Don’t shake or stir : drinks firms push bottled cocktails for the holidays

LONDON/NEW YORK, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Major distillers want American drinkers to sip their Old Fashioneds, Negronis and Espresso Martinis this holiday season. But no bartender is required: these cocktails come bottled. Diageo and Pernod Ricard have both launched bottled cocktails in the United States in recent months, hoping to tap into a trend that has flourished since the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike individual canned cocktails, the new bottled drinks can contain as much as 750 millilitres of booze. The companies hope that hosts will be pouring them at festive parties this year, and guests will bring them instead of wine. Nylaya Corbin, a 22-year-old living in New York, bought a bottle of Diageo’s Espresso Martini, based on its Ketel One…