Exploring the Palette of Alcohol Choices for Canned Cocktails: Sugar Brew vs. Malt Brew

The world of cocktails has undergone a delightful evolution, with canned cocktails emerging as a convenient and trendy way to enjoy your favorite mixed drinks on the go. A key decision in crafting these delightful concoctions is choosing the right type of alcohol as the base. Here are some popular options:

1. Sugar Brew

Sugar brew, also known as neutral spirit or neutral grain spirit (NGS), serves as the foundation for a wide variety of alcoholic beverages, including vodka and gin. It's a colorless and odorless alcohol made through distillation, which strips away most of the impurities and flavors, leaving a clean and smooth base. When used in canned cocktails, sugar brew provides a blank canvas that allows the flavors of other ingredients to shine. It is also gluten-free, low-calorie, and cost effective. Here are some types of canned cocktails that often use sugar brew as the base:

a. Vodka-Based Canned Cocktails

Vodka's neutrality makes it an ideal choice for canned cocktails that focus on vibrant fruit flavors or other mixers. Examples include vodka cranberry, vodka soda, and vodka lemonade. The lack of strong inherent flavor allows the ingredients to harmonize, resulting in a refreshing and well-balanced canned cocktail.

b. Gin-Based Canned Cocktails

Gin, though typically characterized by its botanical flavors, can also be a great option for canned cocktails. Its herbal and citrusy notes can work wonders in pre-mixed cocktails like gin and tonic or a classic negroni. When combined with the right mixers, gin-based canned cocktails offer complexity and depth of flavor.

2. Malt Brew

Malt brew, often referred to as malted barley or malted grain, is commonly used in the production of beer. When utilized in canned cocktails, it imparts a distinct malty flavor that can add richness and depth to the final product. Here are a couple of examples of malt brew-based canned cocktails:

a. Beer Cocktails

Malt brew-based canned cocktails can include beer cocktails that blend the effervescence of beer with other ingredients like fruit juices or spirits. One popular example is the shandy, which combines beer with citrusy flavors to create a refreshing and slightly tangy drink.

b. Malt Spirit-Based Cocktails

Canned cocktails that use malt spirits can capture the essence of whisky or other distilled spirits while offering a smoother and milder flavor profile. These cocktails can provide the warmth and complexity of a spirit-based drink without the intensity often associated with straight whiskey or bourbon.

Of course there are many other options that we are willing to help you experiment with (mezcal, rum, soju, and cachaça to name a few!).