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A bartender at Caffe Dante bar and restaurant in Manhattan making a to-go cocktail. Now people who want to sample the work of ‘the world’s best bar’ can buy canned versions of its drinks. (Photo by Victor J. Blue/Getty Images)
The cans: Five Drinks Co. Dante collaborative cocktails, $13.99 for a four-pack
The back story: These days, the coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult to travel to some of the world’s great dining and drinking destinations. But there is a way of sorts to visit a New York City bar that’s been dubbed by the industry as the world’s best. Namely, you can sample its cocktails in canned form.
Dante, a bar with two locations in the Greenwich Village neighborhood, has partnered with Five Drinks Co., a Miami-based brand devoted to packaged cocktails. The collaboration has yielded three different drinks — Summer Spritz, Americano 2.0, and a version of the classic gin and tonic.
For Five Drinks, which launched last year, the idea is to clearly give the upstart company a stronger foothold in an ever-competitive market. Canned cocktails have become a hot category of late — annual global sales now stand at $20 billion but are expected to rise to $146 billion in the next 10 years, according to one industry report. Five Drinks has positioned itself as something of an upscale alternative in the market, noting that its cocktails are made with “all-natural, high-quality ingredients.”
See also: Bourbon that tastes like cold-brew coffee — the perfect drink for 2020?
Meanwhile, Dante has shown interest in growing its brand, too. The bar, which gained buzz in recent years for its transformation from an old-school Italian café (started in 1915) to one of New York’s top craft-cocktail establishments, opened its second location just a few months ago. Linden Pride, one of Dante’s owners, says he always envisioned his bar as an experience that “stays with you.” Now, with a canned cocktail bearing the Dante name, he says they can make it a reality for people who can’t visit in person. “We’re proud to be able to transport a true taste of Dante to any place at any time,” he says.
What we think about them: We’ve sampled two of the Dante cocktails —the Summer Spritz and Americano 2.0. Both are well-balanced drinks with a distinct taste (and both are not overly sweet, our big complaint with most canned cocktails). The spritz is a thirst-quenching drink with notes of cucumber and elderflower, while the Americano, a riff on a classic drink, has a more bitter profile.
How to enjoy them: Just pop open the can and sip away. Okay, if you want to get fancy, pour them in a nice cocktail glass and pretend you’ve made the trip to the big city.
