Several months back I received cans of Picnic Brunch, wine-based canned cocktails suitable for, well, brunch: Mimosa and Bloody Mary. Served up in 12-ounce cans for portability, here’s a bit of the details and story behind them (from the earlier post):

The Mimosa is 6.9 percent ABV and is made with orange juice, dry white wine, filtered water, and other natural ingredients. Best served chilled, the Mimosa is available in packs of four 12 oz. cans.

The Bloody Mary is 5.5 percent ABV and is made with tomato puree, orange wine, filtered water, cane sugar, and other natural ingredients. Similar to the Mimosa, the Bloody Mary is available in packs of four 12 oz. cans.

Originating from a desire to make picnics and picnic cocktails more accessible and relaxing, co-founders Josh Meyers, Matt Meyers, and Chris Romanoski started the brand following a particularly disastrous brunch outing in Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. Acknowledging the difficulty of mixing cocktails on the go, the team developed canned, shelf-stable, versions of their favorite brunch-time drinks so both themselves and others could enjoy a more leisurely afternoon than they did.

The concept of using wine as the base for the cocktails is interesting—and in the case of Mimosa, at least, makes perfect sense.

So in order to try these out, we did the obvious thing—made brunch!

The cocktails themselves are pretty straightforward, and easy drinking; in general I found both to pair well with food, though that isn’t necessarily the goal. I didn’t write any specific notes about these drinks like I do for beer and such, but I’ll touch on each with my impressions.

The Mimosa hits all the marks, though compared to a traditional champagne (or sparkling wine) and orange juice drink, this one feels “heavy” on the juice, and not nearly as spritzy or light as a “real” mimosa. I think there might even be a touch of sulfites from the white wine used, which may lend to that impression as well.

It does taste like real juice, with a bit of peel and pith which lend a touch of bitterness. Overall it’s not bad though might be a bit more comparable to a screwdriver than a mimosa without a lighter, spritzier body.

The Bloody Mary, on the other hand, is on point and tastes as promised. (No, I didn’t add garnishes.) It tastes like a Bloody Mary, which I suspect the tomato juice and whatever spices used play a big part in; the ingredients list “orange wine” but I don’t know if that’s referring to the actual fruit or this type of orange wine, where the grapes are fermented with the skins.

There’s some body from the tomato juice and a nice low-key spiciness, not hot like some I’ve had (bear in mind I’m certainly not a Bloody Mary aficionado). I enjoyed it, and I think it is the better of the two as far as representing the respective cocktails.

These are interesting additions to the canned cocktail field, the first I’ve seen specifically targeting the brunch demo. I don’t see on the website where these are generally available yet, but from the social media feeds it looks like there have been some rollouts on the east and west coasts (New York, New Jersey; Portland, the Bay Area). Worth checking out if you’re canned-curious.