9 Best Ready-to-Drink Espresso Martinis to Drink for National Espresso Martini Day

The espresso martini is having a moment that refuses to end. What started as a late-night bartender’s trick has become the defining cocktail of the decade, and the RTD category has followed suit with a flood of canned and bottled versions that range from genuinely impressive to deeply forgettable. National Espresso Martini Day is as good an excuse as any to sort through the noise.

9. Cutwater Chocolate Espresso Martini

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Released in January 2026 as a limited-time extension of Cutwater’s canned cocktail lineup, the Cutwater Chocolate Espresso Martini is a 13% ABV, 12-ounce can built on Cutwater’s own vodka and coffee cream liqueur, with chocolate flavoring added for good measure. It smells great: chocolate shavings, vanilla cake, the kind of nose that makes you think you’re about to crack open a dessert. The reason it ranks last here is the palate, where vodka punches well above its weight for 13% ABV, bulldozing through what should be a coffee-forward experience and leaving something closer to a chocolate milk spiked with spirits than anything resembling an espresso martini. The cocoa powder and vanilla are there, and the finish does deliver a satisfying chocolate milk sweetness, but the espresso is little more than a whisper. At 540 calories and 32 grams of sugar per can, this is firmly in dessert-cocktail territory. Tasty enough on its own terms, but if you came here for the espresso, keep scrolling.

8. NightOwl Vodka Espresso Martini

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NightOwl Vodka Espresso Martini keeps things clean and focused: vodka, Brazilian blended coffee and vanilla in a 200-milliliter can at 12.5% ABV, priced at $20 for a 4-pack. That’s a compelling value proposition for a category that can easily run twice that. Brazilian coffee tends toward a nuttier, lower-acid profile than East African beans, which gives this one a rounder, less aggressive espresso character, and the vanilla addition smooths things out further without tipping into saccharine. It’s not trying to reinvent anything, and that straightforwardness is mostly a virtue here. The 89-point score reflects a well-made, approachable RTD that delivers what it promises.

7. Love Potion Craft Cocktail No. 3 Espresso Martini

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Love Potion Craft Cocktail No. 3 Espresso Martini was founded “Bachelorette” contestant Justin Glaze, and it’s really good stuff. At 16% ABV and priced at $23.99 for a 4-pack, it’s made with La Colombe espresso and American corn-based vodka, and the nitro infusion gives it an impressive creaminess. The nose is standard-issue espresso martini territory, coffee and vanilla with a faint chicory note, but the palate opens up into something more surprising: a chocolate-covered cherry note weaves through the coffee character like it belongs there, which it absolutely does. The vodka, despite the elevated ABV, stays polite. The finish is velvety but brief, signing off with more of that cherry-chocolate combination and a clean espresso fade.

6. On The Rocks Espresso Martini

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On The Rocks Espresso Martini is the value play of this list, retailing at roughly $9.99 for a 375ml bottle, and it punches considerably above that price point. Built on EFFEN Vodka, which is produced by Hooghoudt Distillery in Groningen, Netherlands, from 100% wheat, and paired with espresso coffee liqueur, this 20% ABV bottled cocktail keeps the formula tight and the execution clean. EFFEN is a good base spirit, and the wheat-derived softness works well against the bitterness of espresso. For a bottle you can find at most liquor stores for under ten dollars, the 91-point score is a minor miracle.

5. Thomas Ashbourne The After Hours Espresso Martini

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Neil Patrick Harris’ Thomas Ashbourne The After Hours Espresso Martini earns its place on this list not due to the celebrity name but on merit alone. At 12% ABV and available in a 375ml bottle or a 4-pack of 200ml cans, this is the most approachable pour on the list in terms of alcohol content, and it uses that restraint wisely. The nose opens with espresso and sweet sugar, biscuits rounding out the edges. The palate leans sweet but maintains its footing: vanilla and biscuit up front, a touch of tobacco adding some welcome shadow, and then a lovely, grounding espresso character that keeps things from going full dessert. The finish is short, roasty espresso grounds and cream with a barely-there ethanol whisper. Made with arabica coffee, dark chocolate and vanilla flavors, this is the espresso martini you hand to someone who claims they don’t like espresso martinis.

4. Ketel One Espresso Martini

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Ketel One Espresso Martini is a 20.1%0ABV RTD made with coffee liqueur and Ketel One Vodka, distilled at the Nolet family’s distillery in Schiedam, Netherlands, one of the most storied vodka operations on the planet. The Nolet name carries real weight in the spirits world, and this RTD benefits from a base spirit that most competitors simply can’t match. Tied on critics’ scores with the Yellowstone entry below, Ketel One edges it out here on the strength of its pedigree and broad retail availability. A 93-point score for a broadly accessible, premium-pedigreed RTD is exactly what this category needs more of.

3. Yellowstone Cocktails Espresso

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Yellowstone Cocktails Espresso is the renegade of this list, made with Yellowstone Kentucky straight bourbon instead of vodka, plus coffee and natural flavors, this 25% ABV RTD asks a simple question: why does the espresso martini have to be a vodka drink? The answer, according to this can, is that it doesn’t. Dark coffee and chocolate flavors anchor the palate, but it’s the supporting cast that makes this memorable: a faint cola note, orange peel, cherry and vanilla weaving around the bourbon’s natural character. The coffee and dark chocolate finish is long and satisfying in a way that most vodka-based versions simply can’t replicate. One of three RTDs released by Yellowstone in 2025, this one is the standout, and the bourbon riff on the espresso martini format feels less like a gimmick and more like an obvious evolution.

2. Hoodoo Espresso

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Hoodoo Espresso from Cathead Distillery in Jackson, Mississippi is the most serious bottle on this list, and it knows it. At 30% ABV and $34.95, it occupies a different category from the rest of these picks, functioning as both a coffee-flavored vodka and a fully realized RTD espresso martini depending on how you choose to use it. Made with Cathead Vodka, direct-trade coffee from Northshore and Demerara sugar, the nose alone is worth the price of admission: rich coffee, dried fruit and cocoa in a combination that smells like the back room of a specialty roaster. The palate is thick and boozy, the vodka bringing real heat, but the espresso and dark chocolate flavors are loud enough to hold their own. The Demerara sugar gives it a molasses-adjacent depth that cheaper sweeteners can’t replicate. Cathead recommends drinking it neat or shaken with milk; the milk version softens the burn and leans into the espresso martini format, but the bottle is compelling enough to sip straight if you respect a little fire. Eight servings per bottle, 50 milligrams of caffeine per 1.5 ounces. Plan your evening accordingly.

1. Tip Top Espresso Martini

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Tip Top Espresso Martini sits at 97 points, a score that separates it from the rest of this list by a margin that demands explanation. Produced in Georgia, this 22% ABV RTD is made with vodka, Counter Culture espresso and vanilla, packaged in 100ml cans that are small enough to tuck into a jacket pocket and powerful enough to justify the effort. Counter Culture is one of the most respected specialty coffee roasters in the country, and using it as the espresso base rather than a generic coffee flavoring is a choice that shows up immediately in the glass. The coffee character here is precise and vivid in a way that most RTDs, even the very good ones on this list, can’t quite match. The vanilla integration is seamless rather than additive, and the 22% ABV gives the whole thing enough backbone to feel like a real cocktail rather than a coffee-flavored soft drink. This is the benchmark for the category, full stop.

National Espresso Martini Day has no shortage of ways to celebrate, and this list covers everything from a $10 bottle that overdelivers to a 97-point pocket rocket built on specialty coffee. The RTD espresso martini category is better than it has any right to be right now. Drink accordingly.