Party in a glass? Perhaps

Calling the concept a cocktail party in a bottle may be stretching it a bit, but it's close.

While there are plenty of enticingly-colored concoctions on the market that can go straight from bottle to stemmed glass without any more work than removing the top -- Hpnotiq, Remy Red and Amarula Cream come easily to mind, they don't have quite the fulsome lifestyle concept of Cocktails by Jenn.

From its unabashed emphasis on targeting young, socially active women to its clever Web site that acts as a sort of national party central clearing house, the two-year-old Danville, CA, company pushes pre-made cocktails as central to a fun lifestyle.

Its stock in trade is a quartet of 100 milliliter single-serve vodka martinis in various flavors and colors, sold in totes designed to look like designer handbags, plus an enameled charm featuring such things as a shoe, a martini, an airplane, a ring, a cell phone and an ice cream sundae.

The cocktail flavors -- cosmopolitan, tropical blue lagoon, lemon drop and appletini, and limited-edition seasonal flavors such as key lime and chocolate peppermint -- carry a suggested retail price of $15 for the collection, or $20 for a 750 milliliter bottle of any of the flavors.

How is the company doing? Well enough for Barton Brands, a division of beverage giant Constellation Brands, to have noticed it and purchased the company last October. Since then, marketing efforts have pushed distribution to 31 states and the PR rhetoric to new heights.

Take this, for example:

"More than a beverage, Cocktails by Jenn embodies the spirit of friendship and quality time with girlfriends – whether it’s a relaxing girl’s night at home watching movies or a rocking girl’s night out on the town. This 'girlfriend inspired' brand prides itself on focusing on the fulfillment that these relationships bring to a woman’s life and the notion that anything can be accomplished with the encouragement and support of girl friends."

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