Overview: Scotch whisky producers are belatedly embracing Ready-to-Drink formats as the industry seeks new sales opportunities amidst pressure on traditional margins. While some brands have found success in specific international markets, others remain cautious regarding quality and consumer perception.
The Full Story
Douglas Laing & Co., a small, fiercely independent whisky firm in Glasgow, emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic buzzing with fresh ideas. Among them was the plan to launch one of its regional malts in a can mixed with something a bit different. Rock Island Whisky & Tonic was a bold proposition. Some loved it, others were less convinced, and MD Cara Laing admits that “the taste was a bit polarising”. “If I’m really honest, I think we were too early to the party, and there wasn’t really the demand for a Scotch whisky-based RTD in 2022, but that has changed,” she says. Rock Island & Tonic was pulled before it was sent for trial in Australia, the country that first embraced the convenience of booze in a can in the 1960s. But the firm is now having great success with its Big Peat Highball RTD in Japan. The blended malt was shipped over last summer to be carbonated and canned by the Japanese. “It sold out incredibly quickly,” says Laing. “It was done at a reasonable 7% ABV, and Fred Laing [her father, and company chairman] believes the bubbles really amplify the phenolic character of the whisky. We’ve done a second run, and a line extension dubbed ‘the super-smoky highball’ and, most recently, ‘the crazy-smoky highball’.”
In the UK, in that first wave of RTDs in the 1990s, the shelves were clogged with neon-coloured bottles full of sweet, fizzy, low-strength alcohol with names like Reef, Hooch and WKD. Other than a best-forgotten Bell’s & Irn-Bru in a tin, the Scotch category wisely sat out the boom in alcopops, and the ensuing moral panic. In the years since, there have been a few half-hearted attempts at Scotch RTDs, including a Teacher’s & Cola in India, a William Grant’s Cola and Ginger, and, more recently, Diageo’s Haig Club RTD. Things are slowly starting to change, but you have to wonder at the scale of missed opportunity. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), sales of spirit-based RTDs have nearly quadrupled in the past five years. They are now the biggest spirits category in the US, with sales equivalent to 85.6 million nine-litre cases in 2025, up 17.1% in volume and 16.4% in value on the year before.
Excitingly for premium dark spirits, the growth is being driven by the top end. All other spirits slipped backwards, with Scotch volumes down 6.6% to 7.3m cases. While the likes of Jameson, Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’s have piled into the RTD space, Scotch has sat demurely on the sidelines, with few exceptions. “Probably, as an industry, we had it so good for so long, with wonderful margins,” says Cara Laing. “The margins on an RTD are quite easy to turn your nose up at when times are good.” Iain Weir, marketing director at Ian Macleod Distillers, wonders whether the category’s obsession with premiumisation “meant that RTDs were very much in the rear-view mirror, and didn’t necessarily fit the direction of travel”. In 2021, Ian Macleod scored a coup with its Smokehead RTD, a malt whisky first. Smokehead was born 15 years earlier after the firm’s MD, Leonard Russell, spotted a Swedish biker on Islay covered with distillery tattoos, and thought: “I’m going to make an edgy Islay malt brand that that man will want to tattoo onto his body.” With a skull for a logo, going into a can seemed a natural fit. But Weir suspects it may have been ahead of its time and, despite some good initial feedback and demand, tinned Smokehead was dropped.
Production & Profile
Douglas Laing notes the Big Peat Highball RTD was carbonated and canned by Japanese partners. The product sits at 7% ABV. Port of Leith Distillery utilizes 100ml cans for its Table Whisky, priced at £6.50 compared to a 70cl bottle at £40. Whitebox Cocktails collaborated with Bruichladdich on four 100ml cocktails including a Whisky Sour and Penicillin.
Brand & Industry History
The UK saw an RTD boom in the 1990s with brands like Reef and WKD, but Scotch sat out the alcopop wave. Smokehead was born 15 years prior to its 2021 release. Rock Island & Tonic was pulled before trial in Australia in 2022.
What This Means
Sir Dave Lewis of Diageo noted disappointment with quality but sees opportunity if 50% of whisky is consumed with mixers. Trevor Stirling suggests Scotch lacks natural ability to play in the RTD occasion compared to Jack Daniel’s & Coke, which dominates in Mexico and the US.
Consumer Takeaway
Lower-strength options offer convenience for new consumers, while small cans reduce trial costs for premium spirits.
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