Lifestyle

Can do: the best picnic drinks in tins


When I started writing pieces about picnic wines at the beginning of my drink writing career, it was all about how to keep your bottle cool and not forgetting to pack the corkscrew. How times have changed. Now, you’re as likely to take a cocktail as a wine, and it’s more likely than not to be in a can. Which is perfect for the socially distanced picnic to which everyone presumably has to bring their own food and drink, though I would be more than a little miffed if anyone had made one of my colleagues’ recipes on these pages and wasn’t prepared to share it.

I have a problem with cans, though. Not the container as such, which is at least recyclable, nor the temperature – it must be the best way of keeping a drink cold, after all. And they’re obviously safer than glass in transit. It’s the contents.

I know I’m not their target audience – Marks & Spencer, which has seen a boom in sales, somewhat coyly refers to that as “the younger end of our demographic”, and probably the female element of that as well, given the emphasis on current buzzwords such as vegan, low-calorie and gluten-free. But canned drinks are often remarkably sweet and, in the case of wine, often a shadow of their bottled selves.

One of the problems is tax, which militates against canning full-strength drinks. “We pay 32.52p duty a can for our 5.5% rosé spritzer,” says James Bayliss-Smith of Bristol’s Nania’s Vineyard, whose new launch is made from rondo grapes diluted (rather cleverly, I think) with Glastonbury water. “If it was 11%, which is the abv of the wine, it would be over double that: 74.39p. Then we have to pay 66.7p VAT, which brings it up to almost £1 a can, or a quarter of the purchase price.”

Hard seltzers – spirits diluted with sparkling water or soda – are also on a roll. The first wave I tasted back in December were pretty grim, to be honest, but we now have some home-grown versions, including a gin seltzer from Herefordshire-based Chase (see below), which makes all the components on their farm, and a new start-up called Served (I like the latter’s Lime (4%), which is £10 for a four-pack of 250ml cans direct from Served and from Selfridges).

The thing to remember about canned drinks, although you probably don’t need me to tell you this, is that it’s best to drink them straight out of the can to preserve the temperature and carbonation, and to offset that pesky sweetness. Which, let’s face it, is perfect for a picnic.

Four cans to take on a picnic


Punchy punch: Cucumber, yuzu and rosemary soft punch


Punchy cucumber, yuzu and rosemary soft punch £1.50 for 250ml Ocado, £35 for 24 cans Amazon. A somewhat daunting ingredients list, but the cucumbery, herby, citrussy flavours give this innovative, alcohol-free drink the taste of a slightly wild, exotic lemonade.


Nice pale rosé


Nice pale rosé £2.99 for 250ml Ocado, £36 for a 12-can pack Amazon , 12.5%. “Nice” is the word for this crisp, refreshing rosé. Perfect with a prawn sarnie.


Chase pink grapefruit and pomelo gin seltzer


Pink grapefruit and pomelo gin seltzer £3 for 250ml Chase or four for £10 Locally Sourced, 5%. My favourite of the new Chase range, with a really good, zesty grapefruit hit from their own pink grapefruit and pomelo gin. Very grown up.


Moor Nor’ Hop Ultra Pale Ale


Nor’ Hop Ultra Pale Ale £24 for 12 x 330ml cans Moor Beer, 4.1%. I still think beer cans better than any other drink. This one has everything you (or at least I) want from a pale ale, especially with a home-made scotch egg.


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