12 canned cocktails to try

Good One Cloudy Grapefruit & Thyme Craft Hard Soda, £33/12 pack, haveagoodone.co.uk

Tart grapefruit and savoury thyme are a surprise dream team in this sophisticated highball drink – a stand-out in the rapidly growing hard seltzer category. We also liked their super-refreshing lime & cucumber flavour.

MOTH Margarita, £3.99, Waitrose

A new trend we've noticed in canned cocktails is the emergence of dinky tins of booze-forward drinks that you'd typically sip at rather than gulp. This canned margarita is a great example – at just 125ml it's got the zesty, refreshingly sharp flavours of a classic marg, but at a much more sessional 14.9% ABV. Do check out the other cocktails in the range, particularly the old fashioned with its aromatic coffee notes, and a floral negroni.

Slingsby Solo and Slingsby Spritz, £7.50/3, spiritofharrogate.co.uk

Flavoured gins are all the rage but they can be tricky to get right – all too often sickly sweet. That's not the case with Yorkshire-based Slingsby, who make vibrant, zingy flavoured gins that are firm favourites with the olive team. Now, they've made a successful foray into the RTD category with canned gin spritzes and highballs. Favourites include the sunny, zesty citrus notes of their marmalade gin with herbaceous mediterranean tonic, and deliciously tart rhubarb gin with floral elderflower.

Tink & Booch, £4/250ml, ewwines.co.uk

Cornish Tinkture have matched their organic rose gin with apple and elderflower kombucha and the end result is elegant and distinctive – delicately floral and tart, with an almost savoury edge.

Porter’s Gin Hippy Fizz, £4/250ml, mothershipscotland.com

Pineapple shrub, Porter’s gin, malted passionfruit and hop soda go into this thirst-quenchingly refreshing drink, which is packed with tropical notes, and a touch of dryness.

East London Liquor Co. Vodka and Rhubarb, £2.25/250ml, masterofmalt.com

British wheat vodka cut with rhubarb soda makes for a grown-up, drinkable cocktail. Not sweet or cloying, this has a pure and puckering rhubarb flavour.

Ace + Freak Watermelon + Cucumber Sangria, £14.95/pack of six, aceandfreak.me

Cooling cucumber and watermelon with a hint of apple is balanced by dryness from white wine. Fresh and summery, this is a perfect heatwave tipple.

Empirical Spirits CAN 02, £5.80/330ml, rebelliousgoods.com

The innovative Danish distillery’s first foray into canned drinks is predictably impressive, with a roster of ingredients that includes sour cherry, blackcurrant buds, young pine cones, walnut wood, black tea and maqaw pepper. Grown up and complex, expect earthy, smoky notes, dark fruit, funk and perfumed woodiness.

Yuzu + Cucumber Sparkling Sake, £4.50/250ml, kanpai.london

We loved this unusual offering from Peckham sake brewery Kanpai. Expect the summery, green flavour of cucumber, subtle floral sharpness from the yuzu and an underlying funk from the sake. Sparkling and super refreshing, this is a good alternative to a Hendrick’s G&T.

Best alcohol-free canned cocktails

Cutting out booze doesn't mean you have to compromise on flavour...

Something & Nothing Yuzu Seltzer, £1.40/330ml, shopcuvee.com

We loved the delicate citrus and floral notes in this grown-up soft drink – if you do want to add alcohol, try gin or sparkling wine for a spritz-style cocktail.

Virtue Clean Energy Drinks, £1.50/250ml, ocado.com

There’s plenty going on in these refreshing, non-alcoholic alternatives to a G&T in a can. Soft peach flavour with a raspberry finish balances the sparkling, viscous mouthfeel from the agave and yerba mate in our pick of the range. These naturally caffeinated drinks are all packed with antioxidants from the South American super-leaf yerba mate, as well as containing zero sugar and zero calories. The ideal summer picnic alternative.

Gordon’s 0.0% & Tonic, £1.60/250ml, Sainsbury’s

We loved the vibrant lime notes and grown-up, subtle bitterness of this G&T alternative – perfect for a picnic.