Ben Weiss, the creator of Bai Tea, has brewed up another attempt at boozy tea.
Launched in May, Weiss’s latest venture is Crooked Tea: a 4% ABV zero-sugar iced tea in lemon, peach and raspberry flavors debuting in the heartland of hard tea.
If that sounds familiar, you’re right: Weiss, who sold antioxidant tea brand Bai to Dr. Pepper Snapple for $1.7 billion in November 2016, has played in the hard tea space before. His follow-up to Bai, Crook & Marker, initially launched in 2018 with organic zero-sugar hard sodas, spiked teas, spiked lemonades, and canned cocktails, but eventually disappeared from the market.
That experience has left Weiss well-prepared for his second crack at the category, he says.
“The biggest difference between Crook & Marker and Crooked Tea is that today’s brand is more fun and engaging with less emphasis on ingredients and proof points, relying more on the consumer to discover it on their own,” Weiss said.
A New Hard Tea Era
The central thread from Crook & Marker to Crooked Tea is the proprietary alcohol base Weiss refers to as “organic, super grain alcohol.” Rather than a malt or spirit base, the gluten-free fermentation is made from organic ingredients such as quinoa, amaranth, millet and cassava root.
“We have a strong history of tea formulation in both the alcohol and non-alcohol space. The biggest difference with Crooked Tea is timing,” Weiss said.
This iteration could arrive at a better time for Weiss, as the thirst for hard teas continues to rise.
Single flavor UPC sales of spirits-based tea RTDs are now ranked third overall in flavor, making it one of the largest flavor trends in the RTD category, according to NIQ data analyzed by 3 Tier Beverage.
The trend was kicked off in Philadelphia in 2022 by Surfside, a line of canned iced tea and vodka cocktails that infiltrated baseball stadiums and gave beer distributors a higher case-value win.
The FMB tea segment, where Crooked Tea fits, is led by Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea (also launched out of the Northeast) and still a major category as well. The segment counts nearly double the active UPCs as spirits-based, clocking in sales of $680 million in the 52 weeks ending June 14, according to 3 Tier Beverages. But malt-based hard tea is seeing declines of 5% while spirits-based tea RTDs are up 157% year-to-date through July 5 in off-premise NIQ channels, according to Bump Williams Consulting.
As Crooked Tea’s competitors catapulted out of Philadelphia, Weiss insists he’s launched his brand in the epicenter of the trend to gauge how it stacks up against them.
“I love to go up against leaders in the competition,” he said.
Spirit-based RTD teas are now growing two-times faster in the Northeast. But Weiss argues that a non-spirits base was important for tax reasons and wider distribution access, and that consumers aren’t concerned with alcohol bases. It seems Weiss is betting on the organic, zero-sugar, 80 calorie formulation to stand out as a premiumized version among other FMBs, and a possibly more accessible product compared to spirits-based teas.
To differentiate further, Crooked Tea is offering a “fun-forward” take, donning the cans with animated flavor mascots and partnering with local celebrities. Weiss is starting with former NFL player Brandon Graham, who spent his entire 15-year career as a defensive end with the Philadelphia Eagles. Graham has been an active recruiter for the brand, popping up at on-premise activations and distributor meetings, and leveraging visits to retailers for hitting case sale goals.
Artist Zac Brown, who partnered with Weiss on Bai, is also part of the Crooked Tea ensemble, and has already made appearances handing out the cans at a Nashville bar. The cans are available across the East Coast and Midwest, but Weiss will activate the Florida market next. Weiss is targeting the on-premise with activations as he follows the common philosophy of going slow and deep into new markets.
“We’re a bit of a unicorn because we are a startup with resources,” he said. “And I think that makes us a little bit more dangerous than the average startup, but that just also means we could lose more money quicker than anybody else.”