The UK cocktail market has exploded in recent years and the industry was most recently valued at £587million.
But with pubs closed for months during a series of lockdowns, it has had to get creative.
So now, instead of paying a fortune to sip a martini in a posh cocktail bar, you can have one posted to you for half the price.
Is this one pandemic trend that could be here to stay? Geraldine McKelvie put four offerings to the test...
NIO – which stands for needs ice only – sells a mini box of three cocktails for £19.50, working out at £6.50 per drink.
It was the most efficient of the firms I ordered from, with my three 100ml pouches arriving two days after I ordered.
There was a £3 delivery charge but this fee is waived on orders over £39. I was able to choose my three cocktails from 21 options so I plumped for one cosmopolitan, one margarita and one mai tai. I didn’t bargain for how strong they were.
They left their rivals trailing in terms of booze content. The margarita in particular almost blew my head off – no wonder as it comes in at 27.2% ABV.
But once I poured it over some ice cubes I could (almost) convince myself I was sipping it in a cocktail bar. I’d recommend these for a weekend treat – but be prepared for a hangover if you overindulge.
Letterbox Cocktails - This option is by far the best value for money.
I ordered a Classics Box, which set me back £40, with no delivery charge, and took three days to arrive.
For this, I got three 275ml bottles –one espresso martini, one passionfruit martini and one margarita.
The drinks range from 13% to 18% ABV and the company says the pack serves between seven and eight people.
But I found one helping dished up in a standard cocktail glass with ice barely made a dent in a bottle.
One order could easily serve 10. At an average price of £4 per cocktail, this isn’t bad.
But in terms of taste, they were pipped to the post by their rivals.
Their margarita just wasn’t a patch on NIO's (but, on the positive side, far less likely to leave you with a sore head).
Boxtails - The Boxtails delivery took five days to arrive – the longest wait of all the companies I ordered from. Its Big Night In package cost me £29.99, plus a delivery fee of £3.95.
This charge doesn’t apply if your order comes to more than £40.
My pack contained six 125ml pouches – two cosmopolitans, two passionfruit martinis and two espresso martinis.
This works out at just under £5 per drink.
If you’re not a fan of these drinks, there are six other packs available, with options tailored for those who prefer rum and gin.
These cocktails were definitely drinkable but not as tasty as some of their more expensive rivals.
I was surprised to find these drinks were only 15% ABV as they tasted much stronger – so I resisted the temptation to follow their recommendation of adding 50ml of Prosecco to my cosmopolitan to make a "cosmobellini."
The Cocktail Man - The Cocktail Man is James Vyse – an award-winning “mixologist” who turned down a job in The Shard in London to start a home delivery firm.
It charges £34.99 with no delivery fee for a cocktail box, which makes four portions of the same tipple. It took three days to arrive.
At an average of £8.75 per drink, it’s the most expensive – but much cheaper than a cocktail in The Shard.
You can choose from drinks including strawberry daiquiri, raspberry rose gin fizz, mojito and cosmopolitan.
Unlike the other boxes, his cocktails don’t come pre-mixed. I went for a strawberry lychee martini – which involved mixing vodka, strawberry and lychee “sliquer” (a strawberry liqueur), lime juice and pineapple juice.
I couldn’t find a cocktail shaker, so I improvised by stirring it with a teaspoon. Despite my lack of equipment, it was by far the most delicious.
Perhaps I'll invest in a stranger to make my next order even tastier.
