We Tried a Bunch of RTDs So You Don’t Have To | Ep. 128

Canned cocktails are everywhere now: on shelves, in coolers, and in your buddy’s hand at the pool. But are they actually good... or just the new hard seltzer scam? In this episode, Matt, Jason, and Drew run through a lineup of ready-to-drink cocktails and decide once and for all: is it convenience, or is it crap?

We taste test Long Drink, On the Rocks, Atomic Boss, and more while breaking down why RTDs are blowing up, who they’re really for, and which ones you should avoid at all costs. Brutal honesty, questionable palates, and a little too much fun.


#rtdcocktails #cannedcocktails #arsenicculture

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Transcript

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Do you know remember that, that jug we did? What was it called? Like big jugs jugs. Yeah. Wait, what? Big, sips. big big Big sips. Big SIPS It was close. It was say, don't say big jugs. I'm sorry. God. Welcome back to Arsenic Culture. I'm Matt. I'm Jason. Drew. And um, we have been having a conversation for the past hour while we've been. uh, Doing a bunch of quick shots. We just had like nine quick shots. Rapid fire. No, no way under that. probably one probably closer like 50 probably closer to eight. Um, but ready to drink cocktails. So this is, this has become like a big thing right now. We have talked about like, what is next? What is popular? Did we do an episode where we actually talked about what is, like we did, we, we we have not, we're actually, we're actually gonna be doing an episode pretty soon in the near future. On what's next for, for bourbon? Yes. That's what we're looking But I swear me and you had an episode where we were like, what is the next thing? Because we were talking about right now, RTDs ready to drink cocktails, which I, I hate saying rtd. It It is a weird term. weird term. Yeah. Um, and then got, they got, It's like R 2D two Yeah. Or like with an TD. Yeah, Yeah. But then like we talked about like hard seltzers and stuff like that, and we're like, and We actually talked about like non-alcoholic beverages becoming like super think we've talked about that on like where bourbon trends were going in the past. we looked a little bit secondary looking at that. So I think what we said was the younger generation, for the most part has not, is not buying as much alcohol as we did. Right. So a lot of the stuff you've seen in the stores now is like the THC seltzers. They're not, They're not, alcoholic. They're like a think of a soda. With THC. Like it's like a carbonated water. exactly. Some are Yeah. With are actually just carbonated water, like some are like zero calories and well, they have like the Delta eight or Delta nine. Right. Those are the is from all accounts we had Pierre in our show, several, several episodes back, told us a lot of information. If you haven't checked that out, it's a two parter. Definitely check that out. But they're like one molecule off of THC. Which is marijuana, but it's legal in a lot of states. So like your CBDs and things like that. Here in Kentucky, we have a big company. It's, it started out really small called cornbread hemp. Right. So they started that out and now they're doing all kinds of stuff. So they have gummies for like sleep and stuff, C, B, D. Then they have the, the RTD cocktails without alcohol like the seltzers. Right. And it just Right. And it's just, it's cannabis infused, THC infused. We'll get actually, uh, Pierre back on and then we'll, maybe we'll do like A THC because yeah, that's something that I actually know very little about. Yeah. Um, We joke that like, oh, we're professional drinkers, you know. but For all intents and purposes, we've had a little bit of everything. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, Like we understand a lot of stuff. The THC side of it, I kind of don't know shit about that. Like I know there's a Delta H there's a Delta nine. I know it's yours is skirting laws. Really like legalities in order to get your beverage made. But, um, today we're talking about the the ready to drink cocktails because those are surging in popularity. and. I don't wanna say it's weird because a lot of it just like if you, if you just kind of think about it, it just makes sense. It's, It's, one of those things where it just like evolutionarily speaking, this is where we need to be, and it's just like, I have a theory on, you know, why we're here, but. like ready Wait while we're here, like on Earth. Yes, exactly. We were, uh, yeah, propagated have you had some THC seltzers You're real deep. this is my first THC Seltzer for the Knights. Well, This is actually a pilsner, so I don't know what you're talking about. But yeah, I mean, I think it's, I think it's interesting. you Know, and I'll, I'll give you some theories on my end. So I, I do think it is, you know, every, every generation that you've seen in the past, let's look at history. They kind of pulled away from their parents' generation what they did. Right, right, So whether it's it's bourbon or beer or whatever, they've pulled away from that. So not only just the alcohol, but alcohol in general. A hundred percent. And I think, you know, there's a lot of, we enjoy alcohol Yeah. and, and sometimes we enjoy it too much. You know, to be honest. It happens. But I don't think any of us on this show are out of control. Like we're not. You know, doing bad things and getting in trouble, and stuff like that. We're not drinking. we gotten any buck fast I was gonna say, We're not drinking a lot of Bucky might yet. yet. Yeah. But you know, stuff like that, they've probably seen some of that and realized, hey, this isn't great for, you looked at the studies, they're, they're more involved with like research and things going on, They're probably thinking, Hey, this is bad. for you. So that's where I think a lot of that's coming from. Um, the other thing is, I mean, you look at cocktail bars, so cocktail bars now they're super popular. They're not the dive bars. We've done an episode on that. But they're the cocktail bars you go to that are $20 for For one drink, That's like two and a half ounces of drink. Not even alcohol. Two and a half ounces of the drink. So that's very popular too. So I think it's, it's having that at home. And just go ahead and have it ready to go. Yeah. Well, the other thing I think about is like, it's the technology side of things too, right. People associated it for a long time, like marijuana, bad. Right? And so now that we're learning more and they're studying the cannabinoids and all that a lot more, and they're able to then like, Hey, we can put this in a liquid form. Yeah. That will help you with your sleep. It will help with anxiety. And you know, like there's all kinds of things with like VA and PTSD. Like there's a lot of technology side of things too that they're like, Hey, we can infuse this in a drink. Well, a lot of that too though is like, think of like a Four Loco, right? So Four. Four Loco being think about that for a minute. Seriously though, so Four Loco, back in the day, had alcohol and, and Caffeine and trine. And guana or trine is what got everybody in trouble though. Just the But if you look at like, So if we're talking, if we're talking two things here. We're talking RTD, raid, drink, cocktails. we're also talking TH, C and Fuse stuff, I don't know that there's many, and maybe I'm wrong, I'm not up on this topic, but. I don't think there's many RTD cocktail drinks that have THC in them. Right. I think it's more two separate things. You know what I'm saying? agree. don't even know if they're allowed to put or I, you probably aren't. Well, you were at one point, maybe four Loco, you know, like something like Well, so here's the thing, like from a consumer perspective, I don't know if you want to, because they are two separate I'm just saying though, when we talk about.'em though, They're two separate, things. I think we're, ha, we are kind of like. we're having two This, well, this is an overarching conversation at this point before we whittle down into down, If you walk in a big box store right now, so a total wine or liquor barn in Lexington, Kentucky. Yeah. You will see multiple end caps. when You walk in of RTD cocktails. And THC seltzers. Right Now. Some of those are the seltzers, THC, some of those are just soda or whatever with it. And then the RTD cocktails are another. one, but That section started with a half of an N cap. Now it's probably four That's, that's what blows my mind. So I remember going in and we keep talking about the THC stuff. We'll have a different conversation about that, but it's like, I do remember going in and first seeing the end cap or the end of the aisle at our big box tour, and it said they had a border on it. It was like, you know how the, the, the, yeah. The aisles or the shelves are sectioned off, you know, Section. Section and the THC section had a big green border around it said THC infused. I actually think that's super important because somebody going in not knowing that they're buying a THC infused beverage, Thinking they're getting like a 5% white claw, go home, they smash four of these and they're calling the police because they're like, I got sold in an infected beverage. Well, what's interesting is that, is that it's all about their packaging, right? Because there's nothing in nothing in that glass. I'm drinking the smell, smell how? How's the nose on that was my first beer of the day. Remember my first drink of the day? don't count. Be was okay. But if you have somebody who just glances down at something and sees five and they don't see that it says mg, they think A bv, they might think it's a BV, right? And so they're I can drink a Budweiser. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. I'll drink 12 of these. they're like, oh, I'm gonna drink a four pack of these things that are basically similar to a high noon or something. And all of a sudden they're like, like you said, they're, yeah, So they had in the corner and yeah. Huddle They actually Had this happen. So I'm, I'm a, I listen to a lot of podcasts. So one of, my to this one or no? I don't, I don't even know what this one, is. So I listen. I listen to a lot of ksr, so Kentucky Sports Radio, They are notorious for not talking about sports. They're actually, yeah, they're highest rated. Yeah. Their highest rated. Ones are not about sports, which I really like. So they do a golf scramble every year. Last year they did golf Scramble, I think it was in Lexington, but they had sponsors of cornbread. hemp. really? Oh, yeah. they have sponsors. in every hole. Yeah, they've had sponsor of cornbread hemp for years, but they were the CBD gummies. before, So to help you sleep and rest. Barely h hurt you or affect you. Then last year they had the THC, the Delta eight, Delta nine. They had so many people that were too screwed up. They had to call kinds of Ubers. people throwing up, passed out in the golf carts? it was just too much.'cause like you're used to like. you know, Oh, it's oh, it's just a CB, D. I'm gonna take three of those. I might feel a little relaxed. Hell no. If you take the THC with that, you're like done. People, People are literally like on the golf course. passed out Dad, Could you imagine That'd be like a scene from like an M Knight Shy Lamb movie, Like everybody just laid out on the golf course and people trying to figure out what's going on. It's like it's the plants, They're trying to attack everybody. Yeah, they're like running them over themselves with like lawnmowers and shit, was that signs, Mel Gibson? I think. I think is one. Yeah. Yeah. movies. So, but anyways, like the RTD uh, aspect of this has been growing too. I remember seeing, like we, the THC shelf had one like section, the RTDs had like two sections. I just went into the Big box store today and they had four sections on one side and then another four sections on the other side. Like, it has been growing exponentially. It's huge. And the thing is like, it's not just cocktails. Okay. So we just did a series of quick shots. Okay. We did like. Seriously. We did like six or seven or eight of them the, um, finish long drink. Which you and I, your brother who is a distributor had turned us on to that. Jason's never had it before. I think it's fantastic. Okay. that's considered a ready to drink cocktail, but it tastes like a soda. It leans seltzer to me. It, yeah, it leans like, yeah. It's, it leans like a, like a soda pop. Like if I was just to drink like a, we keep saying like squirt 'cause how many grapefruit sodas do we have, it's like, it's like the ranch Water. You see that? So it's like, it's like vodka and whatever, like spritzer with it or whatever. Same thing. Yeah. There's a lot of that. If you go out to like bars now, that's a hugely popular cocktail that literally it's a cocktail, but they crack. the about ranch water? Yeah. And then just pour in your glass. Here you go. You know what I mean? so the finish, the the long drink, um, is based on a cocktail called Long Carro. Um, it was somebody created a 1952 during like the summer Olympics, I think when, I guess they went to Finland. And it was just gin and a, um, grapefruit soda, and they would mix it together. And that was long carro. It's, I mean, it was the name of the drink, like if you got like a, like a Moscow Mule or something that's just the name of the drink. Um, and then like some enterprising, like Finnish American individuals were like, we need to bring this shit over to America? Sorry mom. I said the S word And like they turned it into a brand. Long carro means long drink in Finland, it means something else. Very like obscure and like inappropriate too. But I can't remember what it is, but so they were just like, let's just, have many thoughts. for matter. be, it could I'm, I'm I'm gonna pass. on those Matt's mom. Sorry, they, sorry Matt's mom, but they um, so they call it a long drink and that was, that was a few years ago. Right. And now in like the UK they have dubbed long drink, like the drink of the summer. Like apparently it's flying. off shelves. It is a great beverage. Well, it's essentially gin and tonic. I mean, it's but the thing is like When you drink it, like, I don't consider that on the surface a ready to drink cocktail. It's like you said, I just, I just like if like Hard Mountain Dew actually came out with a hard Mountain Dew. That wasn't diet. like I would put that then in the same category. it's, It, is basically an alcoholic I think the first time I was introduced to ready to drink cocktails, RTDs was like Jack and Coke. So they had, or, or maybe it's beam and coke, but beam and whatever, but but they probably both have They do. They do. They A hundred percent do While Turkey has one too. So when you go to the distillery, well, I didn't either. I don't think it's in the US when we went to the distillery. Right. So weird. So a lot, a lot of these export all this export all this stuff. A lot of these distilleries export only some of this stuff. So while Turkey does have an RTD with their bourbon and some kind of beverage, like a Coke. or Pepsi, they have cans of it at their distillery. You can't buy 'em, but you can see 'em on the wallet. display wall. hilarious. And they're not older cans, they're new. So they're definitely there. So they're being exported A hundred percent. a hundred percent. Within the last two years. I can't say they're today. but Two years. But you know, when I'm, I used to work in a liquor store a little while when I was in college. And so I remember the Jack and Coke, the beaming coke little cans. like think of like, a miniature Budweiser, little, small ponies. They were like that in cans and it would just be mixed up, ready to go. Yeah. But who the hell's buying that at that point? Like in my mind I'm thinking at that point, yeah, at that point I, in my mind I'm thinking, well, I'll just buy a fifth of Jim Beam and buy some coke and mix my, own. you know what I mean? Like, that's what you're want. That's what you're looking for. So it's a convenience factor for sure. It is. They, I, I don't think they were as popular back then. So my first point is that like. A lot of things that can be considered an RTD that we wouldn't think of as an RTD. You know, you take like an on the rocks, which we did a couple quick shots of that. That's an RTD, that's a ready to drink cocktail. A margarita or a whiskey sour that is an actual cocktail. Um, something in like the long drink. It's great. I love it. I don't think of that as an RTD. It's good, but I wouldn't put that in the same category. Now if you're expanding it like that. Okay, now the category is super broad. There are seltzers. That could be RTDs. There are like, um, uh, uh, uh, what's the iced tea thing that we had over the Long owned iced skimmer or something like that, or or something like that. yeah. there's like iced tea and vodka. That's technically an RTD, but it's just like, is it really? You know what I mean? feel like an RTD in my mind there's like qualifying thing. of, It needs to be more than two ingredients. It can't be Roman coke. It can't be bourbon and coke. It needs to be something. something, and something like three things for Sure. Or more. But also a rum and coke is a drink. It is. is. But I don't know, if it's, I can make that easily, That's why it's hard to differentiate tell me a margarita. I mean, Yes. I, I've got four ingredients. in that, You know what I mean? At least like, I'm trying to, you know. make it Nicely, nicer, nicely. layer. Nice layer. Let's just, I need some more alcohol. Do you have any rt Do You, have any RTDs so I got this right here. This is called Atomic Boss. stained after me. Yeah. Is it though? Uh, Tropical Fusion. So this is considered an RTD and it is makes sense. I don't even like, it doesn't have any ingredients listed on Doesn't need it. Sweet. Yeah. And tr it says tropical. Yeah. There, there are a lot of different, like packaging, like things that they have. We did the, um, beat boxes. buzz Buzz ball. ball. yeah. But the beat boxes come in the cardboard box Like this. What were the squeezy packs that we did? squeezy packs? Yeah. I don't remember what they're called. like applesauce, but in a, yeah. Yeah. It's perfect. for three year olds. Alcoholic applesauce. Well, you Know. so one, of the, one of the bars, not a bar, actually a, um, had a little bar in there, but it was a, a liquor store shenanigans. just off, just off UK campus here In Lexington, Kentucky. I remember when one of our friends, Justin was, was the manager there, and worked there. He would tell me they're like, number one sellers with this crap. Like stuff like this. Okay. People coming in for college the wall, like rrg. Yeah. This would be a great college beverage. And I think all those our number one seller For many I believe it. Super strong. What did this say? 12, alcohol. Like that Comes in like a convenient, uh, milk carton. Did you, did you have to buy just one of these or do they come in actually just got one of these. unfortunately. So thing that, you know, uh, obviously these are tailored to a certain audience. I it's got video game controller on the side, You see teenagers. play together. play together, Let's play together. I mean, this is our, this is marketed towards kids, basically. You know. well I say kids, but like Gen teenagers. Yeah. Well, and that, that's what I, I think, but you know, like people want the convenience factor, right? Yeah. Um, again, I go back to this all the time on the episodes I've been on, but like, talk about the how people want things like instantly, right? If you're gonna go to a party, do you want to pack a bunch of stuff around or do you wanna just grab like three of these or a four pack of cut water and be brown then just brown out? Yeah, Exactly. So like. know, back in the day you Would have a case of beer, six people would drink on it. because They'd be taking some of your beer. You know what I mean? Yeah. So again, if you have three of these, you can keep 'em on your person and still, still get Right. And and be apparently wrecked after won't remember the rest of the Yeah. But. And the, they, they make the flavor approachable, you know, which is, you know, some, I know a lot of women, my wife included, doesn't particularly care for the taste of beer. So they make them fruity and everything else. And you know, whether it's creamy and a cut water, um, where it's more approachable for those types of people. And I feel like that's where, with RTD specifically, they're trying to I, I think what I've Seen from my experience with it, from starting, you know, drinking alcohol at 21. Of course never before, but never, never, before, but you know, starting younger and then working in a liquor store too. And then going to now the evolution of the RTD, the ready to drink cocktail is insane. You know, again, the first one I ever saw was a, was a rum or bourbon coke, Of some type beam or whatever. And then Now you have 1300 options. Yeah, it's it's insane. And, they're pretty good. You know, I remember, I remember going to a bar. We were in, um, where are we at Myrtle Beach? I might have not been 21. but I remember we ordered a picture of Blue Motorcycle. I have no idea what that was Fuck is that? It was a blue mixed drink that you got at this bar. I was Clearly 21. But um, I remember it tasted awful. But it was like, okay, it's better than beer.'cause I didn't love beer back then. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, And then now though, like these options people have. are So much beer. Like this is a, this is a fine wine or fine cocktail compared to 15, 20 years. Yeah. So crazy. That's, that is my biggest kind of like qualm with RTDs. Uh uh, what, what years is this? 20, 25, Like three years ago? because they started to come out and honestly. I thought every single one of 'em were God awful. I'm only talking about three years ago. They were, this is real recently. Yeah. And there were big name players like putting them out, you know, like the Jack Daniels and stuff like that or, or whatever. And I would get something and it'd be interesting and be like, Hmm, what's that? Lemme try it. Oh, tastes like shit, Pour it out, whatever. There's a brand, I hate to call people out, but like, um, It's like pony Yeah, it's like pony or something like that. Or pony, pony brand or something like that. And they had, um, jeans or something. short dash Jeans. Wow. No, That was like 25 my mind's at. that's way long ago. Um, they had a, uh, there was some sort of like whiskey cocktail, like, it, it, wasn't, uh, Manhattan, but it had like some sort of cherry or something in it. And I bought a, a four pack and I drank one and I was like. I'm gonna have the rest of these three for the rest of my life because I can't finish these. They were so bad. They had a, um, like a bourbon and cream soda, and I was like, it's okay. But like, I got through half a can and I was like, I feel like I, I kind of need to induce vomiting just to get the rest out of me. So what were you drinking in college? What, what were you, and again, let's date ourselves. So what year range were you in college? Um, early two thousands. Okay. So what, what were the drinks that were popular then? Uh. Uh, Natty Light. What about mixed drinks? Do you have any of those? Anything like that? Honestly, What drew College years? What no. You know what was popular is the stupid ass shots that were all had, like really crazy names. Like the Butter buttery Nipple the Flaming Dr. on the Beach and Yes, And stuff like flaming Dr. Pepper was a very cool drink. Like it light on fire. on fire. Bacardi 1 51. back then. I guess that's technically a cocktail, but like that's. fine. in that, That's actually, when you think about it, it's crazy. They wouldn't make a cocktail in a shot format and you would just shoot it. But for all intents and purposes, those were cocktails. What about you Drew? When what college so 97 to 2002, So me and your sane, roughly, What were you thinking? Uh, so when I went to I went to college, I went to college for like 12 years, so like, I'm a little different. than you all. a doc. he's Billy Madison? a doc. And I'm not a doctor. And I'm not a doctor. He went back To fourth grade when he was 28. I just kept redoing it I was like, you know what? I can learn more. I can learn more. Huber, PhD, md. It's Matt, Matt Huber Janitorial services. Honestly. off me. I've been in this class six times. I know the answers. No. When I was in college, like, especially like my early college years, um, I would go to parties and. I had guys who were of age buy alcohol at the A, b, C store. I was in North Carolina and I would tell them what I wanted and I would go to parties and mix drinks for people at the parties. I would have cups. you were actually kind of bartending? Okay. And so my, a buddy and I bought a, an international bartending guy. It was paper back then. I think it was Print off an a OLI got I I I've done the same. I've done the It was a scroll. I was like, shit roll out. And the font was actually papyrus. The Same avatar font from the movie. script riding, like, I don't know what this is. Wing ds. Um, yeah. So like, I would, I had like a handful of drinks that I would make, but the things that I always use were. Easy things that were neutral like vodka. And I would do things with like, uh, Sprite. Yep. And Country Time Lemonade or the Kool-Aid. And I had like three or four different flavors and I would just make those those are crowd pleasers right. Everybody loved them. Um, they were probably very high in alcohol for what I was doing. Um, but like, that's what I did because it was like this. Yeah. So let, let me tell you about my college. experience. Same, roughly same timeframe as yours. This is, this, this epitomizes my college experience. Now beer was a staple. Yeah, for sure. But we had a, we had a apartment complex when I lived at Eastern EKU here in in Kentucky, and I went there. had two roommates and our upstairs neighbor in the apartment complex comes down on a Sunday afternoon and has a cooler like a. 40 gallon cooler. Is it hooch? And said, you boys want some hooch? Oh my God. I'm like, hell yeah, we do. Yeah. What was in that hooch? I don't know. See, I don't even think kids know what hooch think so. Hooch essentially was, it's all almost like bathtub wine. Like you got a bottle Hawaii Tropic Perfect. Yeah. You got, You got a fifth of every, clear did Hawaiian tropic Why isn't Hawaiian plunger. Hey, kids don't, don't You get Yeah, I in bikinis. Like got Sunan lotion Just squeeze that shit in That's what's wrong with me. I'm sorry that I figured it out. Finally, kept wondering why you have that like tick every time you like say Hawaiian It just like, just like comes out state of California said this make cause cancer is like gonna drink it. I'm good. I'm still good. I'm still pretty good, but so, So Hawaii punch I mean, you got orange juice, you. got shitty Whatever flavors Faygo, Whatever you can find. Did y'all put fruit in yours too? Oh, hell yeah. Yeah. So You gotta cut up fruit, and put and that fruit was God awful when you pulled it out.'cause It tastes like every clear like it was. It's crazy. The fruit, and we learned this firsthand. We did an accidental scientific experiment. We're going off on a tangent here, but if you take fruit, put it in alcohol, the alcohol will absorb all of the fruit flavor and the fruit will absorb all of the alcohol. Is is awful and then awful. you taste the straw goes into the alcohol. He put strawberries in some my wife, my wife did this. I did not vodka And the strawberries turned white. Yep. we tasted it and it was straight vodka, but the juice was amazing. what we would do is when we had the fruit in there. We would actually take the fruit out after it set for a while, freeze the fruit, throw it back in, so it's like ice. in there. Plus it would like add a little more alcohol content to it. But that hooch, of your time back oh, we, we, we had other tricks too, but That was just one we can talk about. gonna be a future episode. It's that's gonna be, That's gonna be the Patreon we're gonna, we're gonna call it, we're gonna call it who? hacks. by Jason, I mean, again, we, we, that's a ray to drink cocktail. Like you had a fricking cooler full of whatever. It's like, I wanna like Fruit punch. I mean, I don't know what else is in here, you know? Yeah, yeah. Everybody brings something just dumping then. So I, I think we started that back in the nineties, but now we've refined it where actually good. Yeah. Not bad, You know, again, I'm going back to TikTok, so I'll probably watch too much of, for somebody being my age, but you've seen those kids who, uh, uh, kids college age who will do like the gallon jugs or whatever, Oh yeah. they, it's, it's your hands, right? But it's essentially the same thing, right? Aren't there? They're putting a whole bunch of stuff in there with their alcohol, so it's essentially they're making their own RTD. Yes, you're exactly I mean, I think where we're at right now though, I mean, RTDs are as good as. they've ever been. Right? So, and There's, and there's people that are recognizing that, hey, this is something good. I think it's just saving them time. It's a convenient factor. It's like going to McDonald's, for a hamburger, you know, driving That's my theory, I think. I think after the pandemic happened, I think people that were used to actually going out and drinking saying like, can I get a cocktail? They get that cocktail made. hell, during, during the pandemic you get to go well, after the pandemic. You could, well, during like late. But like when it was like, you know, hardcore and enforced, you're like at home and people are like, I can't get a cocktail. All of a sudden it's like, oh, we got you fam. And then all of a sudden you got the RTD ready to drink cocktails And it's like you can kind of get the, the feeling, the the say quo going out to a bar and lot of words. Lot But they, well, none of 'em are English so don't worry about it. But Like you could get the feeling of ordering a cocktail, but you could get it at home and you get the convenience factor 'cause you ain't got no dirty dishes. You can just pour it into a cup and drink it, and you're like, okay, cup. it's also the straight outta the carton. It's also the lake and tailgating and the beach. Right. Like You just grab this and go. like it's, If I was, if I was 21, not 1821, I would grab this and be like, hell. let's go to the beach. You know, what I mean? I wouldn't even think twice about you grab this or what, what would, what would be if, if you had an RTD, like just that's in your lexicon that you know of, whether you've had it tonight or not, what would you drink? I'm back at 21, I'm gonna be honest. Well, let's do a 21. Let's do a a 40, let's do a 39. I'm I'm like 20. I'm, do a 39, I'm I'm 29. do a 38 and seven quarters 29. plus Like 18 or something, whatever. But, um, so back then at 21. I'm gonna buy whatever's the Cheapest to be honest. The cheapest with the most alcohol. I don't want something that's like 30% alcohol, but I want 19% with a good price. Right Now I'm looking at something that would taste good. So from what we've had today based on our quick shots, which you'll see at some point. the espresso martini would be fantastic. in From Trader Joe's. of all places. That was Fantastic. taking that to the lake in the morning? we drew, we got a, we got a whole day. We got a whole Oh, Okay. He's he's We're, we're playing Is that's from se That's, from, that's from seven to eight. paddling the boat to make it go in the back. No, Jason's floating in the lake. Come get me. dead by that Come get me. But After that, I mean, honestly, the other things we've had here, you know, throughout our time on our CENIC culture, I would say, I would say some of the buzz balls have been pretty good too. Yeah. Um, earlier today though, this one's pretty, this one's okay. I mean, it's not like great, but 12% I agree. I actually like this better than the beat boxes. Yeah. Um, this atomic boss, we probably should have done a quick shot, but I mean, it's, it's approachable. It's just like, for some of these ready to drink cocktails, like I, you take the concept of a, let's just talk about an old fashioned. Okay. An old fashioned is a very simple cocktail. It's bourbon. and It's bitters. And it's, uh, Simple Simple syrup, And, um, a cherry orange Right. And it's, it's a relatively strong cocktail though. Like you got bourbon basically mixed with a tiny bit of sugar on who pours it. it exactly. To kind of, deal it out. But that's still like, if you take your bourbon and it's like, let's say you use something that's like, you know, a hundred proof, grain alcohol, vodka, gin, whatever. I'm not using grain alcohol. in a fucking Well, I mean, I meant neutral grain. Like like vodka's neutral grain. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm saying like in an old fashioned, you put bourbon in it and bourbon's normally like, get off your phone and then you wouldn't know what we're, talking. I'm not on my phone. Uh, you take like something that's a hundred proof and you cut it with like a little bit of simple syrup and then maybe it's like, I, I don't know, like 20% alcohol, 25, 30% alcohol. It's like more like a laur. Right. Seriously. 30, 35% I think, I think RTD, the audience for that, they've hit. the mark. So the audience for RTDs now, like this one here, this is for two twofold. It's for the college age students, or the first people drinking whatever age you are. It's also for people our age, it's almost like your throwback like, oh, I remember Mad Dog 2020, which we'll do an episode of the Future, I remember Boone's Farm I Bar Bartles and Boles and James. wine I remember that stuff. So you're hitting two, two demographics, right? You're hitting the younger generation and, and. then like the 40 year olds. So, but like I'm talking about like the A BV, so like no, I'm just saying though, overall RTDs, that's what, that's what they're going I agree. But like you take, you take like an actual cocktail and let's say it's roughly 35, 30% alcohol because that's what a cocktail is. What do you do with that? That old fashioned, you're sitting at a bar, you're drinking it, you got a dimly lit like restaurant. and It's nice. paid out with a significant, You're paying $18, you're your bartender well. Way too much. Like they don't, deserve it. they put like six dashes of bids in there when they only need to do two. completely unnecessary. but I'm gonna throw My bullshit Mar she know area at, I know. know. Yeah. That was I want my like Sordo baby the Kroger brand, but you're sitting there, you're enjoying yourself. Right. This is, this is a quote unquote high-end beverage with a high end A BV. But like RTDs have gotten to the point to where they're taking that high-end a BV. Granted, this is 12%, not 35%. But they're trying to like turn it into something that is approachable to do at the pool. Yeah. Like you drink three of these atomic bosses, dude, you're gonna have to go to the hospital. Well, and the thing that I just noticed that I've never seen on any packaging I saw this and I didn't look at it closely. or is it says one atomic boss is 500 millis and it equals three and a half, five ounce glasses because wine is somewhere between 12 and 14% typically. Right. Put that on the camera. So. This is, so that's basically that's, that's kind of telling. over there. that's the whole thing that people on TikTok have been talking about these cut waters is that it's a 12 ounce can. So that's essentially almost, it's almost like two and a half, five ounce glasses right. Of, of wine. Well, just think, if you were to drink five glasses of wine, you'd be Mook. You'd be. that's a headache. And You don't remember the next, the night but it's, put it in a, like, a chug friendly package. seen it on a, like, it's like a warning label, you know? Like, be aware that this, it's friendly. it's is friendly. Yeah. It's just like, Hey, here's a little reminder. Don't drink That's the thing. Like, okay, we did a couple of quick but but again, it's, it's also going back to retro to entice our generation and retro to entice the new look look at the design. Yeah. like, it's like a retro of agree. See, I think it's, I think it's more of a just like, Hey, drink this because, you know, you wanna get effed up? I'm gonna drink Well that Go ahead. So like, uh, you you look at, um, we did a couple of, uh, just there's water in water I'm sorry. I thought it was empty. We water. Go back to, um, we did a couple of quick shots for the On the Rocks brand. Okay. Ready to drink cocktails. One of them was god awful. Surprisingly was rated high by somebody, but like we had one that was decent. and, Uh, it comes in a nice glass bottle with a cork. It's an attractive looking bottle too. It's not And that was 20% alcohol. That's more than this. That's quite a bit more. But at the same time, if you buy a glass bottle, even if it's 500 milliliters, You are not walking around a college party chugging that You know what? you are walking around a college party chugging a fucking milk carton. You know what I mean? Do you remember your own face on it? Because you're gonna be missing when it's done. Yeah. exactly. Do you remember the, we'll not come find you either. do you know that the jug we did, what was it called? Like big jugs jugs. Yeah. Wait, what? Big jug. Sip sips. It was close. It was close. Don't say big jug. website. I'm sorry. God. getting our products messed Totally different website, big sips, but if you want sponge on the podcast, whatever. it was called. Yeah, we're off. We're off the rails. wasn't a, it wasn't a jug. But I mean like that was, I mean, it was literally a small version of an actual milk, like a one It was, it that is marketed. So you will walk around a party holding this. I think they had a similar warning label on there saying like, how many drinks in there, I can't remember. But at the it just said drink more. you know, just, but that was like a 15% alcohol jug this big. Yeah. And that, will like, that will kill you. So like. There is a disparity here that I think, I'm not saying like I'm not giving a public service announcement here. Like I'm not saying you need to point it out, feel like you are. it's It's pretty obvious that they're saying like, we're taking RTD and we're already ramping it up to like the N level. but Well, I think I think the the summary here is RTD is here to stay It's much improved than where it was when we started in high school, or sorry, college. with, with the, With the Jim Beam and Cokes. worked way too hard to say that you started drinking at 21. You might Bartles I never had a drink until I was 21. Bartles and James fuzzy S were really good. good. They were pretty good at, you know in whatever age, but they're here to stay. They've actually gotten a lot better. There's So many other options now that are really, there's some really good options out there. But beware because these are not just basic TR drinks. I mean, These will mess you up, If you drink four of these, I'm, passed out in the bathroom. I mean, it's going to happen. Well, and that's the thing that sort of, I think I think about that, like somebody who's getting their introduction to alcohol, when we did that, not in high school, um, those bar, those Bartle and James were what, like four point a half, 5%, 6% alcohol. I'd say between four and Right. And so you, you drink a four pack of those allegedly. And you would, it's like, oh, that's fine. Like I feel good if you do that with this. You're in the, you're in the gutter You are, You are puking outside or inside somewhere. You're puking, you're puking. Or inside. Yeah. Inside. Right. kean But that's the, your friend. that's the thing is that. This is the part in the video I'm talking about, Matt. I talking about Matt. gonna flash a picture right here. that's hitting very close to home. Jason, you're coming back at me now. But you know, like I think about again, like it's all about the approachability. We've talked so many times about people, uh, how drinking alcohol trends are, are down a little bit, right? Yeah. But they're, you can see how they're trying to like rejuvenate. That trend or try to try to turn that trend the other way and people who are going from what would normally be a 6% alcohol, a BV to a 12, um, that's a steep jump. It's like danger Will Robinson. Yeah. So this, this is a trend, um, you say. it's Sticking around. I think it's sticking around in the short term. I don't know about the long term. It is crazy how it's progressed. Um, but there are a lot of options out there. There are actually a lot of good options. So y'all check 'em out. We, are, I don't know how many quick shots we're gonna put out with all these by the time we air this. one under A hundred. More than one. Yeah. But we got a much bunch more coming. So guys, if you like this, please share it. Um, for more arsenic culture, you can check us out on all the. socials. We are @arsenicculture. Like and subscribe on YouTube and Share share. Share it with your friends. Sharing means caring. We'll see you on the next one.