print. The cocktail recipes should be easy to find and contain familiar ingredients.
- 100 ml cans: A perfectly mixed, single-serving cocktail should be 100 ml. When you spot these ultra-portable cans, you’ll know you’ve found a drink that’s correctly sized, packaged to maintain ultimate freshness, and doesn’t contain excess filler ingredients.
- Authentic ingredients: You don’t need to settle for anything fake in your canned cocktail. Avoid brands that use terms like “flavoring” and “citric acid.” Leading brands won’t use anything artificial.
Ideas for Serving
With so many ready-to-drink cocktail varieties to choose from, you’ll have a lot of options for your New Year’s celebration. Whether you’re looking for drinks that will enhance the atmosphere for your evening or creative ways of elevating your cocktail menu, here are several ideas for you to consider.
Related: Unveiling the Secrets of the Best Canned Alcoholic Drinks
Traditionally, champagne has been the go-to option for toasting at midnight. If you’d like to serve champagne at your celebration, there are several RTD cocktails that are delightfully enhanced by an extra bubbly splash.
Champagne Cosmopolitan
An elegant mixture of cranberry juice, lime, orange liqueur, and vodka, the Cosmopolitan is the perfect balance of trendy and timeless. By adding a splash of champagne to a canned cosmopolitan, you can create a wonderful bubbly and light drink that tastes great.
Champagne Vodka Gimlet
Made from lime juice, lemongrass oil, cane sugar syrup, and, of course, vodka, the vodka gimlet is a fabulously refreshing drink that is even better when topped off with a little champagne. For extra bubbles, add a single sugar cube to the bottom of your glass. As it slowly dissolves, it will release a steady stream of festive bubbles throughout your drink.
Southside Royale
The Southside is a delicious combination of dry gin, mint, lime juice, and cane sugar syrup. When a splash of champagne is added to the mix, you get an extra special concoction known as the Southside Royale.
Espresso Martini
When staying up late, nothing will put a little extra pep in your step like the espresso martini. An invigorating combination of cold brew coffee, vodka, and coffee liqueur, this drink looks elegant and can be complicated—but when opting for an award-winning canned version, it couldn’t be easier to pull off.
Old Fashioned
This crowd-pleasing classic never goes out of style. A blend of bourbon whiskey, bitters, demerara syrup, and orange zest oil, a ready-to-drink old fashioned marries taste and convenience. Since you can’t fake good whiskey, look for a brand offering barrel-pulled bourbon aged at least three to four years.
Put More Celebration into Your New Years with RTD Cocktails
This New Year’s Eve, whether you’re headed off to a party, hosting your own celebration, or simply enjoying some quiet time with the family, pouring an icy cold canned cocktail will bring effortless elegance to your evening. Thanks to industry leaders, it’s now possible to create a truly bar-quality cocktail experience at home. With only the best ingredients, perfectly balanced recipes, and unbeatable convenience, ready-to-drink cocktails will allow you to experience the drinks you love from anywhere.
At Post Meridiem, we’re shaking up the canned cocktail industry, with award-winning flavors created by masters in mixology. Our full-strength cocktails are created using only real ingredients like premium spirits and 100% real lime juice. Enjoy a new way of experiencing your favorite cocktails without compromise by finding our products online or at your local retailer today.
