Edinburgh-based whisky brand Wee Smoky has launched a range of six premium ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails built around smoky Scotch whisky. The 100ml cans are available to UK customers via weesmoky.com, with the first cans dispatched on Monday 3 August.
The range features four traditionally non-whisky cocktails and two whisky classics. The “non-whisky” serves, now with whisky, are a Margarita, a Salted Caramel, an Espresso Martini, and the Grape-fruit-arita, Wee Smoky’s take on the Paloma. The Old Fashioned and Manhattan were created for whisky fans.
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Founder Rory Gammell developed the range over six years after touring the world with the brand’s flagship whisky for mixing.
“Smoke has traditionally been seen as intense. Whisky has traditionally been seen as intimidating. We believe both deserve a wider audience,” Gammell said. “Imagine finding out that your favourite Margarita, or indeed Paloma, turned out to be Scotch whisky-based. For me that’s what success would look like – playing our part in a broader perception shift of our category.”
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The cocktails were developed with Jack Sotti, previously crowned World Class Bartender of the Year and Wee Smoky’s Liquid Development Partner.
“The goal was never simply to put whisky into a can – it was to create properly balanced cocktails that deliver the flavour and experience you would expect from a great bar serve,” Sotti said.
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READ THE STORYGammell said early consumer testing was positive. “So many people who swore they wouldn’t drink whisky really enjoyed our cocktails.”
The brand cites the global peated whisky market as worth $8.2 billion, with the RTD cocktails market forecast to reach $10.7bn globally by 2033. Gammell believes the “smoky segment” of RTDs could be worth over $1bn within 10 years.
The range has secured distribution with specialist wholesaler Select Drams, with talks underway in North America and Australia.
“Wee Smoky stood out because it is genuinely different,” said Aileen Connery, director at Select Drams.
Founded in 2020, Wee Smoky was created as a single-grain Scotch whisky for mixing, with trademarks now registered in over 40 countries.
The cans range from 17% ABV to 32.1% ABV.
