In the basement of the aviary, in Chicago, cocktail enthusiasts line up to pay $20 for one of Charles Joly's Southsides--a custom blend of gin, lime juice, sugar and fresh mint. But what if you could serve the same thing at a routine dinner party simply by unscrewing a bottle?
This is the next wave of ready-to-drink cocktails. Inspired in part by the success of companies like Jose Cuervo and Skinnygirl, which parlayed premixed margaritas into multimillion-dollar product lines, a new crop of niche bartenders aims to bring high-end cocktails to the masses. In lieu of cosmos and piƱa coladas, they're...