Enjoying food and beverage out in the sun and warmth is one of the summer’s many gifts, but it’s not always as simple as throwing a bunch of stuff in a cooler and schlepping it to the beach, park, or grassy knoll. Alcoholic beverages, with their glass containers and nonsense, present a particular challenge, but we are going to show you the best ways to get your booze into the great wide open.




Canned Wine and Beer Worth Buying


Glass is the enemy of the picnic. Not only does it have a tendency to break and cut people, it’s usually not allowed in public parks or on beaches. I’m fine with this, because I am on a personal crusade to make this summer the Summer of the Canned Beverage. You probably already have a favorite canned beer but, just in case you don’t, here are a few of my summery favorites:



Overall, good canned beer is not hard to find, as beer has been put in cans for quite some time now. Canned wine however is a different animal, but there are some good ones out there:





In terms of the harder stuff, canned pickings are slim. Cocktails seem to be the exception to my “drink everything out of a can” summer aesthetic, though I am very into Gordy’s canned pickle brine, which makes al fresco dirty martinis easily attainable. Anyway, since there aren’t any decent can o’ cocktails available, we need to take a more DIY approach.

Mix and Can Your Own Cocktails to Sip On the Go

Add some stealth vodka in there.


We’ve discussed pre-mixing cocktails before, but just to re-cap, there are a few rules to keep in mind. Firstly, if your cocktail has fresh juice in it, make it the day of to ensure maximum tastiness. If you’re making 100%-booze beverage you can make it a day or two ahead of time, just make sure to keep it in the fridge.




In terms of recipes, I like to keep it to three ingredients or less, with straight-forward ratios. (Because no one wants to scale up “one bar spoon of China China.”) Since it is summer, follow the margarita/sidecar/sour formula and make a big batch of something citrusy. For a 32-ounce serving, you will need:

13 ounces liquor (tequila, cognac, rum, vodka, bourbon, etc.)

8 ounces triple sec

5 ounces citrus juice (lime or lemon)

6 ounces bottled or filtered water

No matter which spirit or juice you choose, you’ll end up with something pretty tasty. (Oh, and if you’re wondering about the water, it’s there to mimic the ice melt that comes about from stirring a cocktail, and helps “round out” the alcoholic bite.)


If you want to just put a little something in your lemonade and take it with you, there is no shame in going to Pinterest route, grabbing a bottle of store-bought lemonade (I personally like the “Simply” line), pouring out a little, and filling it up with your clear liquor of choice. (I say “clear liquor” because it doesn’t change the color of the lemonade, allowing you to be sneaky.)

Be Discreet with The Right Flasks and Bottles


Speaking of being sneaky, let’s talk about flasks and other alcohol transport systems. In my opinion, flasks need to strike a balance between form and function, and the following fit the bill:



The Stanley Classic Flask

Though it’s designed to store wine (up to several days!) there’s no reason you can’t fill the discrete, lightweight Platypus PlatyPreserve

Nobody needs a titanium flask, but “need” is a funny word. It’s pricey but, as the copy points out, titanium is “one of the lightest, strongest metals on earth and very inert making it one of the best metals for flasks,” making this titanium flask from Snowpeak

There’s nuthin’ wrong with Nalgene, and this 12-ounce flask


If you’re planning on batching and taking cocktails like we discussed earlier, you are going to need a bigger bottle, and these are my three favorites:


In addition to cocktails, the above bottles and canteens can also be filled with your favorite wine, if your favorite wine doesn’t come in a can. But whether you’re a beer, wine, or booze drinker, the most important thing is that your beverage makes it to the party cold, delicious, and not encased in treacherous glass, and I think you are now armed with the knowledge to accomplish that.



Photos by Claire Lower, Chris Metcalf , and Corksicle .