The latest additions into the world of RTD cocktails.

The premixed cocktail category continues to soar, long past its initial boom during the Covid era. According to the latest data from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, sales of spirit-based ready-to-drink offerings are now totaling around $2.8 billion per year. As a result, an ongoing parade of marquee brands are entering the space. The latest example comes from Crystal Head, the award-winning vodka launched by actor Dan Aykroyd and artist John Alexander back in 2008.

Debuting later this spring, the 100ml cans will be available in two flavors: Espresso Martini and Cosmopolitan. They offer the ingredient-driven quality and consistency of the same popular preparations made at your favorite local bar. Only you don’t have to leave home to savor them. And they’ll only cost you $5 per pour. So the appeal is obvious.

But for Aykroyd, the point of separation all begins with the quality of the spirit at its base. “We use peaches and cream corn for our mash— a single farm strain originally from the 1800s,” he tells Forbes. “Then we mix that with glacial aquifer water from the Wisconsin glacier, which sat over the northeastern part of North America 16,000 years ago. When it melted over Newfoundland it produced all of these beautiful lakes and ponds and this phenomenal supply of untouched, unpolluted water directly underneath.”

Crystal Head’s flagship vodka is distilled four times and then passed through carbon filtration seven times. “This results in arguably the purest vodka on earth,” he notes. “To my knowledge, we are the only vodka that does not contain any additives.”

This clean flavor profile makes it a perfect base for mixers in cocktails, unimpeded by any undesired nuances. The Espresso Martini offers a subtly sweet, freshly brewed mocha roast flavor. The Cosmopolitan is a tart and refreshing favorite. However, why did Aykroyd and the team decide it was the right time to delve into the RTD market?

“We didn’t want to overlook the burgeoning trend,” confesses the actor and writer of Ghostbusters, who has always been directly involved in the brand’s progression. “We are on the verge of breaking into the mainstream market with full force. I can already envision the marketing potential – beachside resorts, giant barrels or tubs filled with ice, and our cans tossed in. I believe they will sell very well.”

Crystal Head has been a successful alcohol brand since its introduction. Aykroyd attributes the brand’s success to not just the superior quality product, but also to cultivating strong personal connections with distributors and bartenders across North America, and never faltering in promoting the product.

DUESSELDORF, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 19: Dan Aykroyd poses with a bottle of ‘Crystal Head’ vodka at Capella Bar Breidenbacher Hof on September 19, 2014 in Duesseldorf, Germany. (Photo by Mathis Wienand/Getty Images)

“I was just at AMC theater doing a cocktail for the new Ghostbusters movie,” he says, during an exclusive sampling of the new RTDs. “We do videos, we do events—because we don’t have the big resources of Remy, or LVMH or Diageo. But if we ever partnered with a group like that, boy, it would take them about two years to turn this into a mega-brand, with their staff and their sales people. Right now we have a super-brand now. But that would be a mega-brand.”

Is that something that he’s actually interested in? “It all depends on the terms,” he says. “Right now we are happy to finance these initiative ourselves. We’re having fun with it. It’s been consistently profitable all the way through. So now we’re putting that money back into agency. It’s all about boots on the grounds. We’re confident with it.”

He’s also confident that the latest installment in the Ghostbusters franchise (Frozen Empire, premiering March 14th) will be a hit, just the same. The cinematic universe he created 40 years ago is still going strong. And it involves subject matter that he clearly holds near and dear to his heart.

I’m a spiritualist, that’s what I believe in,” he explains. “I believe that with the proper trans-channel medium you can reach to the other side and talk with those that have gone before. My great grandfather was a spiritualist. And he wrote about mediumship.

I grew up reading those journals as a kid. It was kind of the family business. The afternoon that I conceived and originated Ghostbusters, I was in the old family barn where actual seances took place. It just came to me: we’ll do an old style Abbott and Costello, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis-type ghost movie with all of those comic values, but using the real vernacular. Who knew what ectoplasm was before the original Ghostbusters?

Clearly Aykroyd is passionate about spirits, both beyond and inside the bottle—or can, as the case will soon be.

The new Espresso Martini RTD from Crystal Head is available now.