A run of just 4,000 cans of a new Scottish elderflower gin spritz is being released worldwide as ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails continue to buck a challenging drinks market.
Darnley’s Elderflower Gin Spritz will launch on the 30th July, giving drinkers a lighter, botanical serve created for summer gatherings, picnics and relaxed outdoor entertaining.
The 250ml canned spritz is the first ready-to-drink release from Darnley’s Gin, part of independent, family-owned Wemyss Family Spirits in East Fife.
William Wemyss, co-founder of Wemyss Family Spirits, said: “People are becoming much more intentional about what they drink. They want quality and flavour, but they also want serves that fit naturally into the moment rather than turning every occasion into a production.
“A spritz does exactly that. This is light, crisp and easy to serve, but it still carries the botanical character and provenance people expect from our gin.
The launch comes as ready-to-drink serves emerge as one of the drinks industry’s strongest-performing categories. The Wine and Spirit Trade Association’s Sip 2 Report found RTD sales grew 12% by volume and 17% by value over the previous year.
The category generated £704 million in UK off-trade sales over the same period, with 44% of RTD sales coming from consumers switching away from traditional spirits.
Retailers have also pointed to growing appetite for the format and its flavours. Tesco reported in December 2025 that RTD cocktails were the fastest-growing area of the UK drinks market, with demand up 20% over two years, while Ocado recorded a 107% year-on-year increase in elderflower liqueur sales in 2025.
The new spritz brings those trends together in a premium canned serve made with all-natural ingredients and Darnley’s Original Gin, a Scottish small-batch gin produced by the Wemyss family.
It combines fragrant elderflower with Sicilian lemon juice and a delicate hint of mint, creating a crisp, uplifting finish. At 7% ABV, the spritz offers a lower-alcohol alternative to a traditional gin serve.
The flavour also has a direct connection to the landscape that inspired Darnley’s Original Gin. Native elder grows wild around Wemyss Castle and its gardens, close to the family’s distillery in East Fife.
Its white blossom bursts into flower at the start of summer and is carefully handpicked and dried to preserve the delicate flavour of the Original Gin’s signature botanical.
William added: “Elderflower is not a flavour we picked because it happens to be having a moment. It has been part of Darnley’s story from the beginning and grows around the place that inspired our Original Gin.
“That makes this spritz feel very natural for us. The elderflower brings fragrance, Sicilian lemon gives it brightness and the touch of mint lifts the finish. It tastes like summer, but it is still unmistakably rooted in Darnley’s.”
The move into canned spritzes follows a period in which the wider gin market has begun shifting away from novelty flavours and crowded shelves towards more considered drinks with a clearer sense of quality and provenance.
Darnley’s is positioning the new release for drinkers aged 28 to 45 who are looking for premium, convenient serves and increasingly choosing drinks around occasion, flavour and lifestyle.
Each can has a 12-month best-before shelf life and will be sold primarily as a pack of 12 at £42, or £3.50 per can. The release will be available worldwide through Darnley’s usual sales channels while stocks last. Single cans will be exclusively sold at Kingsbarns Distillery. The spritz is due to go on sale from 30th July.
