If you’re heading out for some summer fun, and think about grabbing a few ready-to-drink (RTD) adult beverages for convenience — you certainly will have more options than ever before in today’s world. There’s been a renaissance of RTD adult beverage products developed in the past 10 years, well beyond our erstwhile party favorites from the 1990s and early 2000s like Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice (who remembers getting “Iced”?!). While those well-known lines have significantly expanded, offerings in this space continue to evolve as consumer sentiments around functional ingredients, product wellness attributes, and attitudes toward alcohol shift. This category is transforming at a rapid pace into a new beast altogether.
Ready-to-drink is expected to boom in North America in the coming years, with a projected $43.6 billion for the global RTD beverage market by 2027, according to a Data Bridge Market Research study. Although the convenience of pre-mixed beverages is surely an aspect of this category’s boom, other intersecting factors like the sober curious movement, expansion of CBD infused beverages and usage in U.S. markets, and cross-categorical turn toward healthy offerings have had just as much of an impact on RTD’s explosive growth.