CHICAGO – Diageo is testing its ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails in the Tampa, Florida, market and so far posting favorable responses from retailers, reports AdAge.com.

The company has been testing four RTD brands: Captain Morgan and Cola, Smirnoff Vodka and Lemon-Lime Soda, George Dickel Whiskey and Cola and Seagram's 7 American Whiskey and Lemon-Lime Soda. So far, retailers say early sales returns are strong.

“They're selling very well and we're pleased,” Bob Gibson, marketing director for ABC Fine Wines & Spirits, a chain of 150 Florida liquor stores, told the news source, adding that Diageo has indicated it will expand the test market area and introduce a fifth RTD cocktail made with Crown Royal whiskey.

A Diageo spokesperson told AdAge.com that the company sees RTD cocktails as an “untapped category” in the United States and is anxious to see “how consumers react to them.”

RTD cocktails have yet to make a dent in the U.S. marketplace, although they have been widely accepted in many overseas markets, such as Australia, where Beam Global Wine & Spirits sells 7 million cases of Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey and Cola each year, notes the news source.

Despite the overseas success, Diageo has chosen to focus its U.S. efforts on its signature bourbon instead of the RTD product. However, that may soon change if test trials prove successful, which could also give beer more competition from the spirits category.

Like beer, RTD cocktails have about 5 percent alcohol by volume and are packaged in 12-ounce cans, which mean they can be sold “alongside beer in convenience stores, gas stations and beverage depots,” notes the news source.

“It extends the occasions [spirits] can penetrate, and in that way it's a threat to beer,” Brian Sudano, managing director at Beverage Marketing Corp. told the news source, adding, “It opens up picnics and beaches and even some concessions.”

Sudano says that RTD cocktails also pose “as much risk” to traditional spirits as they do to beer,” noting that if the quality is there, consumers can purchase the already made cocktail instead of an entire bottle of liquor.