Atlanta canned cocktail company offers convenience, taste and affordability with its line of cocktails. They've since won numerous awards and accolades.
This story was published in DeSoto magazine of Mississippi in 2022. In December, the New York Times' Wirecutter named Tip Top to the Best Canned Cocktails, 2024 edition. Tip Top won in three of the four categories, more than the rest of the competition.
Tip Top Proper Cocktails's accolades also include receiving nine 2024 San Francisco Ready To Drink Competition Medals including Double Gold for Margarita; 10 2023 San Francisco Ready To Drink Competition Medals including Best-In-Class Classic Cocktail for Jungle Bird; Wine Enthusiast’s Best Ready-To-Drink Margarita with a score of 95 out of 100; Six 2022 San Francisco Spirits Competition Medals; BevNet Best of 2021 & 2020 and one of Garden and Gun's Made in South 2020.
Here's my 2022 story...
Neal Cohen and Yoni Reisman were childhood friends growing up in Atlanta, and both “rabid music lovers,” attending numerous music festivals and events.
“We were determined to get in that line of work,” Cohen said.
And they did. Reisman helped establish an entertainment company that produced the Governor’s Ball Music Festival in New York and Cohen served as marketing director for Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee, among other jobs.
What they thought would be their dream careers led to something entirely different. As Reisman sat next to the concessions at festivals, he noticed something lacking. Customers could purchase beer, wine, and possibly a rum and Coke at the events but not a cocktail. With good reason. Cocktails require several ingredients and a knowledge of their assembly, which meant hauling numerous glass bottles to the outside venues and working with an educated staff. Cocktail creation is also time-consuming, making it unfeasible for crowds.
In essence, serving cocktails at music festivals wasn’t conducive to that environment.
But, that didn’t stop the duo.
“There was a hole to what was available to the attendee,” Cohen said. “We saw a need to solve that problem.”
Cohen and Reisman created Tip Top Proper Cocktails, three-ingredient cocktails in a can that consumers can open, pour on ice (or straight from the can if chilled) and enjoy. They started with three classic American cocktails: a Manhattan (rye whiskey, vermouth, and bitters), an old-fashioned (whiskey, sugar, and bitters), and a Negroni (dry gin, vermouth, and red bitters).
Cocktails to go are part of an explosive nationwide trend, but the Tip Top duo knew that developing the right recipe would be tricky, particularly for those with sophisticated palates. They enlisted mixologist Miles Macquarrie, whose work at the Kimball House in Atlanta has earned him several James Beard Bar of the Year award nominations.
Note: Since this article was published Macquarrie won the 2024 MICHELIN Guide Atlanta Exceptional Cocktails Award.
Each Tip Top “stirred cocktail” contains three ingredients inside a durable steel can. Having a ready-made cocktail eliminates the need to keep bar ingredients on hand, reduces the time involved to make a cocktail and provides a way to bring cocktails to places where glass is prohibited. Tip Top cocktails are especially handy when traveling, easy to slip inside backpacks, in luggage, and to enjoy at the pool or beach, Cohen said. Because they contain alcohol, they won’t freeze, so can be placed inside freezers for a nice chill.
They’re also affordable, a four-pack about $20.
Because they’re so convenient, hotels and restaurants without a well-stocked bar service use them for guests. They’re perfect for fast casual restaurants, dive bars and on the golf course at country clubs, Cohen said.
The word is out for these convenience cocktails — the drinks won the Drink category in Garden & Gun’s Made in the South Awards om 2022 and have been featured in numerous national publications.
It might not be Bonnaroo, but the lifelong friends aren’t complaining.
“We’re having a really good time,” Cohen said.
Weird, Wacky & Wild South is written by travel and food writer Cheré Coen, who adores a well-made old-fashioned but loves the chance to pour one easily. She’ll be taking Neal Cohen’s advice and expressing an orange slice into the canned cocktail and garnishing the rim.
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