An Escape in a Can

Full disclosure, I'm a wine drinker first, brown water on the rocks second, and beer third, (typically when I'm doing something outside and it's hot). But I also enjoy the occasional cocktail, and despite having a fully stocked bar and years of experience serving up blue margaritas and vodka sodas behind the bar at Ruby Tuesdays, I still only manage to make a passable cocktail from time to time.

I love the idea of a great mixed drink, especially one that can be whipped up in a flash, and I'd consider these a must-have for your next corporate picnic, kids' school band concert, distant relative's wake, or any other occasion you need a travel-sized escape in a can. Enter Tip Top Cocktails.

I randomly stumbled across these at a small gift shop and picked up a couple of the tiny cans (100 ml each, about 3.3 ounces per can). They make about 16 different canned cocktails, each packing between 22–33% ABV, so some big kick to go along with some terrific flavors. Options include the Paper Plane (my favorite so far), a Manhattan, a Margarita, an Old Fashioned, and an Espresso Martini, among others.

I've been impressed with the flavor of every one of these so far, and they do a good job of not being too sweet, which can ruin a cocktail for me. They sell at some Total Wine stores, and you can also order directly from Tip Top, with each can running between $5 and $6.

The Mrs. Questionable Test.

Mrs. Questionable doesn't drink a lot of cocktails and when she does it’s usually gin and they can’t be too sweet. These cocktails in a can generally hit the mark on the sweetness scale, but by and large her lack of interest in cocktails in general doomed these to 4 stars.