By Kevin Hopper Before the advent of bottled cocktail mixers, cocktails were made by using fresh fruit juice and real sugar. The simple combination of juice, sugar and spirit is really as simple and easy as it gets. Or is it? You can go to the Kwik-E-Mart and get a margarita in a can with tequila already added. That’s true, but check the ingredients; what you are actually drinking is a malt beverage (beer) — “malted barley, cereal grains, yeast, hops, flavors, and sweeteners”