Almost since its launch in 2019, High Noon Sun Sips spirits-based pre-mixed cocktails have dominated the ready-to-drink cocktail category, but that doesn’t mean parent company Spirit of Gallo is resting easy. “In 2025, we’re continuing to build on our momentum, with expanded event partnerships, bigger marketing moments, and continued flavor innovation,” says Britt West, chief commercial officer for Spirit of Gallo. “We’ll show up at marquee cultural and sporting events, keeping High Noon top-of-mind for consumers who are looking to trade up from malt-based beverages. We’ve also got a few surprises up our sleeves this year.”

Retailers say the High Noon strategy—going big from the start and aggressively plowing forward each year—has been what keeps the brand on top. “Being first to market and quality seem to be the driving factors behind our biggest sellers’ success,” says Shaun Brown, director of sales for Chan’s Wine World, which has several Florida locations.

“Gallo did a great job getting it everywhere in the beginning,” agrees Jeremy Brock, chief purchasing officer and general manager for the Illinois-based Garfield’s Beverage Warehouse retail chain. “Also, they flooded the market with tastings. Getting liquid to lips is the best selling tool.” Now, six years in from when High Noon first launched, the market is highly congested with several high-performing brands, some struggling brands, and a slew of newer entrants eager to gain market share.

Thriving Brands

Brown notes that a few spirits RTD brands are thriving in his stores. “Mom Water was the first to provide a spirit-based product with no carbonation and that served a segment of customers who wanted something like High Noon without the effects of all those bubbles,” he says. “[The Finnish] Long Drink offers a little more body and a different flavor profile than High Noon. On the Rocks is from Suntory Global Spirits, but they were smart to make it its own brand.”

Brock also mentions those three brands, as well as Anheuser-Busch’s Cutwater. “I think these are the best of what is on offer in their respective niches,” he says. “On the Rocks does well for high quality cocktails in a package, Cutwater fills the need for those not concerned about sugar and calories with the convenience of a can, and the rest are there for the calorie-conscious consumer.”

Those brands all rank among the top 20 spirits-based RTDs and all gained volume last year, but they’re certainly not the only brands achieving gains in this dynamic sector. The leading 27 spirits RTD brands saw a 22.7% increase to 61.28 million cases in 2024, according to Impact Databank. Over 40% of that  volume was High Noon, which increased 13.5% to reach 24.85 million cases, an increase of nearly 3 million cases.

Roughly two-thirds of the 31 leading brands registered volume gains last year, some at extraordinary rates. Surfside, owned by Philadelphia-based Stateside Brands, catapulted to the No. 2 position with growth of 273.7% to 4.66 million cases, according to Impact Databank. VMC, a Spirit of Gallo brand that launched in 2023, reached 697,000 cases in its first full year of distribution last year. Good Boy from Good Boy vodka also had a big impact. After launching in 2023 at 40,000 cases, the brand jumped to 245,000 cases last year.

New opportunities are slowly opening up for the entire category. In some states, sales of any spirits or spirits-based products are banned from grocery and convenience stores, which are prime venues for RTD sales. Maryland’s Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services earlier this year expanded access to spirits RTD products by allowing them to be sold at private retailers in the county where beer and wine are sold. And at press time, the Texas State Senate was considering a bill that would allow spirits-based RTDs to be sold wherever wine and beer are sold.

Finding A Niche

Brands in this crowded field are seeking to offer unique attributes that set them apart from the pack. For Surfside, it’s all about the tea. “We started with the hard iced tea, and now that’s branched off into in 12 different flavors,” says Matt Quigley, president and co-founder of Stateside Brands. “But the core of our message is that we are an iced tea, hard iced tea, and hard lemonade company. And then there’s various flavors in both of those categories.”

Rather than flavor proliferation, Surfside focuses on simplicity. “We’ve been making a concerted effort to be the least confusing as possible to the consumer,” says Quigley. “Some organizations believe they need to have 25 different flavors and 14 different types of variety packs and whatnot—proliferation is a real thing. We do have 12 different versions, but there’s basically four iced teas, four lemonades, and four green teas, and we’re pretty confident that we’re going to hold that effort for the foreseeable future.”

Evan Burns, co-founder and CEO of The Long Drink Co., is content with just a few flavors of its gin-based cocktails. “Customers don’t call Long Drink gin, even though it happens to be gin. It doesn’t taste like it, so we don’t market it as that,” says Burns. The biggest flavor? “Citrus, the traditional flavor that’s been around for over 70 years. More than 90% of people don’t know what that is, we don’t need to rush just to add flavor innovation and most in the industry do that too quickly,” he adds.

Mom Water, meanwhile, is “trying to coin the term ‘spirit water’ because no one really knows what to do with our product,” according to co-founder Bryce Morrison. “We’re not a cocktail. We’re not a seltzer and we’re also not a tea or a lemonade. All of these things exist but we’re different. We’re spirit water. A big initiative this year is to start to [convey that messaging] so retailers understand that we are very, very different than anything else in their store.”

Confusion aside, Mom Water has gained a strong consumer following for its simple, low-calorie offering. The brand grew 16.1% to 858,000 cases in 2024, according to Impact Databank. Morrison says the brand appeals to drinkers seeking non-carbonated, better-for-you beverage options. “Between us and Surfside and Cutwater (all non-carbonated) there’s huge growth,” Morrison points out. “I think people have a bit of seltzer fatigue now that there are non-carbonated options.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the RTD sector is replete with full cocktail offerings in a ready-to-serve or ready-to-drink format. On the Rocks from Suntory Global Spirits has been successful in this vein, offering a range of cocktails made with well-known spirits brands. For these, while the spirit brand name is on the label, the overall On the Rocks branding is more prevalent.

That naming choice may or may not be relevant, as the success of spirits-branded RTDs is decidedly mixed. Spirit brand names like Crown Royal, Jack Daniel’s, Jose Cuervo, Absolut, Malibu, Bacardi, and many others grace RTD offerings under their flagship brands, and they account for significant volume. As a group, though, most of those spirits-branded RTDs struggled in 2024, posting slow growth or declines in an otherwise burgeoning sector.

Diageo is seeing strong momentum in the multi-serve segment, according to Diageo beer and pre-mix president Laura Merritt. “With standout offerings like the Bulleit Old Fashioned, Crown Royal Whisky Sour, and Ketel One Espresso Martini and Cosmopolitan, we’re tapping into well-known, high-demand cocktails and elevating them through the credibility and quality of our brands,” she says.

Via Carota Craft Cocktails, meanwhile leverages ties to the Manhattan restaurant of the same name. Now distributed in more than a dozen states, chief growth officer Brian Sedra says the brand “opens the door to premiumization, basket growth, and expanded consumption occasions.”

“Our portfolio crosses the ready-to-serve and RTD subcategories with ready-to-serve offerings that include Classic Margarita, Espresso Martini, Old Fashioned, Classic Negroni, Manhattan, White Negroni, and Signature Martini in 375-ml. and 100-ml. formats,” says Sedra. “Our 4-pack, 200-ml. can RTD line-up focuses on sparkling expressions of Paloma, French 75, Spritz, Negroni Sbagliato, and White Negroni Sbagliato.”

Aggressive Moves

Beyond its existing brands, Diageo is investing heavily in the spirits-based RTD space by also seeding new brands in select markets. The company’s New-to-World Incubator will develop new brands in targeted regional markets with “meaningful investment to drive awareness, trial, and brand love—quickly,” Merritt says.

“We’re seeing strong signals that validate this model: younger consumers are showing less loyalty to legacy brands and are actively seeking discovery and novelty in their beverage choices,” she continues. “This incubator strategy complements our core brand innovation by expanding our portfolio with entirely new brands that can reach different consumer segments and occasions.”

Plans call for the launch of four new brands across seven markets over the next year, “with a robust pipeline of concepts in development for future waves,” Merritt says. New offerings will include a rum-based product tailored for vacation and beach occasions, which will debut in Florida, and a hard soda offering set to roll out first in Ohio.

Diageo isn’t alone, of course. With double-digit growth rates in recent years, the spirits-based RTD category has attracted a broad range of players trying to make their mark. One such brand is Talkhouse Encore, a line of Tequila and vodka-based seltzers inspired by the iconic Talkhouse bar in the Hamptons in New York. “Talkhouse is a beloved institution that’s been around for nearly four decades, and we were forced to close during the pandemic,” explains brand founder Ruby Honerkamp. “We were faced with this challenge to keep the legacy of this institution alive. We saw an opportunity for the brand to evolve, taking everything that made the venue special and bottling it up in a form that could reach people far beyond our four walls.” The bar has since reopened, and Talkhouse Encore has expanded from its New York base to markets including New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

Talkhouse Encore is “mindful of the better-for-you” movement, using fresh fruit juice and no artificial flavors or sweeteners. The most popular options? “Our blood orange Tequila has taken off since the beginning—it’s bright, crisp, avoids that syrupy, artificial taste that’s really common in RTDs,” says Honerkamp. “Next we are gearing up to launch a pineapple Tequila soda, which has been in development for years.”

Sprinter RTDs, from Calabasas Beverage Co., also seek to tap into consumer demands for more healthful consumption options. This brand, however, also has a celebrity component—it was founded by media personality Kylie Jenner. “Sprinter was created with the better-for-you consumer in mind,” says Mike Novy, CEO of Calabasas Beverage Co. “It’s made with real juice, has no added sugar, and contains only 100 calories per can. It fits perfectly into the growing demand for clean-label, transparent ingredients in alcoholic beverages, especially among health-conscious drinkers who still want to enjoy a night out or a casual drink without the guilt.”

Among the many newer entrants into the RTD space, sports celebrity-backed VMC has been one of the most successful. Backed by the powerful Spirit of Gallo, VMC is Tequila based and targets Mexican Americans aged 25-35, West says. “Partnering with Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, world champion boxer from Jalisco (where VMC Tequila is sourced), and Casa Lumbre, a Mexican spirit company, gave us the knowledge and innovation we needed to deliver a thoroughly authentic taste,” he says. “Building on the brand’s initial success, we are focusing on giving consumers more reasons to celebrate the best of what Mexico offers in an RTD cocktail: blue agave Tequila from Jalisco in traditional Margarita, Paloma, and Jamaica (hibiscus) flavors. VMC’s marketing literally rolls with Canelo’s punches, with a year-round focus on his two fights.” West notes that VMC will target Mexican-Americans through mass media and brand awareness, along with strong visibility in the ring.

On-Premise Opportunities

For most spirits-based RTD brands, the lion’s share of volume is sold in the off-premise. Restaurants and bars usually prefer to make their own cocktails and mixed drinks, so opportunities for making inroads are somewhat limited. But several marketers say they’re pushing ahead.

Surfside, for example, has made significant strides in sports venues as the brand “really aligns nicely with traditional summertime leisure activities,” Quigley says. The brand has partnered with various athletes and teams. “When you count all our professional partners across baseball, hockey, basketball, and soccer, we’re just over 20 at this point,” he notes.

Sports venues may be non-traditional channels, but Surfside is making its way into bars and restaurants as well. “Mega bars” are a prime target, although Quigley says the company is “tenacious in not overlooking the VFWs of the world and the corner bars.” Overall, the on-premise accounts for more than 30% of Surfside’s total volume.

As the category continues to evolve, more openness on the part of restaurants and bars is evident, says Diageo’s Merritt. “Gen Z consumers over legal drinking age, in particular, are driving this shift,” she says. “They gravitate toward canned options in the on-premise space not just for ease and speed of service, but because they offer consistency and transparency—consumers know exactly what they’re getting, and at a price point they’re comfortable with. There’s clear interest and enthusiasm from the trade as well—operators are recognizing that RTDs can drive efficiency without compromising on quality or experience.”

With the sheer number of brands competing for a sliver or more of the spirits-based RTD pie, marketers say there is bound to be a reckoning ahead. “People see one brand doing something successful and they flood into it,” says Surfside’s Quigley. “Over a handful of years, we’re going to see dozens, and maybe hundreds, of brands come into the market. It will become a game of attrition, where five to ten years down the line there will be a few brands that really make it through and other ones will ultimately be absorbed or just won’t work out.”

Diageo’s Merritt agrees. “We do anticipate a shakeout of many “me-too” products that offer little differentiation,” she says. “There simply isn’t room for redundancy in a market where consumers are looking for variety, quality, and relevance.”

But Merritt also sees opportunity. “It’s true that the category has grown a lot, but we still see tremendous runway for growth,” she says. “The key to long-term success is launching innovation in true white spaces—areas where consumers aren’t fully satisfied with existing options. That’s where the opportunity lies to genuinely grow the category, rather than just compete within it.”

Gallo’s West says there is “significant opportunity to drive business” by expanding in the on-premise channel. “One of the ways we are doing this is by prioritizing loose packs and 700-ml. cans,” he says. “In doing so, we hope to help on-premise accounts speed up their service, increase profitability, and give consumers more opportunities to continue to upgrade their drink of choice.”