Best Canned Whiskey Cocktail

Calling all whiskey (and whisky) drinkers! The ready-to-drink canned whiskey cocktail market has exploded in recent years and improved, and you can now find a fine collection of delicious canned whiskey cocktails to enjoy. 

From the classic Old Fashioned to the spicy complexity of the Whiskey Mule, all your favorite whiskey cocktails can now be bought in convenient, ready-to-drink, take-anywhere cans.

With some of the world’s biggest and best-loved distilleries from around the world – Jack Daniels, Crown Royal, and Jameson, to name but a few – now producing ready-to-drink whiskey-based canned drinks, it makes sense to get on board and give some of these proper cocktails the attention they deserve.

So why not swap that fruity hard seltzer for a more sophisticated canned cocktail, such as a Japanese Craft Highball or a Slow & Low Old Fashioned rye cocktail? The array of refreshing whiskey-based canned drinks on the market is ever-widening, and here’s our round-up of the best current offerings.

ABV: 7%

Jack Daniel’s needs no introduction. As one of the world’s best-known and best-loved whiskey producers, the Tennessee whiskey giant offers a few different flavors of canned drinks for you to sample. 

Each of their three refreshing flavors – Jack & Cola; Jack, Honey & Lemonade; and Jack Apple Fizz – feature their signature spirit at their base and have been mixed with Coca-Cola, crisp apples, or sweet honey, and can be enjoyed straight from the cooled can or over ice in a glass.

Type: Canadian whisky

ABV: 7%

If you prefer drinking Canadian whisky, Crown Royal has a selection of four different whiskey-based canned cocktails for you to try. 

Their canned Lemonade, Peach Tea, Washington Apple, and Whisky & Cola mixed drinks have won awards at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and ensure there’s a perfect flavor for every occasion.

Type: Irish whiskey

ABV: 5% – 6%

Across the pond, on the Emerald Isle, Jameson also has a collection of canned whiskey cocktails to spice up your evenings. 

At 6% ABV, the spiced Jameson Ginger & Lime is their strongest offering, with the other two flavors – Jameson Cola and Jameson Lemonade – coming in at 5% ABV. 

Drinking any of the three flavors will leave you refreshed, and the taste of Crown Royal shines through and will have you coming back for more.

Type: Bourbon

ABV: 5%

Available in two distinct flavors, the Ginger Highball and Classic Highball, Jim Beam’s bourbon-based canned drinks offer a refreshing take on the hard seltzer. 

The ginger-flavored one combines ginger ale and Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and its sweetness shines through with subtle vanilla notes.

The Classic version has the same fine bourbon at its base and is mixed together with a premium seltzer and a hint of citrus.

Type: Japanese whisky

ABV: 10%

If you’re looking for something a little stronger, this craft highball from Japan’s Kiuchi brewery uses a base spirit that has been barrel-aged for three years in Spanish sherry and Japanese wine barrels. 

The Japanese canned cocktail has a slightly sweet taste and offers a much cheaper alternative for Japanese whisky lovers to crack open that bottle of 25-year-old Yamazaki Single Malt.

Type: Bourbon and Rye

ABV: 10.5% – 20%

Created by the New York Clover Club’s founder, Julie Reiner, and Head Bartender, Tom Macy, their range of seven bartender-crafted canned cocktails features three that are whiskey-based. 

The pokey bourbon-based George Dickel Bourbon Smash is a cross between a whiskey sour and a mint julep, and the rye-based Mule combines rye with ginger beer, while the Prizefighter is a fruity affair with notes of peach, citrus lemon, and fernet aromatic bitters.

ABV: 8.5%

Indiana-based Cardinal Spirits has created an adult version of the classic cream soda drink that incorporates the deliciousness of real Madagascar vanilla beans alongside its bourbon base. 

It’s a simple drink, and its sweet flavors, conveniently combined in cans, will send whiskey lovers on a nostalgia trip as they sip away.

Ordering in a few here is not a cardinal sin!

Type: Rye

ABV: 42%

Don’t be fooled by the tiny cans! At 42% ABV, these little bad boys can certainly pack a mighty punch! Feel free to pour over ice into an Old Fashioned glass to take the edge off, but there’s no need as far as the flavors go.

It’s pokey, but it tastes just like a bartender-crafted classic Old Fashioned from your favorite bar, thanks in part to the addition of rock candy, raw honey, angostura bitters and citrus peel.

Put the beer bottles down, and order in a few Slow & Lows here.

Type: Rye whiskey

ABV: 7%

This mix of tropical fruit and whiskey in cans comes with balanced citrus notes, thanks to a hint of lime, and features the flavors of a Maryland-style rye-based whiskey at its heart. 

You can drink in its sweetness straight from a chilled can or empty the cans out into an ice-filled receptacle and pop a slice of lemon or lime on the rim for decoration.

Type: Wheat whiskey

ABV: 5.8%

Take an award-winning Washington whiskey, mix in some mint, lemon, and a hint of strawberry, and you can drink in the refreshing taste of Northwest sweetness from convenient cans on the fly. 

Dry Fly Distilling follows the farm-to-bottle approach, and all grain is sourced from family-run farms within 30 miles of the distillery.

The subtly fruity cocktail’s hints of mint and strawberry make it perfect for sipping on a hot summer’s day.