Irish drinks entrepreneurs are getting creative with canned booze and what it might taste and look like. Craft breweries such as Whiplash, Boundary Brewing and YellowBelly Beer set themselves apart by commissioning local artists and illustrators to design beer can artwork that tells a story with distinctive personality. Following their smart brand-building lead, a new generation of innovative Irish drinks companies are now canning everything from Spanish wine to ready-to-drink (RTD) pre-mixed drinks and cocktails featuring Irish whiskey, gin and poitin.
They look as good as they taste — and are an eco-friendly alternative to glass, as aluminium cans are endlessly recyclable. Sip is a new canned wine business from pals Vincent O’Boyle and Phil Ellison. Their idea was born during 2020’s lockdowns, when WSET wine student Vincent would bring interesting wines to outdoor hangouts with friends.
There are other canned wines available: supermarkets sell some, if pretty basic, but Grapecircus and Winelab import quality wine in cans. The playful illustrations from Irish artist Sarah Gray set Sip apart, however, capturing our Irish love of socialising, wherever we can. The wine itself is from a family-run Navarra winery in high-altitude Pyrenean foothills with cooling Atlantic influences (see sipsipsip.
ie for more). I’d guess these wines might fetch €15–18 here if bottled, so you are paying a little extra for the convenience of a single serve (equivalent to a quarter bottle).