Hard Italian soda Bravazzi is bucking flavored malt beverages’ (FMB) fizzling trends.
After posting mid- to high-single-digit growth last year, FMB trends have flipped in 2025 with declines in dollar sales (-3.1%) and volume (-5.1%) year-to-date (YTD) through September 6 in NIQ-tracked off-premise retailers.
Through August 9, the 4.2% ABV Bravazzi brand family has recorded double-digit growth in dollar sales (+33.1%) and volume (+29.3%). That growth has slowed in the last four weeks, but the company has maintained its double-digit trajectory (+12.4% dollars, +10.1% volume).
In its core markets for the 52-week period through June 28, Bravazzi’s trends are even stronger, growing 210% in Tennessee, 315% in Alabama, 300% in Georgia and 300% in Colorado, the company shared in a press release, citing NIQ data.
The growth isn’t limited to off-premise retailers, as Bravazzi’s draft business is up 350% compared to last year, with regional placements in Old Chicago and a recent trial run in Buffalo Wild Wings in Tennessee.
The 8-year-old company expects 2025 to be its biggest volume year yet, Bravazzi CEO Josh Buckley told Brewbound. The previous high was 75,000 cases in 2021, and the brand is poised to cross the 100,000-case mark by year’s end, he added.
In Tennessee, Bravazzi’s depletions are expected to hit around 35,000 cases, with independent retailers making up the bulk of that business and around 10 chain placements, Buckley said.
The growth has made Bravazzi the spotlight offering within The Nations Brewing Co.’s portfolio, which Buckley and Andy Heiman pieced together in 2022 after taking over the FMB brand from Buckley’s father-in-law Bob Walkenhorst. Sarah Ross, Anne Ellis and Walkenhorst created Bravazzi under the Vivify Beverages umbrella in 2017.
The Nations’ portfolio also includes beer brands Fat Bottom Brewing, WanderLinger Brewing Co. and Music City Beer Co.
According to Buckley, Bravazzi has found a niche as a full-flavor product, made with real fruit and cane sugar.
“While we still have bubbles, the sugar brew just hits a little bit lighter in your stomach because it’s gluten free,” he said. “And it exists in a space where really the younger female demographic, and then that middle-aged male demographic are key buyers of the product. So that’s really where we’ve seen the growth.”
Bravazzi’s top-selling flavor is Blood Orange, while its Citrus Collection variety pack (Blood Orange, Lemon, Grapefruit and Clementina) has been its top-selling package, Buckley shared. The brand is now distributed in 15 states, after relaunching in Florida and Ohio with Cavalier Distributing.
Bravazzi’s rebuild since Buckley and Heiman took over the brand four years ago has taken a strategy from the craft beer playbook: build on draft in bars and restaurants to generate off-premise demand, Buckley said.
Despite initial wholesaler skepticism and concern about tainting draft lines, Bravazzi has gained a foothold in the on-premise channel. Buckley estimated that around 45% of Bravazzi’s business is on-premise compared to 55% off-premise.
In its home state of Tennessee, Bravazzi has around 500 draft handles, Buckley said. The brand performs well in Italian restaurants, pizza parlors, gluten-free restaurants, mixology-focused bars and dive bars, he added.
“Now they love it, because as a distributor, they go forth and they have something unique,” Buckley said, adding that Bravazzi on draft has a “massive multiplying effect” of around 15 cases per account compared to nine for those that only offer package.
Helping boost Bravazzi’s draft appeal is its utility, which can be served as a standalone drink, poured over ice, frozen or used as a mixer for cocktails.
“I call it a bartender’s best friend,” Heiman said.
The next phase of Bravazzi’s growth in 2026 will include a strong focus on chain retailers, including major grocery chains Kroger, Publix and Food City; natural grocers Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s; and independent liquor chain Total Wine & More.
“For us, that’s obviously a growth plan of ’26 is, how do we get more chains involved and flip that lever on?” Buckley said. “Prove that we in our own hometowns and our own backyards, can do well and grow and then try to take that model out to the world.”
In 2026, Bravazzi will offer its key variety packs, Citrus Collection and the Coastal Collection, along with four standalone flavor 6-packs (Blood Orange, Peach, Grapefruit and Limonata).
As Buckley looks at the broader bev-alc market, he feels an urgency to establish Bravazzi now with flavor-seeking drinkers. He believes the seeds are being planted for the world’s biggest soda companies to make a bigger splash in the industry, including the Coca-Cola Company and its Red Tree subsidiary, who are testing the market before fully diving in, with brands such as Minute Maid Spiked, Simply Spiked, Peace Hard Tea, Jack Daniel’s & Coca‑Cola and Fresca Mixed. Red Tree recently moved Fresca Mixed and Minute Maid Spiked to Sazerac for sales, distribution and marketing.
“Hopefully we can build that crowd, that brand, that loyalty, and get well-ahead of it before those guys start rolling,” Buckley said. “And at least have some position in the market before those guys eventually … they’re going to enter, and they’re going to enter forcefully.”