Canned Cocktails Are Booming. These Companies Are Profiting.

I’m pretty sure I’m a major influencer. For a few years now, I’ve been getting a hot dog and vodka mule halfway through golf rounds. The cocktail—vodka, ginger beer, bitters, and lime in a can—is made by Cutwater Spirits, bought in 2019 by brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (ticker: BUD). “These are pretty good,” I distinctly remember telling more than one playing partner who hadn’t asked.

Now, I learn that ready-to-drink, or RTD, cocktails, as distributors call them, are suddenly the industry’s fastest grower. No word yet on a hot...