Do I like mixing cocktails at home? Of course.

Do I always feel like doing it right when I get home? I don’t.

Does my wife want a cocktail regardless, whether or not I feel like mixing one? She does.

So I took home a set of Beam Suntory’s On The Rocks pre-batched cocktails this week after I saw a customer come into the Pasadena store and completely clean us out of the Margarita.

“Do you have any more of these?” he asked.

“Other than the 32 bottles you already have on the counter?” I asked. “No, but I can order more.”

Now I understand his enthusiasm. The Margarita is good. The Aviation is really good. The Knob Creek Old Fashioned made my life infinitely easier last night as I was trying to both cook and sort out customer orders on my laptop, whilst enjoying a beverage. I was so thankful to just literally pour it on the rocks.

Can you make a better version of these drinks yourself? Maybe. Probably. But that’s not the point.

If you’re ever pressed for time at home because of kids, work, life, or any of the other pressures that exist in our modern world, you’ll be thankful to have a couple of these stored away for an emergency. As a set, On The Rocks is one of the most consistent, moderately-priced, and generally pleasing pre-batched portfolios I’ve tasted. They’re not going to blow your mind, they’re simply going to put your mind at ease.

You’ll notice two of the bottles in the above photo are empty. That’s because I don’t trust people who post unopened bottles of their booze online. I trust consumers, meaning those who literally consume.

Were I to post a more updated photo from this morning, you would see that all of my On The Rocks bottles have now been fully and enjoyably consumed. That’s as high of a recommendation as I can offer.

-David Driscoll