Sonoma County distillers selling cocktails in cans to appease consumers

The husband-and-wife team that operates Griffo Distillery in Petaluma were forced to pivot during the pandemic, putting a serious crimp in their business selling drinks to restaurants and bars.

Jenny and Mike Griffo put together cocktail kits that California residents could order online to make drinks that they usually would have bought in their favorite bar or pub. One is the guava whiskey smash cocktail kit priced at $84.55 for those in search of a fruity and boozy mix.

But some customers find it tough to channel their inner Tom Cruise from the film “Cocktail” trying to measure the right portion into the jigger, then shake it thoroughly and strain the mix into the glass to add garnish.

“They can be a little intimidating to many people,” Jenny Griffo said of the home cocktail kits.

That led to the Griffos’ newest product, a premixed canned cocktail that comes in four-packs that sell for about $20 online. Soon they will be available in stores. Examples are the couple’s take on the Tom Collins gin drink and a vodka spritzer featuring wildflower syrup from FloraLuna Apothecary & Trading Co. of Petaluma. Those two drinks have been available as samples for customers at the couple’s distillery tasting room and have garnered positive reviews.

“Canned cocktails are really a natural extension of what we were learning during that time, making it even more accessible to people,” Griffo said.

Griffo Distillery is among the two dozen craft distillers in Sonoma County that are getting into this canned drink segment.

Barrel Brothers Brewing Co. in Windsor is set to launch its canned cocktails at the end of August with three flavors: orange blossom lemon drop, makrut lime cosmo and Sonoma bramble.

And former local bartender Daniel Ellison “Cappy” Sorentino makes a selection of Cappy Shakes Cocktails out of his warehouse in Windsor. His cans have been on the shelves of local retailers like Bottle Barn and Wilibees Wine & Spirits since early this year.

There’s also Zaddy's in Petaluma making gin-based low sugar canned cocktails. The drinks are the brainchild of Zaddy Benham, the son of Derek Benham, founder of Purple Brands winery and distillery operations in Petaluma.

Why all the interest in mixed drinks in cans now? It’s the exploding growth. The Nielsen market research firm reported that the premixed canned cocktail sector generated $445 million in U.S. sales over the past year as of July 24, a 139% annual jump. That represents more than 50% of the overall prepared cocktail category.

There have been more consumers buying spirits over wine and beer as the country attempts to emerge from the pandemic, said Jon Moramarco, a consultant in the alcoholic beverage industry.

“Consumers were doing a lot more cocktails during the pandemic,” Moramarco said.

That’s quite evident at Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa, where general manager Jason Schneider noted the store carries 60 different canned cocktails, up from 10 two years ago, and that’s required additional shelf space. “It’s probably our number one growth category for us,” Schneider said.

The line has been around for some time prior to the recent growth spurt. Salt Point Canned Cocktail Co. of Mill Valley was one of the first premium brands to the market in 2013 and its products can be found on many retail shelves, including its new margarita drink in a can.

The canned cocktail segment got a massive public boost when Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2019 bought Cutwater Spirits of San Diego, which itself was spun out of Ballast Point Brewing Co. after Constellation Brands Inc. bought the beer business.

With Anheuser-Busch’s financial and marketing resources behind Cutwater, the brand took off on store shelves after television ads raised the profile of the drinks. Consumers like the cocktails in cans cause they can tote them to the park or the beach, both places not suitable to mix drinks for themselves.

Cutwater “paved the way for all these brands,” Schneider of Bottle Barn said of the newer entrants making the canned cocktails.

With the greater consumer visibility, especially coming out of the pandemic, local distillers sensed an opportunity to expand their market share beyond traditional beverages in aluminum cans. The area craft distillers also have one key advantage because they can charge more than the national producers to gain greater margins for their premium beverages.

Consider that one Sonoma County grocer was recently selling two Cutwater cocktail cans for $7. By comparison, customers have shown they are willing to pay $15 for a cocktail at local places such as the Fern Bar in Sebastopol and Spoonbar in Healdsburg. So they are conditioned to comparable prices for premium canned drinks, said bartender Sorentino, who worked as bar manager at Spoonbar and partner at Dukes Spirited Cocktails in Healdsburg.

“We had careers making tasty cocktails, and we kind of want to transition from the $15 cocktail you pay out at a fancy bar and you bring it to a can for $5 or $6,” Sorentino said. A four-pack of his Cappy Shakes sell at around $23.

The canned cocktails come in smaller sizes, typically 200 or 250 milliliters because the alcohol content is much stronger than beer and wine.

For example, Alley 6 craft distillery in Healdsburg makes an old-fashioned cocktail made with its own apple brandy and candy cap bitters in a 200 ml can packed with 40% alcohol content. A four-pack sells for $50 and is available at its site.

“They can get three to four cocktails out of each can,” Jason Jorgensen, owner of the distillery, said of customers.

He and others said the cocktails sold in traditional 12-ounce cans are typically watered down and not the same as customers would get at a bar.

Alley 6 has a simple canning line that Jorgensen bought at an auction after the bankruptcy of Sonoma Cider. But he needs to upgrade it given the popularity of the product. The first batch of 500 cans of the old-fashioned apple brandy cocktail received tremendous feedback from his spirits club members, so he knew there would be a bigger market for it.

“We have people come in and they are slightly intimidated getting a bottle of booze because they are traveling or they have just bought a bunch of wine, … but they see those cans, and it’s almost like the little kitschy thing that they have to have on their shelf or give to friends,” Jorgenson said.

“Then when they try it, they are like, ‘It’s pretty damn good.’”

Jenny Griffo, of Griffo Distillery, agreed. She would serve a Tom Collins to visitors even before the distillery’s tasting bar was finished in 2015, and she had to use a folding table to pour out drinks.

The distillery’s Tomales Collins consists of its Scott Street Gin, fresh lemon and blood orange juice and a smattering of cardamom clove syrup.

“I had everyone just taking a little taste of this new cocktail and it’s been on our menu ever since,” she said.

The Griffos also have partnered with Drifter Craft Cocktails to offer a new canned cocktail collection that uses its vodka as a base for a Moscow mule drink. The beverage is available in select markets nationwide.

Given the trend, the Griffos are planning more canned cocktail selections, if their initial products do well during the second half of the year.

“It would be fun to release a whiskey or a barrel gin around the holidays,” Jenny Griffo said. “That will be a year out, so we will watch how this product does for the next six months and then get going on some wintry cocktails.”

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 707-521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.