Crack Open a Craft One

The cocktail world’s most celebrated bars are opting for aluminum

- Brad Japhe

As a beverage director at Clover Club in Brooklyn, N.Y., Tom Macy has been formative in the 21st-century cocktail revival. But then: Covid, when everyone was forced to pivot.

When the bar was temporarily locked down at the onset of the pandemic, Macy and his boss, Julie Reiner, founded Social Hour Cocktails, which cans a line of ready-to-drink, high-quality quaffs. “The biggest selling point of an RTD is—and always has been—convenience,” he says. (If not “ necessity” for lazy drinkers at the height of the lockdown.) But “convenience meant you had to sacrifice quality.”

Social Hour’s rye- and ginger-beer-based Whiskey Mule (10.5% alcohol by volume) is zesty and effervescent. The alcohol is sourced locally, from New York Distilling Co., the mixers are vibrant, and the price is premium: $20 for a four-pack of 250-milliliter cans. “People understand what makes a great cocktail, and they understand that it’ll come with a higher price point,” Macy says.